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The LVRT From Hyde Park to Morrisville
The LVRT and the "Bump" in the Road
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Member Contribution
The LVRT From Hyde Park to Morrisville by
David Polow, Board Member
I enjoy non-motorized transportation. I like to bike or run from here
to there. I live in Morristown and have an office located in the Village
of Hyde Park. I typically bike to work on the Stagecoach and Cadys Falls
Roads and return home over 5_ miles of trails, avoiding most roads along
the way. When I run to work, I take the trail route both ways.
There are many days when I travel to the Village of Morrisville for meetings,
after school sports that my son is involved in at school and even dentist
appointments. Before the rails and ties were removed from the Lamoille
Valley Rail Trail during the fall of 2005, I had no choice but to bike
over on the Cadys Falls Road and then Bridge Street. Now, I bike and sometimes
run over the Rail Trail, even though it is bumpy because it hasn’t
yet been resurfaced. Virtually every bike ride or run enhances my mood.
The journey from Hyde Park to Morrisville is surprisingly quiet and serene.
Instead of fighting traffic and breathing exhaust fumes from the many
vehicles that travel over Route 15, Cadys Falls Road and Bridge Street,
I am able to breathe fresh air and enjoy news or music from my Ipod. When
I run or bike, I am not clogging the roads with a vehicle or adding to
the pollution. I typically wonder why more people don’t bike or
walk to work or school. Not only would they save money by not using their
vehicles, they would also be exercising.
In Hyde Park Village, I glide down Depot Street to the intersection with
the Rail Trail where the dry bridge used to be before it was torn down
in August. I turn left onto the Rail Trail, heading east. The Department
of Transportation constructed a Staymat type surface adjacent to the former
dry bridge site, giving me a taste of what the Rail Trail will be like
when it is completed. The trail soon becomes bumpy as the Staymat gives
way to stones. The trail arcs to the right, high above a swampy area.
It then passes by the back of houses on the Cadys Falls Road before crossing
over the old bridge above the Needle Eye Road. Heading east the trail
passes under some nice trees before it reaches the back of industrial
buildings in Morrisville, including the Rock Art Brewery. The trail continues
in a generally easterly direction until it reaches Route 100. After crossing
Route 100, the trail has its own bridge across the Lamoille River before
entering the Village of Morrisville.
Certainly there are safety issues with respect to traffic, particularly
for children in busy downtown areas such as Morrisville. The State of
Vermont and the Federal government should be doing more to help towns
provide safe alternatives to motorized transportation. Biking and walking
have minimal impacts on our transportation system and infrastructure while
receiving much less than their fair share of funding. I encourage everyone
to make efforts to use non-motorized transportation as their primary form
of transportation and to contact their legislators to financially support
the Rail Trail. 
The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail provides a phenomenal east-west corridor
between the towns of the Lamoille Valley. It’s going to be truly
exciting when the surface is completed so that everyone can use the trail
and enjoy the benefits of non-motorized transportation.
Bikers enjoying the neighboring Missiquoi Valley Rail Trail.
Nearby businesses like this beer brewery will surely benefit from a completed LVRT recreational trail.
Friends
of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, Inc.
P.O. Box 995 Morrisville, VT 05661
Copyright 2007 by the Friends of the Lamoille Rail Trail, Inc.
Photographs on this site by Becka Roolf, Kevin Russell and others
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