Four Miles, $3.9 Million: Rochester’s Erie Canal Trail Reopens Between Lyell and Mount Hope as the Boating Season Ends
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Just days before the Erie Canal closed to boats for the winter, the towpath got its turn. On Tuesday, October 6, the New York State Canal Corporation reopened a four-mile stretch of the Erie Canalway Trail in Rochester, between Lyell Avenue and Mount Hope Avenue, following a $3.9 million rehabilitation.
The project, which closed the corridor for much of the construction season, delivered new paving and fencing, drainage improvements and accessibility upgrades intended to make the trail safer and more inclusive. The closure was the most visible of several trail projects the Canal Corporation has run this fall, from Rochester to the Utica Harbor Lock and a culvert replacement outside Rome.
An Economic Argument as Much as a Recreational One
At the reopening, Canal Corporation Director Ben Walsh framed the trail as infrastructure rather than amenity. “Having an accessible trailway network is an economic imperative,” Walsh said, describing it as a means of getting people to school and to work. Officials said the state’s trail network generates nearly $76 million in state and local tax revenue annually.
The setting made the point. This section of towpath runs past the University of Rochester, one of the region’s largest employers. University President Sarah Mangelsdorf said it was gratifying to see the state invest in the Canalway Trail, which she said continues to benefit communities through tourism, recreation and connections along the canal.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans placed the reopening alongside the city’s own waterfront investments, including the Genesee Riverway Trail. “We’re proud to keep creating more ways for people to experience Rochester by foot, by bike, and along the waterways,” Evans said.
A Season Ends, a Corridor Stays Open
The timing is a reminder of how the canal’s two lives overlap. The navigation season ended on Wednesday, October 14 — the 201st anniversary of the canal’s opening in 1825 — closing the 202nd season for boaters, and the Canal Corporation anticipates the 203rd will open in May. The trail, however, never closes for the winter in the way the locks do, and for walkers, cyclists, runners and commuters, the newly rebuilt Rochester section is open now.
That is the quiet continuity of the Erie Canal. Mules once walked this same corridor towing packet boats; today the towpath carries students, workers and weekend riders along the water that made Rochester a boomtown. Investment in the trail is, in a very real sense, investment in the canal’s next two centuries.
What to Know
The reopened section stretches roughly four miles between Lyell and Mount Hope avenues in Rochester. Other trail work continues elsewhere on the corridor, including a closure at the Utica Harbor Lock, so trail users should check Canal Corporation alerts before setting out on longer rides.