Construction on the Towpath Connecting Trail has started!  Town of Halfmoon crews are clearing the path from Canal Road under I-87 Northway Bridges and working west toward Wagers Pond outlet.

Town of Clifton Park crews are working east from the Water Authority Access Road and historic Clutes Dry Dock area approaching Wagers Pond Outlet from the other direction.

The whole point of these efforts is to have clearing complete before the nesting season begins, typically at the beginning of April.

A Google map of the progress is here… [if I can keep up the pace with documentation].  This Project was one of the major recommendations that came in the Mohawk Towpath Byway’s Corridor Management Plan when it was accepted twelve years ago.  Not only will the reconstructed trail join our two municipalities at the remote southern boundary, it  will open up recreational opportunities worthy of a world class recreational destination and will complete one of our principal stories.   It’s the story of the Erie Canal, the Waterway West and the role our communities played in the westward expansion of the country and in the Industrial Revolution.  Wagers Pond Outlet is very close to one of the sites in the Mohawk River that was source of native people’s folklore, but that’s another story for another day.