Erie Canalway, New York

The Erie Canalway is a system of paved and unpaved pathways that stretches across upstate New York for over 524 miles. This system of individual and often separate trails stretches from Buffalo to Albany. The trail goes through miles of the beautiful New York countryside and past a number of larger cities and numerous smaller communities.

Background

The Erie Canalway is part of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor that encompasses the historic canal system the connects Lake Erie with the Hudson River that leads to the Atlantic Ocean. This corridor is quite scenic and also has a variety of historic attractions along the route. The creation of the canal pre-dates the railroads and goes as far back as 1825. It has been a destination for cargo carriers and tourists alike with its locks and bridges and marvels in engineering.

Conditions

The Erie Canalway is open for non-motorized use such as bike riding, running and walking. The trail is paved in many of the urban areas, improved with compacted crushed stone in others and remains a natural unimproved pathway in others. The trail system is segmented and there are short gaps between the separate trail segments in some locations and extensive gaps in others.

Connecting Trails

The Erie Canalway intersects numerous other recreational trails along the way, especially in the urban areas of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

Buffalo: The Erie Canalway becomes the Riverwalk along the shores of the Niagara River. The Riverwalk connects to the Scajaquada Parkway Path at the bridge over to Unity Island. This route will take you up to the many trails in Delaware Park.

Tonawanda: The Erie Canalway connects to the Twomile Creek Trail on the southwest edge of town and to the Ellicott Creek Trail at Park Road.

Rochester: The Erie Canalway connects to the Genesee Valley Greenway, the Genesee Riverway Trail, the Lehigh Valley Trail in the area between Scottsville Road and Kendrick Road and just north of Interstate 390.

Pittsford: The Erie Canalway connects to the Lock 62 Trail just east of Clover Street.

Fairport: The Perinton Trolley Trail heads to the south from the Erie Canalway with its own bridge just southeast of Turk Hill Road.

Albany: The Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail is a 40-mile long section of the Erie Canalway trail system.

Communities

The Erie Canalway goes past the following communities: Buffalo, Tonawanda, Lockport, Middleport, Medina, Knowlesville, Eagle Harbor, Albion, Holley, Brockport, Spencer Port, Gates-North Gates, Rochester, Pittsford, Fairport, Macedon, Palmyra, Newark, Port Byron, Weeds Port, Memphis, Syracuse, Canastota, Oneida, Higginsville, Rome, Oriskany, Utica, Little Falls, Fort Hunter, Schenectady, Troy and Albany.

Endpoints

The west end of the Erie Canalway is located in Buffalo along the Niagara River and is known as The Riverwalk. The Riverwalk extends from Tonawanda to Downtown Buffalo and follows the shores of the Niagara River past a number of parks, connecting trails and other attractions.

The east end of the Erie Canalway is located near Downtown Albany. The endpoint is just south of the Dunn Memorial Bridge over the Hudson River at the east end of Market Street.