In the mid-90's fibre optic backbones began to be installed up the NY State Thruway corridor to accommodate the demand for high speed access across the Information Super Highway. To get from the Thruway across to Poughkeepsie they were going to have to follow Route 299, then down Route 9W and across the Mid-Hudson Bridge. It would shave miles off the route and save many hundreds of thousands of dollars to the corporation. So they approached the Town of Lloyd to acquire an easement offering a few tens of thousands of dollars in compensation. Within two years the first section, the 2.5 miles starting in the hamlet of Highland and heading west to Tony Williams Town Park, was cleared through the efforts of local citizens and Highland Rotary members, old ballast stone was removed and the trail officially opened in 1997.
Plans are well underway for the further development of the two ends of the trail.
At Route 9W there are a number of excellent restaurants immediately adjacent to the trail, fast food and other convenience stores and deli's. Located in the hamlet are pharmacies, pizza shops, pubs, restaurants, antiques galleries and all the other things you might need along your walk. In the near future a foot bridge will be constructed over Vineyard Avenue to create a completely unimpeded trail thru the hamlet. The trees hang heavily overhead as the trail heads arrow straight to the northwest for about a mile. As the trail approaches the New Paltz Road it starts a lazy bend to the west until it passes under the road and then heads arrow straight towards the west.