This is confusing as it seems that these parcels are already part of the river trail. It would be interesting to know what they plan to do with the extra land.
It was vacated railroad right-of-ways, so it has effectively been greenspace for years. It could just be that the city finally got an opportunity to buy it. Or, like you said, maybe they have some more pathways planned, but now it means they don't have to ask the railroad if they want/have to do something with it, like run a utility line or cut a sidewalk across it. Just an little quirk of history that caught my eye.
Much of the existing and original River Trail through downtown was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS), which was slowly cut back until now it's just a spur between the fish ladder and the mainline to the north.
I guess I don't really see what this acquisition changes. I assume the plots south of Oakland were owned by BWL and functionally the city's anyway while the lots north of Oakland don't lead to anywhere or offer much benefit without also having the RR ROW crossing Cesar Chavez and North St, which could provide some value as a trail, perhaps becoming sort of shopping/dining alley.
Maybe I wasn't clear. The highlighted lots are owned by the railroad. Again, what this does, functionally, is make it so that the city doesn't have to deal legally with the railroad, anymore, particularly where the old ROW runs directly through the west side of Riverfront Park.
I didn't see the second comment. It's really odd that this property was still owned by the RR. I do hope the city can acquire the rest of this spur north of Old Town.
It's actually pretty common. Railroads typically hang onto abandoned railway lines in case new customers come up somewhere along the line in the future. It's kind of delusional given mode shifts, but that's what their reasoning is. I'm not clear on the federal laws around this, since most of railroad law is federal, but law does allow them to lease out right-of-ways for trails. But I imagine anything really permnanent requires trail leasees to contact their railroad partner.
Looks like Norfolk Southern finally decided they wouldn't be running any more trains down to the old powerplant or any of th businesses along Center Street, anymore. lol
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Much of the existing and original River Trail through downtown was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS), which was slowly cut back until now it's just a spur between the fish ladder and the mainline to the north.
Looks like Norfolk Southern finally decided they wouldn't be running any more trains down to the old powerplant or any of th businesses along Center Street, anymore. lol