Officials are toying with the idea of a ferry that would take bicyclists across Bulwagga Bay to Port Henry.
CROWN POINT | Communities in the Essex County lake communities are gearing up for the Empire State bicycle trail, which is expected to be completed by the end of next year. Ticonderoga is preparing to become an Empire State trailhead, Port Henry is placing new bicycle racks in town and Crown Point is pushing a novel solution to a potential problem — a bicycle ferry that would run between the Crown Point State Historic Site across Bulwagga Bay to Port Henry.
The ferry would bypass the Rock Cuts, a narrow and dangerous stretch of Route 22 between Crown Point and Port Henry, which has been a concern of Essex County supervisors. But officials believe if the ferry were to come to fruition it could be a tourism draw in its own right.
MEETINGS
Town and tourism officials have been meeting informally to brainstorm the idea, which at this point is just in the talking stage.
“My concern is the concern of the rest of the supervisors,” Crown Point Supervisor Charles Harrington said. “Bicyclists traveling through the Rock Cuts are compromised. To fix it would take an investment by the state between Crown Point and Port Henry, but to date they haven’t done that.”
In spots, the road is squeezed so tightly between cliffs and railroad tracks that adding a bike lane would be a virtual impossibility. In other areas, a boardwalk could be built over Lake Champlain backwater, but it would be at obvious expense.
The Empire State Trail is a designated route running from New York City to Canada and from Albany to Buffalo. When it opens, the state projects it could attract 2,000 to 3,000 riders a year to the Champlain Valley.
A bicycle ferry runs successfully in Vermont, taking bikers around a breach in an old railroad causeway that is now a highly popular bike path.
“It’s not that difficult to get a boat and make it happen,” said a spokeswoman for the Local Motion Bike Ferry, which runs between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Securing the docks was the hardest part, but once they were in there was no particular problem with transport. That Vermont ferry is much shorter than a ferry across Bulwagga Bay would be — it’s about 200 feet and takes five minutes. The cost is $5 one way and $8 round trip. In recent years the ferry has carried between 14,000 and 18,000 bicyclists, which pays about half the costs of operation.
HISTORIC SITE
Harrington said a ferry would also be good for the historic site, home to the ruins of two 18th century forts, an attraction officials believe is underused. Riders who stay on the main road would miss the forts unless they ventured on a side trip of several miles.
Mary Jane Lawrence, chief of staff of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, said the Empire State Trail will offer a number of opportunities to promote communities along the Adirondack coast.
“There’s great potential here, and a lot of beauty that we take for granted,” she said. “The bike trail offers opportunities to promote the area, and once you have the assets in place it creates a demand. That’s how communities grow.”
A ferry could be such an asset, serving not just the Empire Trail riders, but also bicyclists who might want to bike the forts, traveling from Port Henry to Crown Point to Ticonderoga. Riders could also cross the bay to Crown Point and then continue over the bridge to Vermont, experiences that Lawrence said present good marketing opportunities.
“A family could ride the ferry (to Crown Point) and spend the whole day at the fort,” Harrington said. “You wouldn’t even need a bike.”
