ROTTERDAM JUNCTION Unauthorized vehicles traveling bike path Cyclists, hikers say accident potential worrisome BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.
Hearing the buzz of an all-terrain vehicle or off-road motorcycle is becoming common along Rotterdam Junction’s swath of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail, according to some who regularly use the path. Some cyclists and hikers claim the unauthorized vehicles are frequenting a two-mile section much to the ire of the lawful users of the bike path. They worry the handful of ATV and dirt bike riders accessing the trail could someday lead to a devastating accident if they’re not stopped in short order. “Hell, one is too many,” said Roy Pechtel, a Duanseburg resident who regularly sees the vehicles cruising down the path while on walks with his wife. “What do we have to do, wait for them to run into somebody?” Using any motorized vehicle on the trail is illegal. There are signs posted along the trail specifying this. Yet Pechtel said he’s identifi ed nearly a dozen places where the trail has been accessed by motorized vehicles. He said he regularly encounters them heading toward Schenectady near Leggiero Lane and has alerted authorities at least three times this spring alone. “You can hear them coming from a mile away,” he said. Fred Thompson, a member of the Friends of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail, has also become accustomed to seeing the unwanted bike path interlopers. He said the stretch running through Rotterdam Junction is the only one where he sees motorized vehicles using the trail. “People use ATVs out there more than anywhere else on the trail,” he said. .............>>>>............>>>>.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01200&AppName=1
Logged
