Town of Webb Supervisor, Ted Riehle says it has been a busy week with the engineers and contractors examining the TOBIE Trail, Lock and Dam, and The Eagle Bay Welcome Center.
At the town board meeting on Tuesday, June 10th, there was a lot of discussion about the updates to these three projects. Continue reading
The completion of the TOBIE Trail, a hiking and biking trail that connects the communities of Thendara, Old Forge, Big Moose, Eagle Bay and Inlet, was celebrated with dual ribbon cutting ceremonies on the new pedestrian bridge in Thendara and at the new Eagle Bay Welcome Center on Tuesday, November 5th.
Lani Ulrich, chair of the Adirondack Park Agency, and former Communities 2000 coordinator for the TOBIE Trail Team, who initiated the concept 14 years ago, provided the following oral history of the project prior to the bridge’s ribbon cutting.
My deepest congratulations to the Webb Town Board on the completion of the TOBIE Trail!
Ribbon Cutting…Webb Councilman Mike Ross, Mary Ann Nelson, Jim Ulrich, Councilwoman Katie Russell, David Winslow, Robert Moore, Mary Brophy Moore, Linda Contino Lamb (partially hidden), TOW Historian Peg Masters, TOW Clerk Nanci Russell, TOW Supervisor Ted Russell, Barbara Green, Marie Adams, Helen Estabrook, Lani Ulrich, Chuck White, Mike Farmer, Nick Rose. Photo by Clark Lubbs
The birth of the TOBIE Trail was a moment of unique energy and creativity. Fourteen years ago, Herkimer County Community College had a satellite office here in Old Forge, which I was privileged to run for several years.
This was before the turn of the century. Lots of folks in our state and around the country were looking to the new millennium and wondering what would happen.
What should we prepare for and what should we plan for five, 10, 20 years into the future?
HCCC had developed a community outreach program called Communities 2000. -2000’s mission was to guide our area into the 21st century…“while protecting and preserving the beauty and benefits of our natural resources.”
The Eagle Bay Welcome Center on the TOBIE Trail is a historically motivated architectural design conceived and detailed in the spirit of the Adirondack tradition.
References include the work of Earl Covey at Big Moose, The Hemmer Cottage in Old Forge, as well as W.W. Durant’s Pine Knot, Uncas and Sagamore Lodges in Raquette Lake, as well as White Pine Camp on Osgood Pond in Paul Smiths, NY.
Eagle Bay Welcome Center.. Linda Contino Lamb, Marie Adams, Mike Ross, Kate Russell, Chris Clemens, Ruth Hawkins, Ted Riehle, Annette Curri, Inlet Supervisor John Frey, Lani Ulrich, Inlet Councilman Tim Brownsell, Dave Winslow, Richard Risley. Photo by Clark Lubbs
On the exterior, natural local materials are utilized and scaled to provide a memorable destination along the TOBIE Trail.
Cut and dressed Van Tassell granite from Fort Anne, NY, is peppered with garnet speckles and black mica flakes. Continue reading
Town of Webb Super-visor Ted Riehle and the Town of Webb Town Board invites the public to a dual ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, November 5 to commemorate the official completion of the TOBIE trail.
The TOBIE pedestrian bridge at Thendara will have an official opening on Tuesday, November 5. Photo by Gina Greco
The first ribbon will be cut at the Hemlock Rd. side of the new pedestrian bridge in Thendara at 1 p.m. with the second gathering held at the new welcome center in Eagle Bay at 2 p.m. where the second ribbon will be cut, officially joining all sections of the trail.
Upwards of 70 individuals have been involved in the trail coming to fruition, from the original visioning group to interested residents to local, county and state elected officials.
A crowd of spectators gathered at vantage points along the banks of the southern branch of the Moose River on Tuesday, October 8 to observe the placement of the new Old Forge TOBIE trail bridge.
Photo by Gina Greco
The bridge, which crosses the river, connects the section of the TOBIE pedestrian/bike trail between Hemlock Lane and Pullman Avenue in Old Forge.
The bridge arrived on Monday in two pieces amid torrents of rain. On Tuesday, under clear skies, the pieces were put together on the ground with splices and then set in place in one piece. Continue reading
A quarter-mile stretch of the Moose River from the Route 28 bridge south will be closed to paddlers from noon on Tuesday, October 8 until noon on Wednesday, October 9 due to the installation of the bridge to connect the pedestrian/bicycle TOBIE trail.
Buoys and signs will be put in place to mark the area of river closure for the 24-hour period, according to Mike Carpenter, resident engineer for project contractor Barton & Loguidice.
Workers putting the finishing touches on TOBIE’s Eagle Bay Welcome Center.
LEFT: The TOBIE Trail as it leaves Eagle Bay to enter Hamilton County.
Photos by Dawn Montanye
A 350-ton crane will lift and place the entire bridge on a new bridge seat, a shelf on the face of the bridge abutment. Continue reading
Supervisor Ted Riehle reported to the full Town Board on Tuesday, September 10 that he had participated in two progress meetings earlier in the day regarding current TOBIE trail construction.
He said placement of the new bridge across the Moose River is being held up by a delay with the bridge’s fabricators in Georgia.
Future TOBIE bridge site at the Moose River between Thendara and Old Forge Photo by Gina Greco
Riehle said he was hesitant to throw out another tentative date, but that the construction crew is expecting to install the bridge the first week in October.