It’s easy to envision a footpath covering more than 50 miles along the Westchester bank of the Hudson River. It’s another thing altogether to actually build a project as ambitious as the Westchester RiverWalk.

On a sultry August morning, officials from Westchester County, joined by representatives of Metro North Railroad, Kraft Foods Global and the Lyndhurst Estate, all of whose properties are traversed by RiverWalk, cut a ceremonial ribbon opening a mile-long footpath that runs from just south of the Tappan Zee Bridge to the southernmost border of Lyndhurst nearest Irvington.

The asphalt pathway sits atop the embankment above the Hudson line of Metro North, meanders across a footbridge over a sylvan gorge on the Kraft Foods property and blends into the manicured lawns underneath Lyndhurst Castle, near the newly-restored bowling alley built by financier Jay Gould, before it becomes, figuratively speaking, a dotted line that connects with the Old Croton Aqueduct.

All in all, the RiverWalk aspires to be a seamless 51.5 miles-long walking and biking route, running from the Putnam County line, just south of Bear Mountain Bridge, to the New York City line, just west of Van Cortlandt Park. To date, more than 60 percent of the project has been completed.

The total cost of RiverWalk, according to County Planning Director Patrick Natarelli, is anticipated to be around $51 million—“about a million dollars a mile.” However, the Tarrytown/Lyndhurst section alone cost $3.56 million, in part because of complex administrative and legal issues that had to be resolved among the various public and private participants.

Many of the remaining “dotted line” segments of RiverWalk promise to be expensive as well—perhaps too expensive for the county and local municipalities to complete as envisioned. Sections planned to run adjacent to the Metro North tracks at the river’s edge, including ones in Tarrytown and Irvington may ultimately surrender to daunting engineering challenges that are simply beyond the means of cash-strapped local governments.

Area residents are encouraged to get out, on foot or on bike, to check out RiverWalk for themselves. To take a “virtual tour,”, go to www.westchestergov.com/riverwalk, which includes photos taken at fifteen scenic points along the route.