Six Mile Red Trail Closure, Please Read
- Thread starter stb222
- Start date
This is the best solution but again, something of that magnitude ain't gonna happen overnight. The reason i thought i heard from YEARS ago when this section was "soft closed" was that the trail popped out on Canal Rd and that was dangerous. Closing this section and riding on MORE of Canal Rd to "complete the loop" does seem counterintuitive but i don't think "completing the loop" is something that the park understands or cares about. They don't think like a rider and just see plenty of non-directional trail. JORBA needs to make its case and work this out through the proper channels.
rjr44
Well-Known Member
no apologies needed, lots of info to sift thru
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Super surprised a shoulder or path wasn't put in during the rebuild as it is. Shows how low priority cycling in general is.
That is our perception. If we were developing a trail plan for that area without any existing trails, dumping riders out onto Canal would not be a viable option. From a liability standpoint I can see clearly why it was closed.
It doesn't help that the trail built without permission, and with a handful of very much unsustainable sections.
ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
As the “Why?” of the closure is being discussed in this thread, I’m having recollections of the community being told, long ago, that this section encroaches on private property.
Somerset County is responsible for Canal Rd. Their Roadway Safety Study (Dec. '21) mentions the word bicycle 144 times, and has people on bikes displayed on the cover. How many Somerset County residents attend meetings and give feedback on unsafe roads like Canal, Jacques and many others in that area? Canal Rd. is listed at 17 in the top 20 crash prone areas of the county in the study.
We've tried to crest 1000 annual members in JORBA for over 10 years with no luck. The cycling industry has tons of issues, and lack of a unified voice in nearly every advocacy situation is one of them.
ekuhn
Well-Known Member
The County only maintains a small section of Canal Rd. The section at the Park is Franklin Township responsibly.
Edit: FYI Tour de Franklin just put 3-400 riders down this section of Canal Rd on Sunday.
While I am not a bike / ped planner, I do work in a bike / ped planning department. Like anything in NJ and at state, county and municipal levels, there is a long list of issues to be addressed and the squeaky wheel always gets the lube. In bike / ped planning that means pedestrian fatalities. Funding is directed to the areas with the most incidents and everything below the top 3 just stays on the list and the top thing is the most serious issue in a given period.
I just looked up that section of Canal Road and Jacques Lane and they both have a functional classification of local, meaning that they are not eligible for federal funding. The jurisdiction of these roadways in municipal, which is Franklin Township.
Furthermore, the Walk, Bike and Hike Plan from Somerset Count does not identify this area as a crash hot spot (hot spots are orange and red:
It does show 6 mile as an existing trail
Yet it you notice, the scale and symbology is such that it makes it look like the nose of the dragon connects to the towpath (on the opposite side of the canal)
Also, it does rate these roads on the level of stress map
Jacques level of stress = 2 (likely because of the low traffic volume)
Canal level of stress = 4 (the highest)
While the county has a interest in all of the roads in their county, these roads are under municipal jurisdiction. To put this in perspective, the level with the least amount of funding and resources. Not saying connections to bigger funding sources can't be made, but it is starting at the bottom of the food chain.
To my knowledge, no.
I quoted the county study mostly to address the bridge question, with an advocacy gripe mixed in. The county engineering department is responsible for major projects such a bridges like this, no? Great info re: stress levels, etc. too, thanks for posting it.
it traverses in and out of the leased farmland parcels next to the adjacent park parcels. It is all state park land, but the lease is probably where that info came from.
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Ian F
Well-Known Member
I remember this trail being "closed" many years ago, but as mentioned earlier, use was "tolerated". Pretty much since I first started riding there back in the mid-00s. We always knew this day was coming.
Riding on Jaques and Canal is NOT required. You can simply take Red back to Blue and back-track Blue to the lot. Will I miss that section of Red? For sure - it has some of the most technical sections of the park and I always felt good when I was able to clean all of the steep climbs. However, the new loop will now be longer - and to be frank, I basically never rode Blue in the direction back to the lot, so it will all feel pretty new to me.
So... I'll live.
In the meantime, if the Park is open to rebuilding the trail to make sections of it less technical... and are open to a crowd-funded bridge over the creek, I'm willing to donate some $$ to the cause.
Riding on Jaques and Canal is NOT required. You can simply take Red back to Blue and back-track Blue to the lot. Will I miss that section of Red? For sure - it has some of the most technical sections of the park and I always felt good when I was able to clean all of the steep climbs. However, the new loop will now be longer - and to be frank, I basically never rode Blue in the direction back to the lot, so it will all feel pretty new to me.
So... I'll live.
In the meantime, if the Park is open to rebuilding the trail to make sections of it less technical... and are open to a crowd-funded bridge over the creek, I'm willing to donate some $$ to the cause.
I'm not sure it was built w/o permission?????? there was a culvert under the terminus at canal Rd which was pulled up. it must have had a purpose - unless the illegal build was that organized????
History was probably lost. The trail is significantly different from 10 years ago. Storms and natural (well, rider induced) erosion have taken a toll.
Not sure that is even important to now and future tho.
a while back I was looking at used, flatbed train cars as a bridge option - just a bit too short, and need serious abutments.
we will stay positive - there has to be a solution.
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ekuhn
Well-Known Member
The County contols typical bridges, this one I believe is under the jurisdiction of the water commission as they were the ones that funded the recent repair.
This is the way. The expectation is to get back what was there, however, maybe bigger and better things are on the horizon.
Juggernaut
Master of the Metaphor
When I first rode SixMile there used to be a rarely used “trail” behind the house that meandered around and went close to the brook. I wanna say yellow? Anyway, I wonder if we could propose to recover that trail, make whatever improvements necessary to make it sustainable and if need be, extend it to a location somewhere near the Jacques Lane area suitable for a “crossing” . A bridge would probably be necessary, but honestly, at some level, I kinda miss the “feet wet” stream crossings we used to have.
Yelow. It was a swamp.
Hair Face
Well-Known Member
Maybe now is a good time for a shameless plug in some of the Facebook groups? (thinking YDK) There has been some talk on group pages about the trail closure and letting people know that JORBA is engaged and could use more support wouldn't hurt.
GSTim
Formerly M3Tim
Maybe modular prefab like this?
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