Onondaga Creekwalk facts for kids
The Onondaga Creekwalk is a mostly paved, partly bricked, multi-use trail running 4.8 miles (7.7 km) in Syracuse, New York, which has so far seen more than three decades of planning, construction, and delays, starting in 1988. The trail is designed for bicyclists, skaters, and pedestrians to approximately parallel any desired portion of Onondaga Creek's run connecting Kirk Park on Syracuse's South Side, downstream through downtown at Armory Square, and then on to Onondaga Lake at the creek's ultimate mouth.
During both of the two overall phases completed so far, designers were able to route the trail partly as a brand new, dedicated path that stayed within view of Onondaga Creek. Other parts were built as compromises in the face of creekside obstacles, generally co-locating the trail with pre-existing street and sidewalk pavement, usually at a significant distance from the water.
When added to pre-existing parkways and city streets paralleling Onondaga Creek between West Colvin Street at Kirk Park, upstream to Ballantyne Road in The Valley neighborhood, the total available creekway distance can be interpreted as a paved run of 6.1 miles (9.8 km).
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Chronology of Development
Though long wished for by many citizens, Syracuse landscape architect Steve Buechner traces the origins of the Onondaga Creekwalk concept to 1965, when incoming Syracuse Parks Commissioner Jim Heath asked him, as a young staffer, to draft out several greenways, one of which wound up focusing on the creek. The idea didn't go anywhere for more than 20 years until Buechner, then in the private sector, mentioned it to Robert Congel of The Pyramid Companies, at a time when Congel and others were paying a burst of redevelopment attention to several old factory buildings in what is now known as the Franklin Square area.
Using computer technology against the newspaper archive, June 24, 1988 can be established as the first time the ultimately built version of the creekwalk was publicly mentioned. At that time, Pyramid described a plan to get a longer trail started by building just that stretch running through Franklin Square from near Route 690's overpasses, downstream as far as Spencer Street. That news was reported within the context of a large number of revelations from Pyramid and Syracuse's then mayoral administration of Thomas G. Young -- regarding development plans for the shopping mall project which became Destiny USA, and for the larger industrial district formerly known as Oil City and now dubbed Lakefront, including Franklin Square.
First Part of Phase 1
In September 1990, this first part of the walkway -- 3/8ths of one mile -- formally opened. Pyramid fronted the money and supervised the work, which cost $1.68 million, and was ultimately to be paid for from payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT agreements) which the neighborhood's several various redevelopments were expected to make.
At the time of the trail's initial opening, plans were forecast for the rest of the project. Extending the trail upstream as far as Armory Square was expected to be done by 1991 and 1992, and then finishing all the necessary parts downstream as far as Onondaga Lake was expected a few years later. In fact, the rest of Phase 1 wouldn't be done for more than two decades.
Second Part of Phase 1
In July 1993, ground was ceremoniously broken for a (for-the-time-being disconnected) stretch of 1,600 feet of creekwalk as part of development of park-style amenities at the then newly renamed Inner Harbor, a formerly unkempt area historically known as the Barge Canal Terminal. Expected completion for the first phase was October 1993. The early work was reported to cost $500,000 and to have been paid for out of settlement monies from the Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. over a state environmental pollution case involving Onondaga Lake.
Remainder of Phase 1
In October 2011, what is now summed up by officials as the creekwalk's Phase 1 was finally completed. The cost figures given at the time were $10.1 million, though it's unclear whether that included or excluded the prior work. The total length to that point was 2.6 miles (4.2 km) mostly paralleling Onondaga Creek and the Inner Harbor, connecting the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (The MoST) in Armory Square northerly to Onondaga Lake near the shopping mall Destiny USA. Creekside obstacles forced compromises in the trail routing in two places: 1) Between West Washington and West Genesee streets downtown; and 2) A shorter stretch between Spencer and West Kirkpatrick in Oil City.
In Fall 2018, the northernmost end of the trail -- being that portion running under the double-tracked CSX mainline and terminating at a viewing area for Onondaga Lake -- was announced as closed indefinitely due to ice and waves having eroded the pavement. At the time, repairs were said to be awaiting construction of the Onondaga Lake Lounge, which was planned as a larger and more formal viewing area along the lake. However, since that time, the lakeview terminus has had its gates open more often than not, even during the heart of winter, when Onondaga Lake's visiting population of Bald Eagles peaks.
Phase 2
In July 2020, the creekwalk's Phase 2 was formally declared complete. The planning process for this portion began with public meetings in 2014, then construction started in February 2019. The final cost for this stretch was $11.4 million.
Phase 2 technically starts in Armory Square at Phase 1's Walton Street intersection, not at Phase 1's southernmost end point one block away at The MoST on West Jefferson Street.
Phase 2 is a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) extension which stays close to Onondaga Creek for 80 percent of its run, according to project planners. But, significantly, that's not the case in the immediate downtown area. Due to lack of space, flooding issues, environmental impacts, security concerns, and construction costs, planners decided against staying close to the creek through three challenging zones close to downtown: 1) The Trolley Lot area; 2) Several bridges in close succession (Dickerson Street, Gifford Street, West Onondaga Street, and Seymour Street); and 3) The back side of numerous active properties along the 300 block of West Onondaga Street. Instead, the trail leaves the Onondaga Creek corridor from Walton Street in order to skirt over to the multi-lane arterial known as South West Street, ducking under the elevated railroad bridge (New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, Northern Division, Syracuse Branch), and running south along the "Service Road" side seven city blocks to West Onondaga Street, which it crosses. Most of this part of the trail had been previously inked for bicycles.
Cutting south though a vacant lot newly minted as green space, the creekwalk regains the creek corridor between West Onondaga and Temple streets, staying to the west side of the water, and running upstream through four street crossings -- at Temple Street, West Taylor Street, Tallman Street, and Midland Avenue, respectively. At the Midland Avenue bridge, the trail winds up on the opposite (east) side of the water. Then the creekwalk parallels Dr. Martin Luther King West, formerly West Castle Street, for four blocks, one of them a street crossing at South Avenue. The path recrosses to the west side of the waterway at a bridge and street crossing at Rich Street, and then feeds into Lower Onondaga Park.
Near the now-vague boundary between Lower Onondaga Park and Kirk Park, South Avenue again interrupts, but at this juncture the creekwalk has been cleverly routed under the same South Avenue bridgework through which the creek itself flows. Several hundred feet later, the trail hugs the creek behind an antique park building made of stone and featuring a massive stone chimney. City planners have called it the Travelers' Rest Building; the name pays homage to a largely forgotten time period in the 1920s and 1930s when this part of Kirk Park was home to a seasonal Tourists' Camp run by the City Parks Department. Phase 2 ends at a trailhead parking lot at the intersection of Hunt and Rockland avenues, a block north of West Colvin Street.
Phase 3
The creekwalk's as-yet unbuilt Phase 3 seeks to bring the trail all the way south to Dorwin Avenue in Syracuse's "Valley" neighborhood, close to the city's southerly corporate line, and further upstream along the path of Onondaga Creek. However, a large stretch of this run is already practically in place for many non-motorized recreationists. From the Hunt and Rockland avenues location, where Phase 2 ends with trailhead parking, there are another 1.3 miles of walkable or rideable, low or restricted traffic, mostly park-style roadways headed south. They are signed as Onondaga Creek Parkway or Onondaga Creek Boulevard west of the creek, and Kirk Park Drive, Vale Street, or Onondaga Creek Boulevard east of the creek. There are significant intersections at West Colvin Street, Elmhurst Avenue, West Brighton Avenue, West Newell Street, and then the southbound pavement ends at Ballantyne Road. Further upstream, the greenway along the channelized Onondaga Creek already exists as mowed grass along flood control dikes to either side, though much of it is fenced off, discouraging public access.
Ties to Other Trails
Back at the northern end, the creekwalk has, from the start, been envisioned as a trail that would interconnect with the Loop the Lake Trail long intended to circumnavigate Onondaga Lake, full completion of which along the southeastern quadrant of the lake still remains in doubt. Along the southwestern quadrant of Onondaga Lake, however, a direct Onondaga Creekwalk connection formally opened Dec. 31, 2020 from West Bear Street at Van Rensselaer Street, to and along Hiawatha Boulevard West, to that part of the Loop trail bridging the double-tracked CSX mainline and continuing along the southwesternmost side of Onondaga Lake toward State Fairgrounds. This new trail work counts as part of both the Loop the Lake Trail and the Empire State Trail projects, the latter of which is designed to traverse upstate New York generally along the path of the historic Erie Canal. Also, the portion of the Onondaga Creekwalk north of Water Street and south of West Bear Street now forms part of the Empire State Trail.
