The town of Hunter is seeking $914,300 to build a sidewalk through Haines Falls that would close the gap in the 11-mile Hunter Regional Trail Corridor between the village of Hunter and Kaaterskill Falls.
The town submitted its application earlier this year and could learn as early as September whether it will receive the funds, Town Councilperson David Kukle said at a July 14 town board meeting.
The proposal funding package would consist of $731,440 from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program. The remaining $182,860 would come from the state Department of Transportation, and money secured by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey.
The money would pay for a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along the north side of Route 23A and the west side of North Lake Road, connecting Haines Falls Auto Center with Twilight General Store.
The project would connect existing sidewalks along North Lake Road and Route 23A, completing the 11-mile trail corridor between the village of Hunter and Kaaterskill Falls.
Currently, no sidewalk exists between the auto center and general store.
“The idea is that this creates some circulation in Haines Falls for folks to be able to come down into the hamlet, and hopefully develop some economic resources down there,” Kukle said.
The town board voted last week to enter into a shared services agreement with the village of Tannersville for maintenance of the proposed sidewalk. The agreement, approved by the village board on Wednesday, would allow the town to use a village-owned Bobcat.
“As part of the agreement on it, there needs to be the ability to keep the sidewalk open at some point in time,” Kukle said. “We don’t have the equipment to do that. The village does.”
The Greene County Legislature Finance Committee approved a proposal in February set that set a 2028 target for construction.
Greene County Legislator Daryl Legg, who represents the towns of Hunter, Lexington, and Halcott, said the proposal would alleviate safety concerns in the hamlet, which sees substantial foot traffic from hikers and tourists.
“It’ll interconnect the pedestrian and the bike paths altogether and give everybody safer transportation along that corridor,” he said. “It is heavily traveled, and those cars do go a pretty good rate of speed.”
Legg said he hoped the proposal would boost the local economy.
“Anytime you increase pedestrian traffic, you’re going to increase the amount of sales along that way,” he said. “People will walk down to the little store, they’ll be going past the historical society, who sells some wares and stuff like that. As you increase the traffic through there, another store might pop up selling other stuff, too.”
“I think it would be a great improvement,” Legg said.
Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.
