What's new on the Hojack Trail, and who paid for it

A stretch of the Hojack Trail has a new surface, part of a year of improvements that also added kiosks, signs, benches and plantings. Webster Parks and Recreation and Friends of Webster Trails cut the ribbon on the work Sept. 3. The town's release credits charitable contributions from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation's Trails Maintenance Fund, matching funds from anonymous donors and support from RG&E with funding the improvements.

Friends of Webster Trails, the volunteer group that helps the town maintain the trail, listed some of the changes in a Sept. 4 post: two new kiosks with maps and trail information, wayfinding signs, point-of-interest signs, new trees and shrubs, and access bollards. The post says the group and its community partners designed and built that new infrastructure. The group's page for the trail notes several benches added along the route.

The group's August 2025 announcement of the foundation grant put the grant at $181,086 and said the grant and matching funds would pay for resurfacing the trail from Holt Road to Drumm Road, along with drainage, plantings, signage and benches. The announcement named RG&E and the Town of Webster as key supporters of the project and described them as "owners of the trail section being improved."

"The Hojack Trail receives significant year-round traffic from cyclists and pedestrians to cross-country skiers and snowshoers; we are confident that trail users will enjoy these refreshed amenities," Chris Bilow, commissioner of Webster Parks and Recreation, said in the town's release.

"This trail work feels like a milestone moment, as it is the trail that led to the creation of the Friends of Webster Trails back in 1997," Anna Taylor, president of Friends of Webster Trails, said in the same release.

The trail runs along a section of former Hojack Railroad tracks. The route stretches from Lake Road in the northwest corner of town to Phillips Road in the southeast, according to the town. Friends of Webster Trails puts the trail's length at almost five miles and describes the route as mostly flat.

The group's trail page lists parking at Vosburg Road, Drumm Road, Van Alstyne Road and Orchard Road West. The page says restrooms are available in season at Charles E. Sexton Memorial Park, one of the spots the trail connects to.

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