TravellingFool

We did some scouting today, some observations on the Maybrook.

All of what they call Stage 5, from Pumphouse Road just south of Southeast Town Park to Rt 164 at Bullet Hole Road is paved now. Work is still continuing on the various bridges in that section. Part of what's missing are guardrails for the bridges and elevated sections and because that's seen as a safety hazard the MTA police is actively patrolling the section. Essentially they are pretty close to schedule it seems.

Two interesting points on this section: 1) south of Pumphouse Rd to the Village of Brewster.....nothing. No evidence of any work at all, no grading, no movement of even a stone. Curious. 2) The sign says "Open Winter of 2021". Soooooo......they may not open the lower section even if it's ready until the whole thing to Hopewell Jct is done? Guess we'll know that this summer.

North of Rt 164, the beginning of what they call Stage 4, is graded and looks ready to take paving but that hasn't begun yet, at least in that immediate section. This part isn't due for completion for several months yet.

Also, the North County Trailway from MIllwood to Yorktown has been repaved, at least all the sections we saw. It's nice. That's excluding the short section where the trail crumbled down the embankment between the Rt 118 parking lot and Birdsall Road. There are signs to detour on 118 to Birdsall to route around that.

Steve B.

Pavement is good !

A nice ride idea. MetroNorth to Brewster, bike up to Walkway over the Hudson, head over to lunch in New Paltz, back to Poughkeepsie for a MN train back to the city. 60-65 miles ?, or just lunch in Poughkeepsie for 45 or so.

UniChris

Unfortunately I don't remember the NCT closure signs there yesterday being specific about how short the detour actually was, but perhaps I didn't get close enough to them - was actually at the point of contemplating returning south to Tarrytown. Fortunately the parking lot was packed on a warm day and asking around quickly found someone with the answer, and there was actually tree trimming going on the length of the detour which made quite effective traffic calming. I do worry about how long that's going to take to re-open though, as even though the detour is short it's still a time sink especially when contemplating a round trip ride.

Overall they seem to have paved from Eastview up to Yorktown Heights except very unwisely skipping a few stretches - presumably they thought those were "good enough" but they are showing cracks that will only get worse, which makes skipping them when they had all the necessary equipment there absurd.

Of more concern, next to northing has been done north of Yorktown Heights. There are mini-excavators on the trail margins in one or two places and signs they've been filling holes and such, but no actual paving. Really not looking forward to another summer of disruptions. But if they have to... could they perhaps get the South County done next summer too, so that in 2021 we can have the full Bronx to Lloyd route in nice shape?

Johnnys

Has anyone been to this trail lately? Any new info on when it will open? Thanks

FinnfromFordham

Maybrook trailway is ready to ride. It is not officially open, there are signs and orange cones and such at crossings telling that the path is not yet open but they are generally ignored. There's about a 1 mile section in Brewster that is not complete but its an easy go around. About 23 miles. Flat and fast. Have ridden it a couple weeks in a row now and the progress has been tremendous in the last couple months. This is a great connector, now you can go from NYC to New Paltz and beyond on a paved path with very little time on the road. Enjoy

UniChris

Between this and a paved Put, I may have to figure out how to get back and do the long anticipated Bronx - Poughkeepsie!

That said the logistics and train returns are a touch more complicated right now.

dendawg

Maybe continue to New Paltz and return by bus

UniChris

Afraid a bus seems worse in just about every way, except for possibly having later evening schedules.

Buses tend to be less enjoyable than trains in the best times, and the idea of getting on a bus right now is not remotely appealing.

If I were actually going to do, the thing to do would be to drive to Poughkeepsie and take an early southbound weekend train and then ride back to the car, probably getting off at 125th street and transferring to a northbound 4 train (or suffer the half hour delay to get from a Poughkeepsie train to a local that stops in the Bronx and ride across town) Realistically by the time I might be comfortable on a train, heading in the night before and staying with a friend near Van Cortland Park may be an option.

Or I just drive to Brewster and do the new part... but that kind of feels like cheating ;-)

arbee

Caution: my experience in the US is that busses that accepts bicycles (and not all do) require the bikes to be boxed and loaded in a luggage bay. One exception is, of course, commuter busses with bike racks. Another exception is that if you're getting on and off mid-route, bus drivers can be flexible, sometimes delightfully so. At the other end of the spectrum from "delightful", arriving at Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal with a boxed bike and reassembling the bike in the terminal is ... an experience. I wouldn't advise it, but it was interesting.

UniChris

Indeed, bike (er, well, "cycle") compatible busses can be far between. But until this recent period where being packed in with others became an acute concern, the Metro North commuter trains (and to a lesser but still important extent, the Hartford Line and NJ Transit trains) are what made my distance riding career *possible*. One way rides to Brewster. Century attempts that became train returns from Brewster. Succesfull Centuries that left down the hill from Bryn Mawr to Bronxville and a train home. Trains to Poughkeepsie for the Duchess. Trains to and from New Brunswick, Bound Brook, Princeton Junction for the D&R and Trenton for the D&L. Then MNR to New Haven for the Farmington Canal and via the Hartford line for a day ride with the guys or to do a Century from the north end with the aid of some family shuttling.

The solitary time in all of this that I used a bus was Bolt service from NYC to Philly to ride the Schuykill. It worked, but my legs weren't happy in a small bus seat after doing a metric. Fortunately it was dark enough people didn't really notice me stretching them into the aisle.