 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Genesee Valley Greenway" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Genesee Valley Greenway | |
|---|---|
 Genesee Valley Greenway Trail Blaze | |
| Length | 90 mi (140 km) |
| Location | New York,United States |
| Trailheads | Rochester, New York Cuba, New York |
| Use | Hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing |
| Season | All year |
| Sights | Letchworth State Park |
| Right of way | Pennsylvania Railroad,Genesee Valley Canal |
TheGenesee Valley Greenway is arail trail in westernNew York'sGenesee River valley.
The trail stretches for 90 miles (140 km) along a formerPennsylvania Railroad right-of-way as well as adjacent land from theGenesee Valley Canal. The low grade path is a multi-use trail which is well suited for hiking, biking, horsebacking riding and cross-country skiing.[1]
TheGreenway is administered by theNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) and the Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway. TheNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation was a partner in the Greenway's management prior to transferring jurisdiction of their lands to NYS OPRHP in 2010.[2] The project began in 1991 as a way to reuse mostly abandoned land from the old railways. Construction and renovation of land for the trail was underway in 1998.[3]
The Genesee Valley Greenway intersects with theErie Canal Heritage Trail south of the city of Rochester at theGenesee Valley Park, thereby forming part of a network of green corridors for hikers and cyclists stretching across New York State. As of 2016, the Greenway passes throughMonroe,Livingston,Wyoming andAllegany counties, connecting theCity of Rochester and theVillage of Cuba, with plans to eventually extend the trail toHinsdale inCattaraugus County.[1]
Because the northern portions of the Greenway are convertedrailroad track bed, it is relatively smooth, straight, and level.Portions of the trail near to, and south of,Letchworth State Park are very hilly and strenuous.
Where the trail crosseshighways andwaterways, many of the structures used to support the previous railway are either reused, or newprefabricated bridges have been placed on old bridgeabutments. Roads that cross the Greenway fall in two general categories: Roads constructed while the railway or Greenway was in operation, which typically have the road on an evengrade with the Greenway or (for larger highways) a bridge where one crosses the other; and roads constructed while the railway was abandoned, whose intersections may be difficult to cross because of differences in elevation between the roadway and the Greenway, sometimes accomplished via steep inclines orswitchbacks.
Because of the historic nature of much of the land that the Greenway traverses, points of interest along the trail are marked byplaques with descriptions of the significance of the site, along with historic photographs and maps.
Among the marked sites are:
| Albany |    | |
|---|---|---|
| Allegany | ||
| Cattaraugus | ||
| Cayuga | ||
| Columbia | ||
| Delaware | ||
| Dutchess | ||
| Franklin | ||
| Livingston | ||
| Monroe | ||
| New York | ||
| Ontario | ||
| Orange | ||
| Oswego | ||
| Putnam | ||
| Rockland | ||
| St. Lawrence | ||
| Schenectady | ||
| Suffolk | ||
| Ulster | ||
| Westchester | ||
| Wyoming | ||
