ITHACA — Fifteen miles of flat, straight trails will be cleared and maintained if the Black Diamond Trail, which would stretch from Trumansburg to Ithaca, can get approval in Albany. A group of local trail enthusiasts is working to make that happen.

The Black Diamond Trail has been on the drawing board for at least 20 years. Its route follows the railroad bed for the Lehigh Valley Railroad train nicknamed the Black Diamond, which ran the route from 1898 to 1959.

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The trail would connect the four area state parks, with Robert Treman State Park at one end, Taughannock Falls State Park at the other and links to Buttermilk Falls State Park and Allan H. Treman State Marine Park in between.

“Railroads were built to be straight and flat,” said Andrejs Ozolins, who lives near Cass Park. “And any way you go to bike in Ithaca, you face a hill; (the flatness) is the most practical part of this project.”

Though not paved and not designated as a trail, the railroad bed that extends north from Cass Park parallel to Route 89 is regularly used by walkers, hikers, cyclists and cross-country skiers.

Volunteers have worked on bits and pieces of the trail over the last few years. On Saturday morning, a group of more than 30 volunteers got together to work on clearing out one portion of the trail off Willow Creek Road. The clean-up effort was organized by Paul Thorington, Taughannock Falls State Park manager, and Jan Zeserson, who co-founded the Black Diamond Trail Enthusiasts Network.

“Last fall we cleared out about a half-mile of the trail on the other side of the road,” said Thorington, pointing out a 10-foot clearing across the road, “and we're back on this side (of the road) to widen the trail and clean up what was done some years ago. The trail's cleared in sections; it just needs to be connected.”

Thorington said the biggest challenge to completing the trail is replacing missing or decrepit bridges.

In 2000, the Black Diamond Trail came close to completion before the project lost momentum and state money was revoked, Zeserson said. That trend is exactly what the trail network is trying to combat this year.

“For me, this is a transportation corridor between Trumansburg and Ithaca,” Zeserson said. “What I envision is that people will have a chance to walk and bike to destinations. Also, teens from Cass Park would be able to travel to the (Taughannock) Falls without asking parents for a ride.”

Ozolins, who is retired and says he and his wife are always looking to stay active, has worked on the trail in many of its phases and would like to see the project completed.

“I do ride my bike on routes 89 and 96, and my wife and I can walk on Cliff Street, but we don't like the fumes. We'd like a trail,” Ozolins said. “So it's not that I don't have a way to get to (Taughannock) Falls. It's that this would just be such a beautiful way.”

Opening up a trail could also promote unity within the community Zeserson said.

“This is a way to see people on the road,” she said. “Right now everybody is just in their cars, but with walking or biking you get a chance to know some of the faces in your community.”

Another perk of the Black Diamond trail is that part of the trail runs on to a small section of the Cayuga Nature Center.

“The trail hits a corner of the Cayuga Nature Center and people can use it as a rest stop or a starting point with a place to park,” said CNC board member Marvin Pritts. “It's also a good way for people to understand what they see along the trail as well.”

The state-sanctioned trail is still only a vision. Sue Poelvoorde, senior natural resources planner for the Finger Lakes region of the state parks office, said they're waiting for approval from Albany. A master plan for the trail, including a compacted limestone surface and ADA accessibility, was sent there and is undergoing review in preparation for a public hearing in late spring or early summer.

Until the plan is approved, any money committed to the trail cannot be used. The majority of the money committed by the state is reserved to build and repair bridges over creeks along the trail.