The Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees is working with the Open Space Institute, a New York-based conservation organization, to build the trailhead on the almost two-acre plot next to the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society’s museum at the old train station. The plot, a former railyard, was purchased from the historical society. Village Mayor Art Devlin said last month that the state government ushered in the partnership between the village and OSI.

The trailhead will eventually feature a picnic pavilion, year-round restrooms, interpretive signage and a parking area. For now, though, there’s a portable toilet and parking as the village begins preliminary work on the plot.

“It’s great to see it being used,” Devlin said at the July 15 board meeting.

He added that the planned amenities likely won’t start going up until next spring at the “very earliest.”

“All we’re doing at this point is getting it open so people can use it. They’re cutting the trees; You can see the parking lot,” he said. “Kudos to the (Department of Public Works) for all of the tree-clearing they did there.”

While OSI is handling most of the improvements to the property, the village will help with some parts of the project. Some of the anticipated work includes bringing water and electricity to the property for the restroom facilities.

OSI’s Senior Vice President for Communications Eileen Larrabee told the News last month that construction on the trailhead’s amenities will likely not begin until next year, as OSI is still $300,000 away from its $1.55 million fundraising goal for the project.

The project has so far received funding via a $300,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Smart Growth Grant program, a $500,000 EPF grant, a $50,000 grant from North Elba’s Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund and an unspecified grant from the Cloudsplitter Foundation.

The first phase of the Adirondack Rail Trail, a 10-mile stretch between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, officially opened to the public on Dec. 1, 2023. Construction started in November 2022. This is the first summer tourist season when phase one of the trail will officially be open — since railroad ties first started getting removed in 2020, the DEC has asked the public to stay off sections of the trail with active construction, but the public has used it anyway.

Once completed, the ADA-accessible, 34-mile trail will connect the villages of Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. The second phase, which will span from Saranac Lake to Floodwood Road, is slated to be completed by this fall. The third and final phase, from Floodwood to Tupper Lake, is expected to be complete in the fall of 2025.

Before the former rail corridor underwent construction, the section from Lake Placid to Saranac Lake was used by the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society to run a scenic tourist train.

OSI has participated in other conservation projects in the Adirondack Park, including acquiring the 10,000-acre Tahawus Tract; contributing the Finch, Pruyn and company lands, the largest addition to the Forest Preserve in 100 years; and conserving more than 600 acres of the Trembleau Mountain-Lake Champlain shoreline, which was added to the Forest Preserve.