Bureaucracy leaves bicyclists bereft of a byway in New Paltz

After all the delays that happened during the construction of the pedestrian and bicyclist path along Henry W. Dubois Drive in New Paltz — part of the Empire State Trail (EST) — residents and others are no doubt eager to give the newer, safer travel-way a try. Unfortunately, cones have been placed to discourage its use, at least for now. In particular, now that the pathway is constructed, it’s become clear that none of the existing town equipment is small enough to get in there to remove snow and ice, which could result in users being injured — and the town government being sued. Supervisor Amanda Gotto is asking for patience as these issues are reviewed by contractors and state officials. 

“The EST is, to my knowledge, the only state park that requires local municipalities to provide for its maintenance,” Gotto wrote in a letter for publication in Hudson Valley One. Converting the length along Henry W. to a safe non-motorized path is a roughly $2 million project, paid for mostly through state tax revenue. As the project was nearing completion, the first winter weather made it obvious that whoever did the planning hadn’t measured the size of the snow-removal equipment in the local highway garages. It’s not possible to fit village or town snow plows into the narrow space, and even the special snowblower that was purchased to tackle the EST along Route 299 toward Lloyd is too big. Gotto estimates that it would cost anywhere from $60-80 thousand dollars to purchase something appropriate. 

The supervisor has dismissed manual labor out of hand. In the town there are “about 60 miles of road to plow, and another eleven in the village. We don’t have time to do it by hand. It’s not efficient to do it by hand.” Some adjacent neighbors have taken that on themselves, Gotto said, because “people want to be on it,” but the supervisor does not believe that relying on neighborliness is a long-term solution. 

For that reason, there are barriers in place to discourage the trail’s use until these issues can be resolved. “There are some issues that are easy to fix,” Gotto said, but there are also “pinch points” that “will be a big deal, and require some rethinking.” The supervisor doesn’t hold the contractors responsible, saying that the “crew has no choice but to follow the design.” Somewhat ruefully the supervisor added, “Sometimes what’s on paper isn’t very helpful in the real world.” 

State transportation officials have conducted a visual inspection, but advised that they will need to return to look again when there is no snow left. For that reason, it’s unclear when that next inspection will take place. From that point, consultations will be made with the planners who created this bicycle path on paper to discuss what should happen next. Until then, there’s a bureaucratic stalemate: that thin ribbon of roadway is under state control until town officials are ready to accept it. There are cones in place to signal that no one should be using it, and to protect against lawsuits should anyone ignore them. Those who choose to take advantage of the path before these issues are resolved appear to be on their own. 

“It’s really a shame,” Gotto said. “People want to be on it.”