Hello everyone, I hope your day is going smoothly as we slide into the Thanksgiving Holiday. I should be posting on how to brine your bird very soon, I’m still waiting for the turkey to thaw out! In the meantime I wanted to do a very quick post on my thoughts about the ,Shared Use Path or SUP for short, which is a walking, bicycling path that crosses over the Hudson River on The new Mario Cuomo Bridge, which for most of us is still called the Tappan Zee Bridge. As a Village Trustee in South Nyack, I voted for the SUP for a few reasons, that I won’t go into here. Six years later the SUP was finally finished and after over a year of it being opened I decided it was time to take a walk over the bridge.
The SUP is part of the Empire Trail which is a 750 mile trail going from Manhattan all the way to the Canadian border. The SUP allows people from Rockland County to connect to the trail on the Westchester side. I don’t know of anyone making the entire trek on foot or bicycle but I’m sure someone has done it by now. For my purposes I wanted to see what it felt like to be able to look out over the middle of the Hudson River. I thought the State handled the integration of South Nyack’s rail trail into the SUP with forethought and care. Plus the State maintains it, which saves the village money. I went for my walk around 8 am on a sunny yet chilly Saturday morning. I encountered more people on the rail trail than I did on the SUP, which to me means there were more locals on the trail than tourist. The parking lot for the SUP only had one car in it. To be fair on a Summer weekend the parking lot is usually full.
The SUP goes under the roadway to keep people safe which is great idea. Art is placed along the SUP and one artist was chosen to paint the walls of the tunnel but already the art work is crumbling. I’m not certain if it’s from improper preparation of the walls, vandalism or a combinations of both.However when I look at the bridge crossing the Thruway one can clearly see the State cut corners when painting the rusty parts and only painted a small portion above the SUP. The next thing I noticed was in my opinion more cost cutting. There is about a half mile stretch before getting to the bridge that you are walking on the side of the thruway with cars buzzing by at 70 miles and hour. I was hoping the State would have placed the plastic sound barriers along this stretch but instead it was the usual steel mesh running the entire stretch. The noise and smell of exhaust are very apparent. I also find it very unnerving to be walking so close to traffic moving that fast. I didn’t feel for my safety, there’s just something not relaxing about speeding vehicles. I went at a time when traffic was light, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like later in the day. The noise alone must be deafening. This continues for the entire 3.6 mile stretch of the SUP except in a few select spots where look out points have been established. At these points, thick plastic sound barriers keep out much of the sound. I’m use to hiking or walking in nature which is very relaxing and helps me start my day, but no matter how hard I tried , that feeling never came from walking over the SUP. I ended up turning back before crossing the entire span, I felt I had learned all I needed to know. The SUP wasn’t for me.
I think overall the State did as good a job as could be expected. The walk is inherently un-relaxing but I could see where it’s great for bicyclist to connect with Westchester County. Other people I have spoken with really like walking over the bridge. I liked looking out over the Hudson river but that view , to be honest, got a little boring , after a while. The sounds of 18 wheelers down shifting and the blasts of diesel fumes convinced me that I don’t really need to walk the SUP again. I’m sure I might try it one more time, just to be certain, but there are plenty of other trails I’d rather walk on any day of the week. If you have any comments about the SUP please let me know in the comments below. I hope someone out there has had a better experience than I did. Stay tuned for some food blogs! Until next time, Boone Appétit!
