Onondaga Canalways Trail – Southeast Extension

What was the Challenge?

Onondaga County is one step closer to the long-anticipated day where Onondaga Lake will have a recreational trail encircling the entire lake perimeter. B&L has long been a partner of the County, helping to make this vision a reality. This project had to overcome numerous environmental/ecological hurdles; Murphy’s Island was a known contaminated parcel from prior industrial uses/filling and is a roosting ground for bald eagles. The project area also featured regulated wetlands which would need to be traversed.

How did Barton & Loguidice provide a solution?

This phase of the trail system constructed 1,980 linear feet of shared-use trail continuing the vision of the Loop the Lake Trail network encompassing Onondaga Lake. This segment of the Loop the Lake Trail brought trail users from the Syracuse Creekwalk trail head adjacent to Destiny USA onto Murphy’s Island, traversing the Onondaga Lake shoreline in the process. A minimum trail width of ten feet was maintained to support multimodal trail use and is ADA compliant.

Why was the project a success?

483 feet of wetland boardwalk (supported by 128 helical piles) were constructed as part of the project to mitigate impacts to the existing wetlands present on Murphy’s Island. Other environmental enhancements included installing aquatic plantings, root wads/basking logs, and 43 mature trees.