The beginnings of a better Auburn Trail

Posted by [email protected] | Feb 16, 2019 | Cultural Life | 0 |

Trudy (left) and Katie, regular dog walkers on the Auburn Trail. Although they feel the Whole Foods project is too expansive, they were Trudy and Katie were pleased to learn the Auburn Trail improvements would include their favorite stretch. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/16/19]

At the Elmwood intersection. Trudy (left) and Katie, regular dog walkers on the Auburn Trail. Although thinking the Whole Foods project is too expansive, Trudy and Katie were pleased to learn about the Auburn Trail improvements that include their favorite stretch. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/16/19]

As described in Demolition of Mario’s restaurant begins (D & C), yesterday workers began razing the former Mario’s restaurant marking the beginning of the 10-acre Whole Foods Plaza project.

Behind the former Mario’s restaurant in Brighton on the trail off Allen’s Creek Road [Photos: David Kramer, 2/15/19]

Admittedly, I have not paid close attention to the project — and its controversies. Not a big shopper, the planned businesses will probably not effect me one way or the other.

One aspect of the project will enhance my — and fellow pedestrians and bicyclists — quality of life: the planned improvements to the former Auburn rail line.

As described by William Moehle, Brighton town supervisor in a Brighton-Pittsford Post July 13th, 2018 opinion piece, From the Supervisor: Update on proposed Whole Foods Plaza:

The Harley School scoreboard just a baseball throw away from the Auburn Trail. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/16/19]
The developer will build the Auburn Trail, from the Pittsford town line to Highland Avenue, nearly 2 miles. The trail will be a 10-foot-wide, multi-use bicycle/pedestrian ADA-accessible trail. Currently, most of the former Auburn rail line is undeveloped, without legal right of public access, but as part of the project, the developer will acquire the right for the public to use the land.

Right now, the two mile stretch is a pleasant spot to walk. In the summer, I enjoy stopping at Harley’s baseball field to watch the Rochester Men’s Adult Baseball League.

Behind the former Mario’s restaurant in Brighton on the trail off Allen’s Creek Road [Photo: David Kramer, 2/15/19]

However, as well as not being ADA accessible, parts of the stretch are rock strewn, bumpy and actually dangerous to bike. As seen in the PRIVATE PROPERtY sign, the section behind the former Mario’s and Clover Lanes is not publicly accessible and those who use that section anyway encounter crumbling asphalt.

For Roadbikereview.com, in “Rail Trails of Rochester: NYC Auburn road trail,” a road biker, calling himself No Time Toulouse, provides a comprehensive depiction of the stretch to be improved. No Time chronicles its rough going — and he is an experienced road biker. (See link for all photos and text)

(top) “From Elmwood south, the surface is a lot rougher, being just a thin layer of moss/grass over straight ballast. The pic is taken behind the Harley school fields, southward, the second northward.” (middle and bottom) “Asphalt stretch, behind the church on one side, and the old bowling alley on the other side. Alas, they have chained up a gate, and I had to detour over a small path to get around and over to Clover St.” From Roadbikereview.com

I am looking forward to the new trail, just as the Brickyard Trail enhanced the quality of life in Brighton and for all who use it.

UPDATE: Breaking ground on the Auburn Trail in Brighton

SEE ALSO

Breaking ground on the Auburn Trail in Brighton

On the Highland Crossing Trail in Brighton after an early March snowfall

More on how the Sandra L. Frankel Nature Park came to be

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About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.