Context for the Kingston Gateway
The Kingston Gateway, is a uniquely powerful landmark infrastructure in itself, both in benefiting local residents for recreation/health and acting as a compelling tourist draw. But the Gateway is embedded in two distinct and powerful broader systems, the Ulster County Rail Trail Project and the Kingston Greenline which provide visionary bases for those same benefits for both local resident recreation and health, and as robust additions to the economy as Active Tourist attractions.
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The Ulster County Rail Trail Project is an emerging vision by the County Executive Office for an interconnected set of multi-purpose recreational rail trails eventually extending from east of the Walkway to trails in Dutchess County all the way to Highmount on the northwestern end of the county, and also connecting south to Ellenville and eventually into trails in Sullivan County. A significant framework has already been created and, when completed, the Ulster County Rail Trail Project network will encompass more than 100 miles of trail making it one of the longest and most scenic trail systems in the country.
Kingston, as can be seen by the below Project illustration, lies at the hub of the network of interconnected trails and the Kingston Greenline takes advantage of that unique geographical position by creating a unified identity for a system of interconnected multi-use recreational trails originating on the Strand, running the entire length of the city through the Gateway, connecting to the Ashokan Reservoir and out into the Catskills while also linking to New Paltz and the Walkway.
The Kingston Greenline vision embraces many multi-purpose roles: creating a beautiful linear park connecting neighborhoods, providing safe non-motorized transportation including a complete streets initiative for more pedestrian and bike friendly access throughout the city, acting as a draw for young entrepreneurial persons and businesses interested in living in cities with high walkabilty/bikability indexes, and serving as a catalyst for urban revitalization.
Areas of the city long neglected can be transformed by a new sense of community such as the one depicted in this video of the Morgana Run neighborhood in Cleveland. The possibilities for transformation unfold as the U&D corridor becomes a linear park utilized by hundreds of residents and tourists each day and a source of civic pride.
For example:
this...
...could be this!
