The Island Line Trail, also known as the Colchester Causeway, is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

located in northwest

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. It comprises the Burlington Bike Path (

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

), Colchester Park (

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

) and the Allen Point Access Area ( South Hero). The trail follows the route of the Island Line railroad, built by the

Rutland Railroad The Rutland Railroad was a railroad in the northeastern United States, located primarily in the state of Vermont but extending into the state of New York at both its northernmost and southernmost ends. After its closure in 1961, parts of the ...

in 1901. There is a gap in the causeway that allows boat traffic to cross. A donation-based ferry operates in the summer months carrying trail users over the gap.

History

The history of the Rutland Railroad is covered in Robert C. Jones' "Railroads of Vermont, Volume 2" () and in Jim Shaughnessy's "The Rutland Railroad", Howell-North Books, 1964. Passenger service on the Rutland's Island Line (and on the entire Rutland RR system) ended after a strike by employees in late June, 1953. A second set of strikes, in 1960 and 1961, brought about the complete closure of the Rutland Railroad. The final trains ran on September 25, 1961. In 1963, the state of Vermont purchased the abandoned, but not torn-up, Rutland Railroad lines from Burlington to Rutland, North Bennington, Hoosick Junction and Bellows Falls, leasing them to the

Vermont Railway The Vermont Railway is a shortline railroad in Vermont and eastern New York, operating much of the former Rutland Railway. It is the main part of the Vermont Rail System, which also owns the Green Mountain Railroad, the Rutland's branch to Be ...

and the

Green Mountain Railroad The Green Mountain Railroad is a class III railroad operating in Vermont. GMRC operates on tracks that had been owned by the Rutland Railroad and Boston and Maine Railroad. The railroad operates on a rail line between North Walpole, New Hampsh ...

to resume freight service, but the state chose not to acquire and reopen the Island Line. There was little on-line traffic left on that portion of the route, and freight for Canada could be routed from Burlington north to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

over the somewhat-longer

Central Vermont Railway The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Connect ...

through St. Albans, Vermont. After several years of inactivity, restoring service on the Island Line would have required extensive rebuilding, and renovations of the three swing bridges on the line over various bays of

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

. Ultimately, all of the swing bridges on the route were removed, but the roadbed on the causeway across the lake survived, as it was heavily built with much use of granite and marble tailings. The alignment along the shores of Lake Champlain from

Burlington Union Station Burlington Union Station is a train station and office building located in downtown Burlington, Vermont. It is the northern terminal of the Amtrak ''Ethan Allen Express'' service. The symmetrical Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux Arts building, buil ...

north to the causeway was converted to form the Burlington Bike Path, and later took the Island Line name when the causeway was reopened, with a seasonal bike-ferry replacing the swing bridge in the northern portion of the causeway alignment. Due to a gap in the causeway, the organization Local Motion operates the Island Line Bike Ferry to shuttle cyclists across the gap.

Recent developments

The trail was closed after Labor Day weekend in 2019 so that nearly $2 million in upgrades and repairs could be made, due to damage caused in May, 2019, when the trail experienced 70 mile-per-hour winds and 7-foot waves. Trail reopening occurred in May, 2020. A helicopter crashed into the causeway on July 30, 2021, closing the trail for three hours. The lone pilot escaped the wreckage and was taken to UVM Medical Center with minor to moderate injuries.

References

External links

*
Trail Link
{{coord missing, Vermont Rail trails in Vermont Protected areas of Chittenden County, Vermont Geography of Grand Isle County, Vermont National Recreation Trails in Vermont