It seems like an extreme response to a not-so-serious problem; after all, cyclists and pedestrians have been crossing those tracks for years (when a private crossing was maintained for a house that recently burned down) and no one's been hit yet.
But, in defense of the rail company, traffic along the tracks has picked up in the last year (with the breakup of Conrail), and if someone did get hit, the railroad's liability would likely be enormous.
There are a couple of possible solutions: One is to build a tunnel under the tracks. The question is, who would pay? (The price would be at least $250,000-$300,000.) The town of Rotterdam owns the land the bike path is on, while Schenectady County maintains it.
Another solution would for Guilford to grant the town/county an easement, which it might do if it were offered indemnification in the event of an accident. The trouble is, the liability insurance the county would need might, over time, be more expensive than a tunnel.
Guilford's position poses a real dilemma for users of the bikeway - and to Gov. George Pataki's ambitious plan to eventually link Buffalo and Albany with a single path along the old Erie Canal. Perhaps the governor can be enlisted to lean on the rail company a little, or provide some money so a tunnel could be built. But whatever happens needs to happen soon, and Guilford should be encouraged to remove the barriers and call off its police as part of any compromise.
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