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The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a rail trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor in Ulster County, New York. It stretches from Gardiner through New Paltz, Rosendale, and Ulster to the Kingston city line. The trail is separated from the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail by two state prisons in Shawangunk, though there have been plans to bypass these facilities, and to connect the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail with other regional rail trails. Plans to create the rail trail began as early as 1983, when New Paltz considered uses for the then-defunct Wallkill Valley corridor; the railroad had ceased regular traffic in 1977, and by 1983 had begun to remove its tracks. In 1991, a local land trust purchased the section of the former rail corridor between New Paltz and Gardiner, and conveyed the New Paltz section to the town and village of New Paltz. The trail was formally opened between New Paltz and Gardiner in 1993, though Gardiner did not purchase its section from the trust until 2007. The length of the trail was effectively doubled by a county land seizure in 2009, extending the walkway north from Rosendale through Ulster to Kingston. The extension included the Rosendale trestle, a bridge across the Rondout Creek. There are several other bridges that carry the trail, though none are as long. The trail serves hikers, joggers, bikers, horseback riders, and cross-country skiers. It passes through several historic districts, such as Huguenot Street in New Paltz, and the Binnewater Historic District and Snyder Estate in Rosendale. The trail also traverses U.S. Route 44 (concurrent with State Route 55), and state routes 299 and 213. Several natural features are visible from clearing along the trail, such as the Shawangunk Ridge to the west, and the Plattekill Creek between New Paltz and Gardiner. The trail passes through dense vegetation, and is frequented by many types of animals and overwintering birds. == History == Stretching from Montgomery to Kingston, the Wallkill Valley Railroad operated from 1866 until its last regular freight run on December 31, 1977. During the 1980s, its owner, Conrail, began to salvage the former corridor's steel rails and sell off sections of the rail bed. State law mandated that in such sales, offers be made first to the state, then to the involved counties and municipalities.〔 * * 〕 The state bought a portion of rail bed between Shawangunk and Gardiner in November 1985 for the construction of the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in the hamlet of Wallkill. While Montgomery and Shawangunk purchased their sections of the railroad – , respectively – in 1985, eventually creating the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail, the towns of New Paltz, Gardiner and Rosendale initially declined to purchase their sections of the rail line. The town of Shawangunk has been evaluating plans to bypass the state prison to connect the Walden–Wallkill and Wallkill Valley trails since 2004, and such a connection was listed as a project in a 2008 county-wide transportation plan.〔 The latest proposal involves diverting the trail along Birch Road. The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail was the seventeenth rail trail created in New York state, and became a National Recreation Trail in 2007. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wallkill Valley Rail Trail」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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