Marist Community Questions the Safety of the Urban Rail Trail

The Urban Trail under construction behind the Upper West Cedar Townhouses on Marist's campus. Source: Greta Stuckey '23

With the recent publicity of the Urban Rail Trail project, involving a trail open to the public that will run directly through the Marist campus, there is one primary concern that the Marist community holds; safety. 

Mike McShane ’23 anticipates that the trail will pose significant difficulties for the campus security staff. “Security’s going to have to monitor the edges of campus… they’ll have a whole new area to focus on,” McShane said. 

Despite his prediction of security difficulties, McShane believes that the Urban Rail Trail is “positive for the community.” However, he shared his hopes for the developers of the project to ensure safety through proper lighting and adequate placement of the blue light call boxes. 

Roman Louw ’24 agrees with McShane, believing the Urban Rail Trail to be a positive addition to the area. Louw explained that “it’s a good way for students that don’t have vehicles to get around and explore Poughkeepsie.”

Though his opinion on the project is positive, Louw fully acknowledges the safety concerns that arise from it. “I could definitely see safety concerns because of the accessibility to campus that the trail would offer to the public,” Louw said. 

Louw anticipates that the trail will result in discomfort amongst the Marist community and make students feel unsafe. “I could imagine that students would probably feel less safe if they keep seeing strangers on campus, people they don’t recognize, people who are obviously not college students. We already see a lot of that around the townhouses, and there are often safety concerns on the edges of campus,” Louw said.  

Ali Morris ’24 agrees. “I definitely feel that with increased traffic on campus, there will be concerns about what kind of people can conveniently access campus,” Morris said. “How will they monitor who’s using the trail?”

Drew Ngo ’26, though he believes the trail will be beneficial to the community, also holds some uncertainties about the logistics of the trail through campus. “How will this public passageway not interfere with the comings and goings of the students?” Ngo asked. 

Allison Farnham ’24 referenced security concerns from the previous academic year of 2021-2022 in explaining her skepticism and discomfort with the trail. “We already had break-ins last semester, and I feel like the trail is not going to help.”