Extension of Henry Hudson Trail (Monmouth County, NJ) ?

Does anyone know what is currently happening with the extension of the Henry
Hudson Trail from Aberdenn/Matawan towards Freehold ? What little
information there is on webpages, etc. all seems inconsistent ...... with
proposed opening dates spanning a range of years from those already well
past to those in the future. Also I have seen mention of court cases, etc.
to try and stop this :-( Haven't seen much mention in the local papers
although I probably just missed it.

Meanwhile, I went for a bike ride this past Sunday since the weather was so
great here and I was riding along the "new" Kozloski Rd/East Freehold Rd
between Dutch Lane Rd and NJ 79 when I noticed a newly-paved path alongside
the road & heading off into the woods along where the railroad tracks used
to go. Followed it north for a little while till it seemed to end just shy
of NJ 18 (I ended up cutting through one of the housing developments which
left me off on Buckley Rd) .... along the way, there was evidence of some
flimsy wooden snow fences intended to block it off from users but they had
apparently been knocked down and the occasional "Do Not Use by order of
Monmouth County Parks Dept" paper signs were underfoot ----- looked quite a
nice trail, and very scenic with the leaves changing bright colors. There
were newly-posted yellow-greenish Bike Crossing signs at the couple of side
streets it crossed along the way. So from this perspective it seems quite
close to opening, but I can't comment on the rest of trail extension.

Yes, I know curiosity killed the cat, etc. but inquiring minds really want
to know !!

I heard they were supposed to extend it east and eventually build a bridge to
connect it to Sandy Hook...but AFAIK this is speculation. BTW, there is a nice
new bike trail that extends from the entrance at Sandy Hook to Ft. Hancock and
they might continue it around toward Gunnison Beach.



Diana B., LPN
Diva Nurse

The JerZ Fox

Money doesn't buy happiness.
Poverty doesn't buy anything.

I heard they were supposed to extend it east and eventually build a bridge to
connect it to Sandy Hook...but AFAIK this is speculation. BTW, there is a nice
new bike trail that extends from the entrance at Sandy Hook to Ft. Hancock and
they might continue it around toward Gunnison Beach.



Diana B., LPN
Diva Nurse

The JerZ Fox

Money doesn't buy happiness.
Poverty doesn't buy anything.

"JerZ Fox" wrote in message
...
I heard they were supposed to extend it east and eventually build a bridge
to
connect it to Sandy Hook...but AFAIK this is speculation. BTW, there is a
nice
new bike trail that extends from the entrance at Sandy Hook to Ft. Hancock
and
they might continue it around toward Gunnison Beach.


I heard the same thing earlier this year about connecting the current
eastern endpoint up with Sandy Hook. Also I think a Google search turned up
a couple of newspaper articles related to it (land acquisition, etc.) --
haven't looked lately. That will sure be nice if/when it happens. Those
rolling hills on NJ36 between Atlantic Highlands and the existing road
bridge can be killers (relatively speaking, of course) compared to the nice
limited grade a trail will probably have. Also the auto/truck traffic
whizzing by on 36 was a bit close for comfort a couple of times [busy
midsummer holiday weekend afternoon with 80+ degree weather], but we made it
with no problems. Some people have suggested an alternate route up past
Hartshorne (sp?) Park that avoids some of 36 but it looked pretty out of the
way to me although maybe I misunderstood what they meant.

When I was on the HH Trail around the beginning of July, I rode from
trailhead at Matawan/Aberdeen over to end of trail, then down through the
sidestreets around the docks & downtown of Atlantic Highlands (interesting
place) and then back over to NJ36 and onward to Sandy Hook. Once I got to
Sandy Hook, I rode on the bike trail you mentioned (not officially open yet
at that point, but there were lots of people using it that day) as far as it
went .... not quite to Ft. Hancock but certainly most of the way from what I
could tell. Nice trail but seemed awfully narrow. I'm pretty sure it was
opened "officially" not long after that.

"JerZ Fox" wrote in message
...
I heard they were supposed to extend it east and eventually build a bridge
to
connect it to Sandy Hook...but AFAIK this is speculation. BTW, there is a
nice
new bike trail that extends from the entrance at Sandy Hook to Ft. Hancock
and
they might continue it around toward Gunnison Beach.


I heard the same thing earlier this year about connecting the current
eastern endpoint up with Sandy Hook. Also I think a Google search turned up
a couple of newspaper articles related to it (land acquisition, etc.) --
haven't looked lately. That will sure be nice if/when it happens. Those
rolling hills on NJ36 between Atlantic Highlands and the existing road
bridge can be killers (relatively speaking, of course) compared to the nice
limited grade a trail will probably have. Also the auto/truck traffic
whizzing by on 36 was a bit close for comfort a couple of times [busy
midsummer holiday weekend afternoon with 80+ degree weather], but we made it
with no problems. Some people have suggested an alternate route up past
Hartshorne (sp?) Park that avoids some of 36 but it looked pretty out of the
way to me although maybe I misunderstood what they meant.

When I was on the HH Trail around the beginning of July, I rode from
trailhead at Matawan/Aberdeen over to end of trail, then down through the
sidestreets around the docks & downtown of Atlantic Highlands (interesting
place) and then back over to NJ36 and onward to Sandy Hook. Once I got to
Sandy Hook, I rode on the bike trail you mentioned (not officially open yet
at that point, but there were lots of people using it that day) as far as it
went .... not quite to Ft. Hancock but certainly most of the way from what I
could tell. Nice trail but seemed awfully narrow. I'm pretty sure it was
opened "officially" not long after that.