A new audio tour provides convenient and accessible interpretation of the Byway stories including the historic waterway west and the Erie Canal. The audio tour will highlight and encourage the use of recreational resources within the Byway corridor.

As the use of the tour increases, so will a sense of need to preserve our heritage, natural, cultural and recreational resources.  Providing interpretation of our resources on demand through a personal communication device by local people is an authentic, up close, and personal way to deliver a positive visitor experience.

The Byway is partnering with OnCell Communications for mobile tour service which includes unlimited calls and audio streaming. Visitors will be able to access the OnCell audio tour by dialing 518-649-9990 and following the prompts to listen to tour content, or by streaming the tour content through the mobile web tour designed for smartphones.

This will nicely complement a series of 5 interpretive kiosks that are available along the Mohawk Towpath Byway. This is a first part of a larger interpretive project funded by the Federal Highway Administration Byway Grant administered by the New York State Department of Transportation.

Ultimately, 6 additional kiosks will be added along the Byway route as it follows the historic route of the Erie Canal and the waterway west between Cohoes, Waterford and Schenectady, New York.

A number of temporary signs are starting to pop up at key points along the Byway route to help introduce the audio tour.  Some are taped on existing interpretive signs and some stand alone.

View a map of the sites that are on the tour.  There are 14 sites currently on this audio tour:

1. Crescent Park. Halfmoon
2. Dunsbach Ferry Halfmoon
3. Clutes Dry Dock, Clifton Park
4. Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve, Clifton Park
5. Ferry Drive, Vischer Ferry
6. Lock 7 Dam Overlook, Rexford
7. Riverview Orchards, Rexford
8. Aqueduct Park, Niskayuna
9. Byway Visitor Center at Proctors, Schenectady
10. Freddies Park, Colonie and
11. Old Military Crossing, Colonie.  Three additional sites will be added in the near future as the “soft roll out” continues:
12. Cohoes Falls, Cohoes
13. Waterford Harbor Visitor Center
14. Flight of Locks, Waterford
15. Old Niskayuna Station, Niskayuna

“No doubt, we will add more as we see how the system is used,” admitted Larry Syzdek.  “These sites were picked, because they are key to telling the Byway’s many stories and they are locations that provide an opportunity to pull off the road.”

“This is a wonderful way to share the Byway stories.  It is more convenient and much more accessible than making arrangements to meet a bus load of visitors,” admits Historian John Scherer.  “We record the narrative once and it’s available to our neighbors or the Byway visitor on demand.”