LDSA Maple City Rail Trail Connector

Winding along the City of Ogdensburg northern shore of the Oswegatchie River is the 2.2-mile long Maple City Multi-Purpose Trail.  The trail starts at the Ogdensburg Visitors’ Center, goes up and over the Spring Street Bridge, continues along the southern shore of the river, looping back with access at various locations.

The Maple City Rail Trail Connector Project is the renovation of the abandoned railroad bridge over the Oswegatchie River with the purpose of extending and looping of the existing Maple City Multi-Purpose Trail.  The project will begin at the southwest terminus of the existing Maple City Trail, cross the abandoned railroad bridge, and then provide a connection from the bridge to State Highway 812. The approximately $2 million project utilizes the abandoned Black Bridge Railroad Trestle and received an Empire State Development grant of $250,000 toward its completion.

Aubertine and Currier’s (A&C) Surveying Department was retained to perform a topographic field survey which included the existing trail, former railroad bed, the roadway, the stream, banks, embankments, and any other identifiable features within the project limits.  The parameters for the design, property line survey, and mapping begins 100 feet northwest of “Black Bridge,” proceeds southeasterly along the former railroad bed to the property line between St. Mary’s Cemetery and Nahal Kedumin LLC, continues northeasterly approximately 1,650 feet along the property line to NYS Route 812, resumes northwesterly approximately 1,150 feet along NYS Route 812, before tying in at the existing sidewalk.

A survey was also required to accurately determine existing right-of-way limits of the former railroad, the property line between St. Mary’s Cemetery and Nahal Kedumin LLC, the existing right-of-way limits of NYS Route 812, and the establishment of any side property lines.  Existing Right-of-Way/Highway boundaries were determined from record plans provided by the City, County, NYSDOT, other Department of Engineering Documents available, and tax map information.

Utility companies were contacted to obtain any existing plans for their utilities within the project area and to request a stakeout.  All utilities visible or marked in the field by others were located, and any underground features not visible or marked in the field were plotted by use of as-built maps and any other available information.

All pertinent existing bridge data was collected and recorded where accessible, including but not limited to, abutment layout, bridge seat elevations, bottom of beam elevations (at bearings), top of bridge deck elevation, top of wing walls, clear width, top of footings, etc.  Beam seat elevations at the piers and top of pier elevations were included in the data.

All surveying was completed in accordance with the NYSDOT Land Surveying Standards and Procedures Manual, with mapping performed by a Professional Land Surveyor in accordance with The Code of Practice of The NYS Association of Professional Land Surveyors, and to the NYSDOT Standards and Specifications.  All mapping was delivered in Microstation format, projecting horizontally to the NYS Plane Grid Coordinate System NAD83, and vertically to NAVD88.