first service expansion since it was created in 1983. As part of the project, the trailhead of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail was moved from milepoint 81.6 to milepoint 82. of right-of-way had to be acquired from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation. To make up for this loss, $490,800 was received by the Transportation Enhancement Program to design and construct an access pathway from Wassaic station to the new trailhead. Wassaic was designed as and is a regional transportation hub for people living and going to Dutchess County in New York, Litchfield County in Connecticut and for Western Massachusetts. The station was built with a 250-space parking lot that, with expansion, could have 1000 parking spaces, and with a layover yard, and a light maintenance facility. One of the goals of the expansion was to provide additional parking capacity for the line. Prior to the opening of the yard at Wassaic, trains terminating at Dover Plains had to deadhead 23 miles to get to the yard at Southeast, reducing capacity on the line, while being very costly. A station was also opened at Tenmile River to serve the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Service Office. Under an alternative plan, this would have been the terminus of the line. In order to build ridership, the extension has received the same amount of service as has the line south of Dover Plains, with four AM and four PM rush hour trains with direct service to Grand Central. In fact, since 1984, weekday ridership on trains to Dover Plains increased by 463 percent to a total of 535 people riding south daily. The extension cost $6 million. The extension also eased the commutes of people coming from Massachusetts. In the early 2000s, through 2002, Metro-North completed its Upper Harlem Station Improvement Project. As part of the project, stations from Valhalla to Brewster had their platforms extended, received modified elevators, repairs to their roofs, canopies and platforms, improvements to their entrances, the replacement of windows and improved platform lighting. On April 1, 2001, work began on several projects to improve the line's right-of-way, including the replacement of the bridge that carries the Harlem Line over the Bronx River north of Woodlawn station and the extension of platforms at Purdy's and Goldens Bridge to fit eight-car trains. Mid-Harlem third track project Early in 1994, Metro-North announced plans to build a third