Greenway would link Cold Spring and Garrison
Philipstown has received a $37,100 grant to plan a path linking Cold Spring to Boscobel and Garrison, part of an effort to build a town-wide network to lessen dependence on gas-powered vehicles.
The Philipstown Trails Committee, a group of volunteers working with town officials, on Monday (June 28) announced the funding from the Hudson River Valley Greenway, a 30-year-old state agency. The project earlier received a National Park Service grant.
The grant will fund a feasibility study for the first part of the proposed trail. Currently, anyone traveling from Cold Spring to Garrison must travel by vehicle, boat or train or dare the hazards of walking or bicycling 4 miles along Route 9D, a narrow two-lane road that twists and turns, with minimal shoulders.
At a workshop in February, the Town Board and Trails Committee members discussed options for a path from Cold Spring to the Boscobel estate and the adjacent Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary, which are about half a mile from Cold Spring and Nelsonville.
The trail network project began in 2018 when the Trails Committee evolved from a Philipstown Community Congress initiative to gauge resident concerns. A 2017 study pinpointed hiking and biking trails across Philipstown as the top priority.
Philipstown Supervisor Richard Shea said on Monday that the trail “will serve to disperse people — community residents and visitors — and so alleviate some of the congestion that we are experiencing” as tourism booms.
