MOREAU — The Town Board is taking steps to update a mile-long, multi-use trail loop along the Hudson River, as well as open a path to larger outdoor recreation opportunities.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the town of Moreau to take advantage of and expand our recreational offerings to our residents,” Town Supervisor Todd Kusnierz said during Tuesday’s regular Town Board meeting. “We have a golden opportunity, now, to really have a top-notch multi-use trail, which will be the beginning … of a more extensive trail system, eventually tying to the county.”

The Big Bend Trail project, as it is known, is the first phase in the Big Boom Trail initiative, which is a cultural and heritage tourism project that seeks to tell the story of “the Big Boom,” a 4-mile stretch of the Hudson River that functioned as a sort of holding point for logs used in the various industries of the area in the mid-1800s.

It will enhance the Nolan Road boat launch area with a new paved parking lot, bike rack, as well as a trailhead and expanded asphalt walkway leading to the natural loop trail that runs through the woodland area. The loop will reconnect to the waterfront path near an observation area with benches and an overlook.

“So, it will be a very easy trail for anyone to take part in,” Michael Panich, with the LA Group, the landscape architecture and engineering firm contracted to design the project, said during the meeting.

Panich presented the board with two design options for the trail.

Option one would include the observation area, paved parking lot, bike rack, and trailhead leading to a 12-foot-wide access corridor also paved with asphalt. Then there would be crushed stone for the remainder of the trail along the waterfront, as well as along the woodland loop. That option would carry a price tag of around $396,000.

Option two would also include the observation area, parking lot, bike rack, and trailhead but would extend the paved path along the entirety of the waterfront trail. That jumps the cost up to $456,000.

“By nature, crushed stone is still accessible, …