ADK Rail Trail Construction Update
Guest blog by Phil Brown
As of late August, construction of the Adirondack Rail Trail had not begun, but there is some good news: the Adirondack Park Agency recently approved the project’s wetlands permit.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation had applied for the permit last October, but the APA deemed the application incomplete three times, delaying approval. Each time, the agency sought more information or suggested ways to minimize the ecological impacts.
On August 11, the APA’s deputy director, Robert Lore, finally signed off on the permit. However, DEC is still waiting for approval of another wetlands permit, this one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Despite the delays, DEC expects work on the first section of the rail trail--between the Lake Placid and Saranac Lake depots--to begin this fall and finish next year. The department says it plans to announce a contractor for the project soon.
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It probably will take a few more years to extend the trail to Tupper Lake, the western endpoint. Traversing wild forests and passing pristine ponds, the finished trail will be 34 miles long, with a 10-foot-wide riding lane. Most of the trail will be surfaced with packed stone dust, but it will be paved in the village of Saranac Lake. The trail’s amenities will include parking areas, toilets, rest stops, kiosks and educational signs.
The APA permit notes that the project will disturb only a tenth of an acre of wetlands (0.132 acres, to be exact). In compensation, DEC plans to create nearly 0.8 acres of new wetlands. The permit also requires the department to monitor the disturbed wetlands and take steps to keep out invasive species, such as purple loosestrife and Japanese knotweed.
This summer, the APA solicited public comments on the permit application. Of the 23 people who responded, all but two voiced support for the rail trail. The other two did not say they opposed the trail; they merely raised concerns.
Many of those who commented urged the state to speed up construction. “I would like to urge you to expedite work on this trail as much as possible. By making the trail usable by bicyclists and hikers in the Saranac Lake area, you will definitely have a positive impact on the local economy,” one person wrote.
“This trail is amazing and in use already,” another wrote. “... It’s time for our citizens to get full use of [it] and allow businesses and towns to reap the value of this unique New York trail. Please expedite completion for all of us!”
Several contended that the disturbance to wetlands would be inconsequential. “The minimal wetlands influenced by this sustainable trail will have little material impact. The benefits of connecting people to nature and providing an alternative route for transportation on a whole will have lasting positive impacts to the environment,” said Lee Keet, secretary of the Adirondack Rail Trail Association, which pushed for creation of the trail.
But David Gibson of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve suggested that the ecological impacts could be greater than assumed. “While the railroad bed has existed here for more than a century, the new multi-purpose trail introduces fresh footprints, dimensions, and human uses that may increase the edge-effect of the linear corridor, or that may impose new obstacles to animal migration. This may cause declines in wetland physical and biological diversity along the corridor,” he wrote.
Since the removal of the tracks last year, bikers have been using the corridor. Gravel bikes can be ridden easily on the smoother sections of the rail bed. Mountain bikes are recommended for sections with coarse gravel. The best sections for riding are from Saranac Lake to Lake Clear (after a short stretch of gravel), from Lake Clear to Hoel Pond; and from Tupper Lake north to Rollins Pond.
In an earlier blog for BikeADK, I wrote about a gravel-bike loop that incorporates the stretch of the rail trail between Lake Clear and Saranac Lake. You can read it here: bikeadirondacks.com/blog/rail-trail-opens-new-gravel-route-options.
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