Franklin Borough could become 'crucial hub' with plan for bike path

FRANKLIN - The idea of making Sussex County a center in North Jersey for bicycle touring along old railroad tracks looks to be getting a boost with Franklin Borough looking favorably on a cooperative effort with the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

Speaking at a recent joint meeting of the Borough Council and the Planning Board, Josh Osowski said the state is looking for a cooperative effort from the borough to update the former railroad to add to the about 200 miles of the existing rail-to-trail within the county.

Osowski is superintendent of parks for northern New Jersey which includes Kittatinny Valley State Park that oversees most of the trails in Sussex and northern Warren County.

At one time there were four railroads which owned track running into or through Franklin, said Phil Crabb, borough historian and former borough councilman and Sussex County freeholder (now called commissioner). He is also a railroad history buff.

"Look at what they've done in Lambertville," he said. "It's increased values of adjacent properties," and also become a tourist attraction.

Such an effort to connect Franklin to the existing rail-to-trail network and, he said, Franklin could become "a crucial hub" for development around that tourist trade.

And there are plenty of tourists available should the route be cleared and attractions, such as B&B facilities, restaurants, lodges and even bicycle equipment shops.

Using Route 23, which passes through Franklin and Interstate 80, the George Washington Bridge is less than 50 miles away, according to Google maps.

"Work has been accomplished," he said of pre-meeting talks and memos, "and there is a vision of what could be."

Crabb is an optimist and said a joint project "looks to have a future."

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While there are no details of just how the arrangement would work, or be financed, Osowski said that at the moment, his request is for work to be done jointly by parks employees or contractors and the borough's Department of Public Works.

The state does not currently have any funds to offset the costs for Franklin's work, but said that his department has gotten word from the state that "there might be some reimbursement for DPW."

He also noted that Green and Andover townships have used their public works employees to work with the state to clear and maintain the trails within their boundaries.

In answer to a Cork Hill Road farmer, the parks director said the state already owns most of the right-of-way for the link which comes north from Ogdensburg and parallels Cork Hill Road and ends near the Littell Bridge. The New York Susquehanna and Western Railway still operates on tracks which come through the borough from the west and head north.

According to Crabb, the town used to host railroads operated by the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway, the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the Mine Hill Railroad which was operated for a time by the Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad.

It is that old line which the state is looking to now convert.

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If opened, the new piece will make connections with the Sussex Branch Trail and the Paulinskill Valley Trail. Those trails, and the Great Valley and Wallkill Valley account for nearly 100 miles of bike trails built along old railroad rights-of-way.

Crabb also noted that in past years the state's Green Acres program purchased some of the old railroad tracks that fed the borough's population and mines. It is possible some of that land could be linked into the proposed project.

He said there are a couple of places where tunnels which allowed the railroad to cross under Route 94 have been filed in over the years, one near Sussex County Technical School and the other further north on Route 94.

The borough Planning Board was asked to the council's meeting to hear about the plans. That board would have a major voice in granting approvals to development along the old rail lines in Franklin as well as other tourist-related developments in the borough.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Franklin NJ Borough plan moves forward for rail-to-trail