Rails to Trails moving full speed ahead - The Times Herald

"Rails to Trails moving full speed ahead" from the Wednesday, September 13, 2000 issue of The Times Herald

Development Corp. takes title to 12-mile rail bed that will be converted into a trail between Salamanca and Cattaraugus

By Rick Miler

ELLICOTTVILLE- It’s full speed ahead for the Rails to Trails project between Salamanca and Cattaraugus.

The Cattaraugus Local Development Corp. has taken title to the 12-mile rail bed of the former New York & Lake Erie rail line from the Cattaraugus County Industrial Developmental Agency.

For helping negotiate a right-of-way lease with Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., the IDA will release damages plus the first year’s lease, IDA executive director Norman Leyh told IDA members Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Niagara Mohawk began cutting timber along the rail bed near its power line, even though it did not have a lease. Niagara Mohawk will pay the IDA damages amounting to $14,500 plus the first year’s lease of $1,750.

Mr. LeFeber who has led volunteers’ efforts to convert the abandoned rail bed into a multi-purpose trail, said the power company’s 30-year lease will provide money for much needed annual maintenance of the trail.

The Cattaraugus Local Development corp. has lined up a $1.4 million state Department of Transportation grant that will be used for construction costs.

On Thursday, Mr. LeFeber will sign a $59,000 contract with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to begin work on the Little Valley trail head.

“It’s late in the (construction) season, so we won’t get as much done this year as we had hoped,” Mr. LeFeber said today. “We’re very excited about going forward on this project.”

Activity this year is likely to be limited to cleaning up the area in Little Valley where the trail crosses Main Street, said Mr. LeFeber.

Plans call for a cleanup of the area by volunteers. Next year, a 40-foot Friendship Arch will be built across the trail, with a pavilion, gazebos, benches and picnic tables.

Also next year, the Cattaraugus Local Development Corp. plans to grade the trail, pave the Little Valley section and redeck the bridges.

To celebrate the trail’s opening, Mr. LeFeber said on New Year’s Eve 2001, snowmobilers will start from Salamanca and Cattaraugus, meeting at Little Valley at midnight for a party that will include fireworks.

Mr. LeFeber said the Cattaraugus Local Development Corp. hopes to acquire the rail section between Cattaraugus and Dayton when the IDA eventually decides to abandon that section. That would connect Allegany State Park with Zoar Valley.