The Catherine Valley Trail System, located in the Village of Montour Falls, NY, is a favorite hiking/biking destination for both local residents and tourists, but visitors to the Village of Montour Falls’ popular marina and campground have long had to contend with a busy state highway shoulder and vehicular bridge that crosses a canal to access the trail system from the park.
The Catherine Valley Trail Connector project provides safe pedestrian access to the 13-mile Catherine Valley Trail system directly from the Village Park and trailhead parking area. With the construction of a new trail and foot bridge, hikers will be able to cross over the canal using safe, ADA-compliant access, featuring a groomed aggregate trail surface that is located behind the highway guiderail and protected from traffic.
The project involved the construction of approximately 600 linear feet of new trail and a 90-foot steel truss foot bridge, donated by a local business, to allow passage above the adjacent canal. The foot bridge crosses the canal approximately 100 feet downstream of an existing New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) bridge located on state highway NY-14.
The trail construction required installation of 370 feet of segmental concrete retaining wall and approximately 450 feet of wood rail fence. The new foot bridge location was selected based on the length of the original bridge, minimizing earthwork, and avoiding impacts to a regulated water body. As additional due diligence, an in-field wetland delineation was performed to accurately map areas that needed to be protected. These areas were located using hand-held GPS and imported into the project mapping, and the project was designed to avoid them.
The bridge construction presented a unique challenge, as the new bridge piers had to fit an existing structure. Detailed measurements were taken of the original structure and the pier connection details were incorporated into the design of the new structure.
The project required significant communication and coordination with multiple state agencies in order to secure grants and funding. The project’s funding agencies included the New York State Canal System; New York State Parks Recreations and Historic Preservation; Schuyler County Partnership for Economic Development (SCOPED); and New York State and Municipal Capital Facilities.
The permitting process for this project required approvals from state and federal agencies, including State Environmental Quality Review; coordination with USACE and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for a joint permit for wetlands and stream encroachment; NYSDEC Flood Control for floodplain impacts; and NYSDOT work permit for constructing within NYSDOT right-of-way. LDG was able to leverage its long and varied experience with permitting processes and communication between multiple project stakeholders to make the permitting process as smooth and expeditious as possible.