Frequently Asked Questions

The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail is a proposed 7.5-mile linear park along the shoreline of the Hudson River. It is being designed to offer safe, convenient, and welcoming park access to people of all ages and abilities; connect people to the ecology and rich history of the Hudson Highlands; and inspire appreciation of nature through immersion in the four distinct landscape types of the region.

Beginning approximately fifty miles north of New York City and winding along the eastern shore of the Hudson River across from USMA at West Point and Storm King Mountain, the Fjord Trail will serve as a connection to some of New York State’s most popular day hikes in the iconic landscape of Hudson Highlands Park Preserve. This new “park within the park” will be managed by Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, Inc., an independently funded nonprofit. Most of the trail will be located on either public land, notably New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and Metro-North Railroad property, or on existing parkland owned by Scenic Hudson.

HHFT will connect two thriving communities; three Metro-North train stations; trail users from local communities, the greater Hudson Valley, New York City, and beyond; to natural beauty, to history, and to each other.

The main trail will join the Village of Cold Spring and the City of Beacon, making it possible for hikers, bikers, and runners to enjoy a safe and scenic route between these two Hudson Valley destinations. The route creates numerous possibilities for recreation, reflection, and celebration along the way, including scenic overlooks to mountain and river views, a forest canopy walk, a waterfront promenade, restored beaches, and a marsh exploration area.

Along the way, HHFT visitors can connect with the rugged hiking trails of Hudson Highlands State Park, smaller, side meandering paths and spaces for gathering, as well as tranquil places of quiet solitude.

At the center of the trail, the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Visitor Center, located in the historic Dutchess Manor building, will welcome and orient visitors. At the Visitor Center, as well as at various locations along the trail, a range of interactive exhibits, programs, and special events will provide engaging ways to connect people with the history and ecology of the region.

The key concepts for this project were developed in the Village of Cold Spring and Town of Philipstown nearly twenty years ago – big projects like this take time to pull together! Some of the central planning documents that informed the Fjord Trail route and vision include:

• Route 9D Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan (2006)
• Town of Philipstown Hudson Fjord Hike/Bike Capital Improvements Feasibility Study (2007)
• Village of Cold Spring Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (2011)
• Village of Cold Spring Comprehensive Plan (2012)
• Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Master Plan (2015)
• Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Master Plan (updated; 2020)

The current vision reflects the culmination of years of planning, community input, and technical analysis. As we go from master plan to site plan, there will be additional opportunities to shape how this project materializes.

The project started as a grassroots effort by Cold Spring/Philipstown residents to improve pedestrian and motorist safety along State Route 9D. Large numbers of hikers walk along the high-speed highway in order to access Breakneck Ridge and the Wilkinson Memorial Trailheads, with no shoulder or pedestrian space to keep people out of the travel lanes. Residents met and began forming a coalition that led the way in concept development for the Fjord Trail, eventually growing to a nineteen-member Steering Committee.

In addition to addressing the critical safety needs of pedestrians on Route 9D, including those that arrive at the Breakneck Ridge train station, the Fjord Trail is being designed to serve as a visitor management strategy for the region. Visitation has increased annually and currently exceeds the infrastructure and service capacity of the small historic Village of Cold Spring.

The Fjord Trail will ease the burden of trailbound visitation on the Village of Cold Spring by:

• creating an alternate pedestrian access route that channels hikers who arrive by train directly to the trail and away from Main Street
• providing additional parking and entry points north of Cold Spring to pull hiker parking away from the Village
• operating a shuttle system to facilitate travel among trailheads, designated parking areas, and the three train stations within the project area 

Together, these improvements – along with new restrooms, trash and recycling collection, and wayfinding – will help improve quality of life for local residents by reducing the impacts of weekend congestion on the community.

HHFT is also working to enhance quality of life for locals by offering a wide array of new recreational and educational opportunities: longer runs and bike rides, with the ability to vary one’s route from day to day, a trail that meets accessibility standards and can be enjoyed by people using wheelchairs and other mobility devices, as well as spaces along the trail designed to foster nature discovery. These will support local health and wellness, aging in place, and youth learning and enrichment.

Lastly, both locals and visitors will have a safe way to travel by bicycle between Beacon and Cold Spring, helping to decrease carbon emissions.

HHFT's design team, environmental experts, and state agencies are working to create a trail that will enhance access to the splendors of the Hudson Highlands, restore habitat, and improve resiliency to climate change. Here are just some of the ways that HHFT is working to preserve the landscape and address existing impacts of heavy visitation:

• Inventorying and avoiding rare or sensitive habitats as part of the site planning process
• Repairing habitat infringement by closing unauthorized social trails and keeping people on trail
• Replacing invasive species with native plantings within the project area
• Fostering the re-establishment of submerged aquatic vegetation by creating planted shelves at important locations along the Shoreline Trail to establish migration routes for vegetation as water levels rise

Yes! The Fjord Trail project underwent environmental review under New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), with NY State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) serving as lead agency. Many evaluations, inventories, and studies—including evaluating habitat, projecting visitation, studying traffic impacts, completing an archeological field inventory—resulted in a robust and thorough environmental review document.

The process included a 90-day public comment period and a two-session public hearing.

To learn about the SEQRA process and read Lead Agency OPRHP’s Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) for the project, visit our SEQRA Process page.

A coalition of nineteen dedicated and knowledgeable entities, including governmental agencies, local municipalities, and respected nonprofit organizations, came together as the HHFT Steering Committee. This group of stakeholders worked together for years leading up to the publishing of the DGEIS.

See our Steering Committee page for a listing with links to Steering Committee members’ websites.

You may also wish to check out the Design Team working to bring the Fjord Trail project to life.

Countless volunteers and community organizations are also involved in various aspects of the project. Looking to get involved? Visit our Get Involved with the Fjord Trail page.

The Fjord Trail capital project is being primarily funded through the generosity of a private family foundation with additional support from other private donors and grants from New York State.

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, HHFT will rely on private contributions, grant funding, and revenue from parking and shuttle fees to fuel our operational budget. As a nonprofit subsidiary of Scenic Hudson, Inc., we are also grateful to have this regional conservation powerhouse behind us. To ensure that our operational budget meets the needs of excellent park stewardship, we are also fortunate to be building an operating reserve fund that will help support operations annually and provide a safety net to ensure that park maintenance continues seamlessly, should the organization ever experience a difficult revenue year.

One of the goals of the Fjord Trail is to ease existing visitor congestion by creating destinations along the trail that draw visitors north of Cold Spring and Breakneck, as well as to provide a trail by which congestion in popular areas can be diffused.

As a linear park with multiple entry points, the Fjord Trail is carefully designed to manage visitation, including through additional parking areas, public restrooms, and clear wayfinding that aim to reduce the strain of heavy visitation in small communities.

In 2021, New York State Parks estimated annual visitation to all destinations in Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve (HHSP) was 480,000. Consultants with expertise in recreational management have projected that there will be 637,000 total annual visits to the Fjord Trail in 2033, after the main trail – including new entry points north of Cold Spring, restrooms, parking, trash collection, and expanded staff to maintain all of it – is in place.

More than half of the projected visits represent hikers or park users who would visit their trail or park of choice whether the Fjord Trail is built or not, but would walk on the Fjord Trail to get there once it is built; would add it on to their already-planned visit; or would shift their visit from another park or trail in the immediate area to the Fjord Trail instead. New visits directly attributable to the Fjord Trail are projected to be 268,700 annually. The projection numbers denote unique visits, by locals and non-locals, across the full planned 7.5 miles trail and six main entry points, over the course of an entire year — not the total number of individual people visiting the shared use path. Most users are repeat visitors (on average, each individual generates over eight individual visits each year). Thus, these annual visitation figures correspond to a much lower number of individual people. For example, a single daily runner from Beacon or Cold Spring could generate up to 365 visits over the course of one year.

This projection was refined with input from a volunteer Visitation Data Committee, who—with support from an independent third-party consultant—was charged with reviewing and assessing HHFT’s visitation projection and pedestrian and traffic counts. The committee reached consensus on this projected number. The committee included representatives from Beacon, Fishkill, Cold Spring, Nelsonville, and Philipstown, appointed by their respective municipalities.

Given the permeable nature of Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve, we know that limiting usage of trails presents challenges.

As we continue to explore strategies to manage usage in certain highly popular locations, like Breakneck, we are considering several different visitation management options, including timed entry, a reservation system, and/or capping visitation daily.

Once the Breakneck Connector is completed, we will begin using trail counters at the trailhead. The data we collect will be an important part of dynamically refining our ongoing visitor management plan.

We will work in collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to determine the right approach.

The first iteration of the Fjord Trail design by RBA included a plan for hikers to travel through the Village of Cold Spring after disembarking the train or parking, making their way up Main Street and along Fair Street to Little Stony Point, the Cornish Trail, and beyond. This was desired by the Village leadership, businesses and residents at the time the plan was being developed (2014). By 2016, when the environmental review started, visitation had increased, which changed local perspectives. Feedback from local residents at that time indicated that they considered the route through the Village potentially invasive to Cold Spring neighborhoods, as it would add unnecessary congestion to Main Street, where shopkeepers and restaurateurs wanted earnest customers. HHFT took this feedback seriously.

We went back to the drawing board and looked at the Village plans, which highlighted improvements to Dockside Park and a Riverfront Trail that would connect from Dockside to Little Stony Point. The mayor at that time helped implement a community survey to ask residents about route preferences, and the route to Dockside was deemed the most acceptable by residents.

The current preferred route will bring hikers from the train station along the waterfront to Dockside Park, which is part of the public Hudson Highlands State Park. Those who choose instead to meander along Main Street to shop and dine will still be able to do so. In this way, visitor flow will be split, further reducing congestion.

The land where HHFT’s Shoreline Trail is planned, starting at Dockside Park, is currently owned by Metro-North Railroad. Both Dockside Park and Little Stony Point are part of the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve. At Dockside, public restrooms and trash receptacles maintained by HHFT staff are planned. Once Dockside is incorporated into the Fjord Trail, stewardship and operational management—and their related expenses—will become the responsibility of HHFT, removing this burden from the Village of Cold Spring.

The Breakneck Connector and Bridge was determined to have independent utility from the larger project. This means, independent of the larger project, the improvements at Breakneck provide value as a stand-alone project that addresses an existing situation in need of a solution. The Breakneck Connector implements safety and infrastructure improvements at Metro-North Railroad’s Breakneck Ridge station (new platforms, wayfinding, connection paths, parking, etc.) and safely connects pedestrians arriving by car or train to their chosen trailhead destination (Breakneck or Wilkinson). The bridge provides the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with vehicular access to their drainage chamber, which has been lacking since Route 9D was re-routed from going around Breakneck Point through the tunnel in the 1920s. It is critical to DEP’s ability to maintain the aqueduct that provides NYC with 40% of its drinking water.

The rest of the Fjord Trail project advanced through its own environmental review, with a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) and a site-specific EIS for the Shoreline Trail. The FGEIS references Breakneck Connector and Bridge as part of the larger master plan vision. While the Dutchess Manor Visitor Center is also referenced in the FGEIS, this aspect of the project is undergoing its own specific regulatory process through the Town of Fishkill.

The focus of the new Master Plan has been expanded in several important ways:

1. Broadened scope of improvements beyond a trail, as visitation is not limited to Breakneck hikers.
2. An increased focus on accessibility; designing to ADA and AGODA standards to ensure a resource for all, in alignment with OPRHP’s commitment to accessibility.
3. Management. The 2015 Master Plan saw management and maintenance by OPRHP, but their staff capacity is limited. Now, HHFT, Inc. will build, operate, and maintain the new “park within the park.”
4. Visitor amenities. With a fully staffed entity responsible for operations, HHFT is planning public restrooms, garbage collection, parking lots, a shuttle service, and a Visitor Center to help welcome and orient visitors. Management of these amenities will not fall to local communities.

The Breakneck Connector section has all of the design elements of the 2015 version, plus a few more! The original design, which was developed with a committee that included NYS DOT and local emergency response personnel, was created to make the corridor safer for pedestrians, cars, and cyclists. The design included limited formal parallel parking, an improved off-road parking lot, enhanced 20-foot train platforms, a new structure for the trail stewards to welcome and orient hikers, and a trail. Dedicated emergency responder parking was built into the design both on-road and in the parking area.

All of those design features are still present, with a few modifications and additions:

• A second off-road parking lot
• 40-foot platforms instead of 20-foot platforms at the train station to facilitate faster disembarking
• A “scramble bank” to provide seating and space for those arriving by train to gather and disperse without blocking the trail for other users
• A “stream bank” to help move and catch stormwater working its way down the steep mountain in a way that is better performing than the current condition
• Restrooms – eight composting toilets in two small buildings
• Trailhead relocation – the Breakneck Trailhead has been moved slightly uphill to ensure groups are not gathering near the mouth of the tunnel, where motorist visibility is poor
• Limited lighting for safety, predominantly at the Breakneck Ridge Metro-North station

Two of the biggest changes came from feedback provided from 2015 to 2017, which make the Breakneck Connector a more comprehensive project:

1. Bridge: In 2015, discussions began with DEP about their need for a vehicular access point to their drainage facility and the Fjord Trail’s need for a bridge over the tracks. HHFT has included the bridge in the Breakneck Scope, as the footings are in the Breakneck project area and construction will need to advance at the same time.
2. Upper Overlook: The Jolly Rovers had been in discussion with OPRHP about stabilizing the initial sections of Breakneck Trail, which were showing significant erosion due to heavy use. Budget and land ownership patterns with Metro-North Railroad would not allow that work to advance at the time. We folded the design into the Fjord Trail scope – stone stairs up to the first overlook just over the tunnel and a stabilized section of the early ascent scramble. We also closed several social trails and made improvements to keep people on established paths at the overlook and the Breakneck Trail. This is also the location of the new Trail Steward Station. This work was completed in mid-2023.

These are both current issues that we’re working to help manage with this project!

We have a three-part strategy:

1. Adding and relocating parking. We are formalizing and reducing parking at Breakneck to help with traffic safety on Route 9D, but we are adding parking north of Breakneck – served by a shuttle that can bring people to Breakneck or other points of entry. The shuttle system will allow users to park in areas outside existing community centers and provide incentives to use it.
2. Encouraging train arrival. There will be three train stations within walking distance to the Fjord Trail area, which means there are opportunities to shift some travel behavior from car to train where possible. We’ll be working closely with Metro-North to see how we can promote this and perhaps also provide incentives to do so.
3. Improving road system function. Much can be done with wayfinding, smart street lights, and traffic calming measures, to help move traffic safely and more efficiently. We’re working with DOT to understand existing and potential future issues and developing ideas for improvement.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parking behavior on Route 9D increased to new levels of chaos and congestion. What used to be excessive parallel parking on either side of the road became nose-in parking, with people backing into the high-speed highway. Reducing parking in this area is necessary, but visitation at Breakneck is not expected to decrease in the future, so removing all parking on 9D would likely just increase congestion in other areas.

HHFT’s new Breakneck Connector will implement a five-point strategy of traffic-calming improvements in the mile area north of the Breakneck tunnel. This includes:

1. A new “Welcome to Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve” gateway sign on the hill as drivers descend southbound toward Breakneck, signaling the entry to a recreational area
2. Vegetated bump-outs to provide a safe space for pedestrians to gather as they wait to cross the road
3. New crosswalks to control and direct street crossing behavior, which is currently chaotic
4. Sidewalks to provide a safe walking route to the nearest crosswalk for those exiting their cars
5. Formal parallel parking spaces, which will remove the opportunity for unsafe and illegal nose-in parking and constricting the road in a way that alerts drivers to slow down. Whereas 250 cars might have squeezed themselves along the road in the past, the new design will allow for 69 cars in painted, formal parallel parking spaces. An additional 34 spaces will be created in small parking lots, the total number of cars parked in that area will be greatly reduced with people directed to find overflow parking at the HHFT Visitor Center at Dutchess Manor and other points north and take the HHFT shuttle.

The total number of cars parked in that area will be greatly reduced with people directed to find overflow parking at the former Dutchess Manor and other points north and take the HHFT shuttle.

These measures will eliminate the haphazard parking and congestion that has made for dangerous and stressful conditions for locals and visitors along Route 9D. With this entire package of improvements installed, DOT has agreed to lower the speed limit to 40 mph, which will also improve safety.

Yes! Making the Fjord Trail accessible and welcoming to all—people with disabilities, elders, families with small children—is one of the project’s main goals.

To that end, the Main Trail is being designed to follow Accessibility Guidelines for Federal Outdoor Development Areas (AGODA).

All trailheads will include ADA-complaint restroom facilities and there will be dedicated ADA-compliant parking spaces in all planned parking lots. The Dutchess Manor building, including the HHFT Visitor Center and offices, will also be ADA-compliant.

There will be restrooms at all major entries to the trail.

Restrooms will be ADA-compliant and will also be situated near other amenities such as wayfinding, information kiosks, and bicycle tune-up stations.

The project’s first major milestone took place in summer 2021 with the partnership between HHFT and OPRHP that created the Nimham Trail, connecting the viewpoint at the flagpoles on Breakneck Ridge to Wilkinson Memorial Trail. This included rerouting part of the Wilkinson Trail to resolve erosion issues. This trail creates a safe and clear path down the mountain to the Wilkinson Trailhead and will reduce the ecological damage of trail spreading and erosion created by hikers getting lost or trying to cut their route short when they return to the Breakneck parking lot.

In 2023, improvements at Breakneck Ridge Trailhead and Upper Overlook were completed, which included the relocation of the trailhead farther up Breakneck Ridge, repair of eroding trail surfaces, improved stormwater management along the trail, installation of stone steps leading up to the Breakneck ascent, and construction of a new Trail Steward Station. This initial work at Upper Overlook marked the launch of Phase 1: Breakneck Connector & Bridge of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail.

Work on the Breakneck Connector and Bridge commenced in spring 2025. HHFT anticipates this section of the project opening to the public in 2027. Trail and train closure information and a schedule for completion is being communicated to the public through a coordinated effort among project partners. Please visit breakneck.info for closure information and regular project updates.

Visit our Roadmap to Completion page for more information on the progress of other parts of the project.