State crews under the direction of trail manager Steve Oakes did a wonderful job this summer re-creating the Aqueduct trail in the short but important section between Lamartine Ave. and Bishop William J. Walls Place in Yonkers. It looks like it's always been there. It takes literally 3 minutes to walk the segment.
I recently went to see it; it's 15 minutes or less driving time straight south on Warburton Ave. from Hastings; then turn left onto Lamartine and park on that block. The segment is best seen now or soon, while the trees are still fully leafed out.
Walking south, after you get through the church-school parking lot you'll come to the new trail - a generously wide footpath, packed earth with stone dust and with green borders on either side now that the grass has grown in. As you pass through the new fencing, there is a small but nicely framed view of the Hudson and Palisades.
This short, restored part of the trail is very close to where the Aqueduct started turning east, indicated by an "OCA" green signpost at Bishop Walls Place whose arrow points diagonally, hinting at the turn that’s coming. Happily, Yonkers has fixed the previously unreadable, hanging-down street sign for Bishop William J. Walls Place. I wonder if this is the shortest street in Yonkers.
People need to use this bit of new footpath, a lot! - to establish it firmly as a public trail.
-- Charlotte Fahn
