A bike trail between the cities of North Tonawanda and Lockport is in the works, and as a first step, members of the public are invited to complete a survey regarding what they would want from such a trail.
The trail is along a land corridor once used by railroads. In 2020, a Regional Bike Master Plan called for repurposing of the land, which runs through the towns of Pendleton, Wheatfield and Lockport. This spawned creation of the Rails to Trails initiative, which is now in Phase II.
GoBike, a nonprofit mobility organization, is coordinating the work with funding from the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council, at the request of the municipalities. Staff from GoBike visited the Pendleton Station Market and Town of Lockport Community Days and encouraged people to take a look at the online survey.
With plans to attend other such events this summer, target ads on social media and print ads in local publications, Brendan Seney, planning director of GoBike, said he hopes to get enough public input by Aug. 8.
Seney said the survey asks basic questions about how much one uses the Rails to Trails bike trail and other established trails in Western New York, as well as what the respondent might want to see in terms of services such as bathrooms and water fountains and amenities such as informational kiosks. The survey also examines possible routes other than the railway.
“People might have concerns about certain road crossings or the path might be adjacent to their property,” Seney said.
After the survey is closed, Seney said, an engineer will look at the compiled data and make a report showing cost estimates for design and construction of each part of the path. This will be distributed to the participating municipalities, which will then pursue the project on their own.
“It lets them know what to ask for when making plans for design and construction,” Seney said.
While the planned date for ending the survey is Aug. 8, Seney said that it may be opened two or three weeks more depending on how much input comes in.
The survey can be found at https://app.maptionnaire.com/q/4re6mmi8wb6n.