Amherst Town Board members Monday reviewed the status of the long-stalled Lehigh Valley Trail originally proposed more than a decade ago to connect Niagara Falls Boulevard with Millersport Highway and other existing trails used by walkers, runners and cyclists.

Planning Director Eric Gillert informed the board during its Monday work session that with little progress made on the development of the trail along the old Lehigh Valley Railroad right of way since 1999, the state Department of Transportation wants a formal board commitment to build the trail before releasing grant money for the project.

The DOT had pledged to cover 75 percent of the trail’s cost in 2000, when the total estimate to build it was about $1.26 million. That grant of $947,000 is still available, said senior landscape architect Bob Walter.

But 11 years later, the cost to actually build the proposed trail has increased to $1.6 million, he said.

Gillert said that if the town wants to move forward with the trail project, the town could reduce the scope of the trail system to minimize the financial impact to the budget.

Walter said a new trail would be useful to students attending the University at Buffalo’s North Campus, since it would run by the extensive student housing developments built in recent years.

In other matters, Council Member and Veterans Committee Chairman Richard “Jay” Anderson said one Amherst developer with property along Millersport Highway submitted a proposal to Veterans Affairs for consideration as the site for a national veterans cemetery.

The deadline was Friday, he said.

Earlier this month, Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced that the federal government was soliciting bids for a cemetery site within 25 miles of the interchange of the Youngmann Highway and Mainline Thruway in Amherst.

With the 25-mile radius stipulation, according to Schumer’s staff, the cemetery would be located in Erie, Niagara, Wyoming or Genesee counties and be at least partially open by 2013.

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