Happy to see the reroute avoiding the PIP crossing in Harriman Park

[ETtrailrunner]

Several years ago I contacted the NY/NJ Trail Conference about re-routing the A.T. to avoid the highway crossing (PIP). Their response was that 'it's not really a problem since you're crossing only one direction at a time. When I crossed on my 'thru-hike' across the park, I hit it at a good time, but I couldn't imagine crossing the highway during the rush, especially at dusk or later.
So they finally re-routed over 1779 and AW to cross on the bridge at Anthony Wayne. You miss out on the West Mountain ridge, but honestly, it's not so spectacular, except during the fall with the leaves; and you now have a much longer hike off the A.T. on the TT (blue) to get to the shelter at the south end of the ridge, but I think the re-route makes a lot of sense.
I just hope that it wasn't an accident involving a hiker that finally got them to do the reroute.

Ethan

[justhike]

Unfortunately, it was a death of a hiker at that intersection in November 2021 that spurred the reroute.
Not a backpacker, but a day hiker. Occurred mid-day. The woman's family crossed ahead of her, and she, apparently wrongly confident because they were already across or mostly across, and a vehicle in the right lane had slowed/stopped, moved to cross and did not take the independent care to look for a car coming in the left lane (and that driver's view of her was blocked by the vehicle in the right lane until it was too late). No charges were filed against the driver (no speeding, no impairment).

[LazyLightning]

Besides the shelter, I think it also takes away some of, if not the only view of NYC (on a clear day). Too bad a bridge wasn't in the cards but it is what it is. At least the old trail is still there if you want to take it and at least the reroute doesn't add any road walking. A cross walk with a light that is only signaled by hikers would have made more sense then a bridge and wouldn't be signaled too often to make a big traffic problem there.

[ETtrailrunner]

It's a shame that someone had to die before the reroute was made; that said, many day hikers will take the shortcut across the highway anyway - they're not concerned about thru-hiking every foot of the A.T.
I think I did suggest a bridge for hikers in my e-mail to NY/NJ TC, but a light would be a much less expensive option - so long as there is plenty of advance warning for drivers that the light is red. Not difficult to implement with wireless technology and solar panels.
I'm sure I wasn't the only one who brought up the subject of the hazard. I hope that those who make the decisions will be more proactive in the future.

[Starchild]

...I think it also takes away some of, if not the only view of NYC (on a clear day).....

Not the only view spot, a very popular one is just AT-N on Bear Mtn, and also one before on the other sides of the PIP, I think it's called Black mtn, but I forget. As for the 3, Black(?), West, Bear, West is the least spectacular views of the man made monstrosity called NYC.

[LittleRock]

I did the Harriman section a few months before the tragedy occurred. I crossed the PIP at morning rush hour, and though it was busy and traffic was moving very fast, I didn't find it to be terribly difficult, because a) you only have to watch one direction at a time and b) the sight lines in either direction were very long (at least 1/4 mile in either direction). I had a lot more difficulty with PA 183 south of Port Clinton - 4 lanes with 55 mph traffic and on a curve with short (~100 yard) sight lines.

[HankIV]

I usually just tunnel under the road using my trowel.

[ETtrailrunner]

The reroute could have used the 'ski' trail which runs south from Anthony Wayne, then the old AT route up onto West Mtn. That's the route the RD trail now uses, so why not the AT?
The only negative I can think of for doing that is that it adds about 2mi to the AT, and that the ski trail gets very wet much of the time.

[Daybreak]

It would be a possibility but would add at least an additional mile to the reroute. Most of the R.D. trail is on an old road (closed??) and roads within the the recreation area. Partner organizations have spent decades moving the trail off roads. Even closed roads attract bikes and ATVs. For those hikers spending the night at West shelter or desiring to walk the ridge it does pass by potable water, picnic tables and probably toilets.

The temporary reroute will stay in place "until a permanent route is determined by state park staff". A Spring 2022 map shows the crossing closed but not necessarily the trail to the road. This was still posted on the trail in June 2023. Spring 2023 and August 2023 maps no longer show the earlier official trail. The ATC no longer shows the reroute as an update or detour on their website and was included in the 2023 mileage. There is still a detour around Bear mtn where the trail/road is damaged and a large area of the park closed due to the July floods as of early October. The detour on the October map saves 0.7 miles and a large climb/descent.

The official reroute lengthens the AT by 3.0 miles. (1hr at 3mph, 1.5hr min at 2 mph). According to the ATC: "Hikers looking to experience even more of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) in 2023 have a reason to celebrate: the official A.T. length is 2,198.4 miles adding 4.1 miles to the world's most famous hiking footpath."

The shelter is now "1.3 miles" from the reroute via 0.5 miles on the old AT plus the previous "0.8 miles" to the shelter (some sources list this at 0.6 and 0.65 miles). (additional 15-20 minutes each way). Personally, I didn't care for this shelter but I did have it to myself in July many years ago.

In addition to crossing the same creek near the parkway, there is now seasonal potable water at the recreation area (maybe 0.2 miles)

There are alternatives to the official reroute (Fawn trail) and detour(road) that will save an additional 0.3 and 0.5 miles. If hiking in this area, I would download the reroute and detour maps. There are many of these shortcuts all along the trail in addition to many longer routes and side trails. Some more scenic, some less.

[BradMT]

I usually just tunnel under the road using my trowel.

What's it weigh?

[HankIV]

Trowel only about 5 ozs, but my Steve Austin arm is about 10 lbs. but man is it fast. Sometimes I have to dip my trowel in a bucket of water to keep it from melting.

[jomo1983]

this was part of the first AT hike I ever did. Dashing across the PIP can be hairy. I know from having worked a few summers in Harriman that the weekend attendance was around 30,000 visitors per day, almost all by car. No idea how they made it this long before the inevitable tragedy occurred.

[MichaelK7]

What doesn't make sense to me is that they rerouted those two trails, but the 1779 and Red Cross trails still cross the Palisades where they always have. I just did the Red Cross 2 weeks ago, and did not find it a problem crossing at all (it was a Sunday afternoon about 1:00 or so). I actually had a much longer wait trying to cross the Palisades earlier in the day on the SBM trail heading to Pingyp Mountain. Thankfully, that crossing only requires you to run across one direction of traffic, as the other direction is under an overpass that you use.
But I will say that the worst road crossing in Harriman is the Long Path going over 6- I've waited up to a half hour for it to be safe to cross there...