By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
LAKE PLACID — While AdkAction.org begins an economic study of the railroad corridor, construction of a shared-use trail has faltered.
The multi-use recreational path proposed on 4.5 miles beside Adirondack Scenic Railroad tracks stalled when engineering costs escalated.
APA PERMIT
The Town of North Elba spent primarily federal grant money designing a multi-use trail to Ray Brook, with the original intent of eventually extending that path 3.7 miles more to Saranac Lake.
The recreation path was proposed to go alongside the tracks, and the project was permitted by the Adirondack Park Agency in 2007.
Chuck Damp, deputy supervisor of North Elba, said they've stopped to regroup.
"Any money we spend as part of a grant project that we don't finish has to be paid back, and we don't want to hold taxpayers accountable twice."
RISING COSTS
"We have an APA permit to build a trail; the next step is for engineers to put a bid spec together," Damp said.
"We did an RFP (request for proposals), and the estimates were hundreds of thousands more than what we'd allocated. All we've got is a plan.
"And on top of that, the economy went on the skids."
He said there is no current economic data in place to gauge feasibility of either rails or a recreational trail.
"We didn't do economic feasibility in all of it."
The Adirondack North Country Association helped coordinate some 20 interest groups, fostering the multi-use project at the onset nearly seven years ago.
ANCA Director Kate Fish understood there is close to $2.25 million allocated to North Elba from the Federal Transportation Enhancement Program to use for a 10-foot-wide path alongside the rails to Ray Brook.
But costs have risen substantially.
"I understand that when the engineering study came in as high as it did, they put the project on hold," Fish said.
North Elba officials are looking to reassess their options for engineering the finished plan.
NEW MANAGEMENT PLAN
Damp said the new research would prove useful to the railroad corridor's future.
He said officials at the Department of Transportation advised it could take eight to 10 years to revise the formal Unit Management Plan if there is interest in tearing up the tracks and reusing the railroad bed solely for a recreational path.
Fish said public input is critical at this juncture to develop a collective, inclusive and comprehensive view.
But any final use would require DOT approval.
TUPPER UPGRADE
Meanwhile, the Tupper Lake group Next Stop! Tupper Lake has begun to consider restoring the rails and resetting railroad ties in a separate and grassroots push to finish upgrading tracks from Saranac Lake.
DOT has to authorize and inspect lights, signage and gate systems at all railroad crossings, according to a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000 with the Federal Highway Administration for the Remsen-Lake Placid line.
The memorandum guarantees access to federal aid to restore the line and also states that the entire line is listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The Travel Corridor Unit Management Plan was finalized in 1997.
