Daniel Axelrod is reporting for the Times Herald-Record the Open Space Institute, the Wallkill Valley Land Trust and the Hudson River Valley Greenway, are a month away from finishing a $1.5 million project to improve the northern 9.5-mile stretch of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, it was announced October 13. In Ulster County, the local trail section begins at Cragswood Road in New Paltz, running through the towns of Rosendale and Ulster, and ends at Route 32 in the city of Kingston. The focus has been on the former rail lines that have become Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, Hudson Valley Rail Trail, O&W Rail Trail, and trails along the Ulster & Delaware Railroad corridor, including the Ashokan Rail Trail. By the end of the year, Ulster County leaders say they'll have made significant progress toward the long-term goal of creating a network of interconnected multi-use trails. Through a series of local, county and state projects, including the nearly completed Empire State Trail, much of the county’s rail trail system will be linked. Also by year-end most of the state’s nearly 4-year-old initiative to create the Empire Rail Trail is expected to be complete. That 750-mile project spans the state, allowing bikers and hikers to travel from New York City to Canada and from Buffalo to Albany. Read the full story at poughkeesiejournal [dot] com.