Dutchess Rail Trail

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The Dutchess Rail Trail is a rail trail in New York.

Also a park, the trail occupies the right-of-way of the former Central New England Railway's abandoned Maybrook Line, which stretches from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Junction.

Construction of this trail was set to begin in July of 2007, but as of October, no construction has taken place[1]. The trail is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2008.

The Maybrook Line was double tracked, so there is plenty of width for a parallel equestrian soft trail, along with a bicyclist/pedestrian paved trail.

The railroad line was built in 1892 and was cut in half by a fire on the Poughkeepsie Bridge in 1974. Dutchess County originally purchased the Maybrook Line right of way to connect to Interstate 84 (east) but they didn't want to pay the monetary and environmental costs of connecting from Hopewell Junction to I-84.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dutchess County Trails