kensicotrailwayApril 1, 2015 - Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino today announced that the newly completed plan to add six miles of a biking and walking trailway to the 150 miles of existing trails in the county was available for viewing on the county's website. The Tarrytown-Kensico Trailway/Bikeway Plan, prepared by the Westchester County Department of Planning, pinpoints a preferred route that would provide the best interconnections in the county between transportation hubs, business districts, neighborhoods, parks, schools and recreational facilities.

"A 2008 County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation survey determined that trailways are the number-one rated recreational facility that county residents want. The Tarrytown-Kensico Trailway/Bikeway Plan is another step forward towards connecting the county's trailways and further enhancing the terrific quality of life we enjoy in the county," said Astorino.

The trailway plan describes the criteria applied to assess, analyze and determine the preferred route. To reach a consensus on the preferred route, the county conferred with various government, municipal, business and education stakeholders: the New York State Department of Transportation; the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow; the towns of Greenburgh and Mt. Pleasant; Con Edison and the Bio Med Real Estate Investment Trust; Westchester Community College and Sleepy Hollow High School.

The plan provides the schematics and cost estimates for the route which would run west-to-east, connecting the Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway in Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown to the South and North County Trailways in Mt. Pleasant and Greenburgh. The trail would continue eastward to connect to the Bronx River Pathway at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla.

The Valhalla section of the trailway, a mix of off-street paths and shared road lanes for bicyclists, would run from the Kensico Dam Plaza County Park, past the Valhalla Metro North Station, along the Taconic State Parkway and through the Kensico Cemetery.

The preferred route would also integrate into an existing trail around the Tarrytown Lakes, and would utilize existing sidewalks and streets in the various villages and hamlets it would pass through. It would link major employment centers in Westchester County: Grasslands Reservation, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College and Westchester Community College in Valhalla; the Cross Westchester Executive Park in Elmsford; and Regeneron and the EF Academy in Tarrytown.

The first-phase designed would be the section connecting the Tarrytown Lakes to the Grasslands Reservation in Valhalla. Requests for funding the design and construction phases of the preferred trailway will be made through Westchester County's annual capital budget. Design is expected to begin in 2017. To view a copy of the plan, go to www.westchestergov.com/trails