Group counters path-paving plan
Saturday, September 3, 2005
By Mirta D'Amato
The Trenton Times

LAWRENCE - A group opposed to paving part of the trail that winds through the Carson Road Woods is starting a letter-writing campaign to state officials after learning that advocates of the pathway are mounting their own lobbying effort.

Friends of Carson Road Woods, which does not want any paved path that would disturb the area's natural setting, is urging people to write letters to the Department of Transportation voicing their opposition to the trail.

This is the group's second letter-writing campaign this year. They have expressed their opposition to DOT and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Bob Hunsicker, president of Friends of Carson Road Woods, said the group doesn't "want 52,000 square feet of asphalt put through a nature preserve for no reason other than that some people want it."

Under the proposal, nine-tenths of a mile of the proposed 20-mile Lawrence-Hopewell Trail path would be paved.

Lawrence Township is seeking a $225,000 grant from DOT to create the path. A similar request was denied last year.

When completed, the trail would loop through Lawrence and Hopewell townships. So far, several sections have been finished.

Proponents say that cyclists, walkers and the disabled would more fully use a paved trail.

But opponents say they are seeking to preserve the nature of the tract.

Mark Rudnick, a Lawrence resident and member of the Carson Road group, said the tract is a "rare treasure."

"A tract of land where the public has free access just doesn't exist in other places," Rudnick said. "I think it is so unique and is such a wonderful, quiet environment that one can really go to and enjoy nature. I think that by putting bike paths through there, it's just going to change the character of this place."

Hunsicker said he and other members are not opposed to residents having access to the trail.

In fact, the group said in a statement that they have "created, marked, and maintained more than five miles of hiking trails throughout the entire property, at our own expense."

Hunsicker said residents helped raise the money to buy the land so that it would remain undisturbed.

In 2001, the township spent $8.4 million to buy the tract from private owners. That amount included $3 million from the Delaware Raritan Greenway, which Hunsicker said was mostly raised by township residents, and $1 million from pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is based in Lawrence.

Proponents of the trail say at least 150 letters supporting the project have been sent to the DOT.

Betty Wolfe of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, a group in favor of the paved path, declined comment on Hunsicker's remarks.

DOT officials could not be reached for comment.


©The Times of Trenton 2005