ELMSFORD - Cyclists and pedestrians finally have a continuous trail from Putnam County to New York City.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino on Tuesday opened the final segment of the South County Trailway in Elmsford, completing a decades-old effort to connect the 36.8-mile path from the Bronx to Putnam County.

"This isn’t the golden spike in the…transcontinental railroad but you know what? It is pretty close," Astorino said at a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the newly-paved stretch. "And for us it is kind of the golden spike where we can all be very proud of something that county residents use frequently and it really kind of defines us, too."

The new 0.6-mile stretch connects the trail from Warehouse Lane South in Greenburgh, passing underneath Interstate 287 and running parallel to a portion of the Saw Mill River, to the trail's pick-up point at West Main Street in Elmsford. Trail users will have to use the crosswalk at the intersection of Route 9A and West Main Street to cross the street.

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Cyclists and hikers previously had to travel alongside heavy traffic on industrial roads via Warehouse Lane and Vreeland Avenue or Route 9A.

The county legislature approved the estimated $2.75 million project in June 2016, and plans to complete the path were announced in August of that year.

The county began the trailway in 1981 as a 2-mile bike path on the former Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. The new portion connects the 14.1-mile South County Trailway, which runs from the New York City border in Yonkers to Eastview. The North County Trailway picks up the path in Eastview for 22 miles to the Putnam County border in Somers. An additional 12 miles of pathway continues to Brewster.

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