A long-anticipated plan to clear the way for a seamless 24-mile Henry Hudson Trail from Highlands to downtown Freehold will finally be realized, thanks to a $1.2 million federal grant.
The New Jersey Department of Transportation grant will be used to connect disjointed sections of the trail in Matawan, Marlboro and all the way through Freehold Borough, as well as to provide safety improvements at 19 locations.
“This grant will allow us push forward because it covers construction costs, which is a major savings and helps out the county a lot,” said Gail Hunton, chief of acquisition and design for the Monmouth County Park System. Engineering work will be handled by the county this summer and fall. Trail construction could begin in 2020, she said.
Hunton said this is the largest Henry Hudson initiative since 2009, when the county fronted a $1.3 million project to open the Bayshore Extension, a scenic 1.4 mile path along the water between Popamora Point in Highlands and the marina in Atlantic Highlands.
— The NJDOT grant will be divided into three projects.
— Newer crosswalks, bolder signage and electronic signals will be installed at 19 trail locations throughout Keansburg, Hazlet, Union Beach and Keyport.
— The 1.6-mile gap in Marlboro between routes 79 and 520 will be completed. Currently trail users must partly travel along busy roads with narrow shoulders.
— Instead of ending just before Freehold Borough on County Route 537, the trail will extend through the borough and south to Farmingdale, providing a connection to communities and parks in the southern portion of the county.
The plan is to create a 1,700-linear foot trail alongside a stretch of NJ Transit railway, situated on Route 537 to Center Street in downtown Freehold.
“The goal is to link the trail to a destination like the downtown for pedestrians to enjoy food, drinks, the surrounding neighborhoods and public green space,” Hunton said. “A big part of the engineering is to figure how pedestrians can get across Center Street safely.”
Hunton hinted that the construction of a pedestrian bridge could be the best way to cross the busy thoroughfare and noted that years ago there was a bridge on Center Street that allowed residents to cross over the railway.
“All of it needs to still be engineered. There are wetlands in some places we need to account for and permits that need to be acquired. But this is coming,” she said.
“We can never have enough beautiful trails in the park system,” she added. “And this is our most heavily used.”
