Building Bridges to Success

The Setting

The Seaway Trail, New York State’s National Scenic Byway, covers 454 miles along Lake Erie , the Niagara River , Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River . Since its beginning in 1978, the Seaway Trail has focused on rural economic development in eight areas: coastal recreation, natural resources, history of the coast, peoples of the coast, coastal agriculture, international coastline, water-related industry and commercial shipping.

What Happened Next

A local restaurateur, Vince Dee, was the first to capitalize on the group tour market coming from New York City , and his success led to his work with business owners to establish the 80-mile Seaway Trail. Inventories showed the route had 27 lighthouses, leading to publication of a guidebook to the lighthouses. Other guidebooks followed, and in the 1980s, the trail was extended to its current length. The trail continued to develop with many action steps:

• Building partnerships among multiple communities, governments and individuals.
• Receiving a $250,000 grant from the state in 1986 to hire staff and begin marketing.
• Sponsoring an “I Love NY” summer festival.
• Achieving designation as a National Scenic Byway in 1996 and garnering $1.9 million in grant funds from the byways program.

Results

• The Seaway Discovery Center opened in July 2000 and attracted 3,000 visitors in the next six months.
• The trail continues to receive bipartisan support from the state Legislature and is recognized as one of the state’s major tourism success stories.
• New partnerships have been formed such as a “participating retailer” program with AAA that offers discounts at trail sites for card-carrying AAA members.

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