Long Island's North Shore Rail Trail opens, repurposing abandoned railroad line into recreational trail
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. -- Manhattan has its popular High Line, and now Long Island has the North Shore Rail Trail, which just opened Friday.
As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports, it repurposes an abandoned old railroad line into a thriving recreational trail.
It's a dream come true for Norm Samuels, who was cycling on the path that used to be abandoned rail tracks.
"People will be able to ride, get exercise in a safe fashion," he said. "When I'm 85, I'll be riding here."
Welcome to Long Island's first rail trail, where a rail line built in the 1800s, used by Nicola Tesla to get to his laboratory and abandoned in the 1930s, was left idle.
"Any time a project is on the drawing boards for 50 years and you're actually at the ribbon-cutting, that's a great day," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
It's been decades of navigating challenges, such as opposition from adjacent homeowners with privacy concerns, but the 10-mile path from Port Jefferson to Wading River won out. Cyclists hope to eventually link to the North Fork.
"We need more bike trails, not only for recreation, but for computation and for tourism. This will bring people to Long Island and it will bring them without their cars," cyclist Martin Buchman said.
Buchman, hit twice by cars, knows the safety issues first-hand.
"There were fatalities, and as years progressed, we had children getting hit by cars using their bikes on ... major roadways," Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker said.
This is now land owned by the Long Island Power Authority. LIPA is sharing it with the public for free.
"It's called rails to trails opportunities, and it started back a number of years ago using abandoned railway corridors," said Michael Deering, senior advisor to LIPA.
Now, a major spoke in Suffolk County's plans to expand its network of trails.
"We can connect downtowns, and we can connect children to each other and communities to each other," Suffolk County Legislator Kara Kahn said.
Eventually, they hope to expand New York's Empire State Trail, which begins near Canada and ends in Manhattan, skipping Long Island. A 175-mile extension from Battery Park to Montauk is already in the works.
Planners say they'll use this success to help pave the way so that it doesn't take another 50 years to complete it.
The North Shore Rail Trail was paid for with an $8 million federal grant.
