Rail Trail E Newsletter May 2021 #55 |
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Greetings!
Last month, I mentioned a need for a clearinghouse of surplus bridges. Low and behold a couple of folks reminded me that there is such a thing already. Here's a link to that site. Thanks Peter and Jerry.
And of course the godfather of trails and greenways in the northeast, Bill O'Neill in CT, reminded me of the high-quality work at a low-cost done by the Connecticut (and other states') National Guard Engineering Battalions.
And speaking of bridges, more bridge stories are seen below. And we're going do another Golden Spike Conference. SAVE THE DATE. October 16, 2021.
Stay well,
Craig Della Penna, Exec. Director
Norwottuck Network
62 Chestnut St. Northampton, MA 01062
413 575 2277 CraigDP413@gmail.com
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In the GREEN area, we have news about the
Mass Central Rail Trail
and its connecting paths
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GOLDEN SPIKE 2021
Saturday Oct. 16th
OLD STONE CHURCH
283 MAIN ST
GILBERTVILLE, MA
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Did you know that for over 20 years, there has been an occasional Golden Spike Conference?
We, the MCRT core-group, would choose a different place to hold it every time, and there is no set-in-stone timeframe to hold it. Our last one was here in Northampton in July of 2018. Here is the link to that conference.
Our next one will be on Saturday, October 16 2021 and it will be in Gilbertville, Mass. This is one of four villages in the town of Hardwick, on the MCRT corridor, just east of the town of Ware and in the service area of the East Quabbin Land Trust. As you probably know, EQLT has renovated several bridges along with about 5 miles of corridor in this locale. They are on-target to do more as well.
We are working on a new website for this next GS event and will unveil that in a few weeks.
The conference will be at the Stone Church on 283 Main Street in Gilbertville which has a genuinely nice space for an event like this and importantly, the layout can be observant of all Covid protocols that will still in-place at that time.
The agenda is still being developed and it will include a catered light breakfast and luncheon, a nationally famous key-note speaker, some afternoon walking, and biking tours for you to choose from, along with up to the moment, inspiring news about this knitting together of the longest rail trail in New England.
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Communities on the
on the MCRT and their websites
Did you know that many communities (or groups like land trusts) on the MCRT alignment are working on their section of the trail?
Here are links to websites where you can learn who the contact person is, when these groups meet, when hearings are being planned and how to sign up to get notices sent to you directly.
Belmont: Link here to the town appointed committee.
Belmont: Link here to the Belmont Citizens Forum.
Belmont: Link here to the Friends of the Community Path Facebook group.
Somerville: Link here to the Friends of the Community Path Facebook group.
Waltham: Link here to the Waltham Land Trust's site.
Walham: Link here to the Waltham Bike Committee.
Waltham: Link here to the City's page about the MCRT.
Weston: Link here to the town's page about the MCRT
Weston: Link here to the history of both the RR and the advocacy to create the trail. Over 25 years of advocacy. It is now open.
Sudbury: Link here for the N-S intersecting trail--Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
Hudson: Link here for the NE-SW intersecting trail--Assabet River Rail Trail.
Berlin-Hudson: Link here to the new FaceBook group.
Berlin: Link here goes to the town's Rail Trail Committee. They also have a pretty nice website with pictures of the existing dead RR corridor along other maps and images of a future trail. Link here.
Wayside segment of the MCRT: Link here to a history of DCR's efforts on this.
Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust: Link here.
Clinton Tunnel: Link here to a story on WBZ Boston TV about the tunnel.
Wachusett Greenways area: Link here.
East Quabbin Land Trust: Link here.
Palmer coming soon
Ware: Link here to the Facebook group about this segment of the MCRT'.
Belchertown: Link for the site for Friends of the Belchertown Greenway.
Amherst, Hadley on DCR's Norwottuck section of the MCRT: Link here.
Northampton area: Link here to the Friends of Northampton Trails website.
Northampton area: Link here to the Friends of Northampton Trails Facebook.
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AND IN THE WHITE AREA,
OTHER NEWS AROUND THE REGION
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First up, some more stories about MassDOT building bike-ped bridges--because I know you love these stories |
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Another new Bike-ped bridge by MassDOT nears completion
SALISBURY — Cyclists and pedestrians should be able to quickly and safely cross over Route 1 by midsummer.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation erected a prebuilt pedestrian/bike bridge over Route 1 at True Road and Gerrish Road in August.
Coastal Trails Coalition Director Jerry Klima said construction of the bridge should be finished by July. Read more.
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Town meeting in Northfield approves MassDOT's requirements to build a new bike-ped bridge over the CT River.
NORTHFIELD — The 148 voters in attendance at Annual Town Meeting approved 36 of the 37 articles on Monday, which included giving their blessing to move forward with legal requirements for the Schell Bridge reconstruction project
Approval of Articles 31 and 32 were required to continue the Schell Bridge reconstruction project, and were met with applause when passed.
With voter approval of these articles, the $20+ million project should be on track to reach a 100 percent design stage this fall, with construction aimed to start in spring 2022. Read more.
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MassDOT installs yet ANOTHER NEW Bike Ped BRIDGE this spring.
This one over the marsh in Saugus, Mass on the Northern Strand Trail. The bridge is near the Lynn line, a few hundred yards from Boston Street. To see more pix and info about the project, Click here.
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Mayoral candidate Yang puts NYC's stalled ‘Queens-Way’ rail-to-trails project at center of public park platform
By Robert Pozarycki
For decades, Queens residents have been debating what to do with the deactivated Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road — a 3.2 mile former train line that nature has taken over since the last train ran on its tracks back in 1962.
On Monday, mayoral candidate Andrew Yang stood on top of the rusting remnants cutting through the overgrowth adjacent to Forest Park and pledged his support for the “QueensWay,” a plan to convert the Rockaway Beach branch into a linear park similar to that of Manhattan’s High Line. Read more. |
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Did you know of an effort to rebrand the N-S trail from New Haven to Northampton with a unified name?
An 'umbrella' name that calls out the historic original name, and yet still has the commonly known local name.
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Beautiful Art on the Trail in Florence, MA |
Here's the story about the artist Kim Carlino and her work in the Daily Hampshire Gazette Read more.
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On the left is Freeman Stein, member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of Northampton Trails.
Like Kathy and I, Freeman and his wife Wendy, live directly next to the rail trail in the Florence village of Northampton.
Freeman has leveraged his passion for art, to bring the idea of the city's Public Art Committee to help fund an artist to do Art on the Trail in Florence. For more info about FNT Click here. |
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AND IN THE ORANGE AREA
Interesting and Pertinent Stories From Around the Country and Sometimes Beyond.
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The American Society of Landscape Architects recently published an interesting interview with Jennifer Toole, founder and President of Toole Design, a leader in developing better bicycling infrastructure--all over the U.S. Read more. |
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Engineers Should Not Design Streets
This post was originally written in 2016 by Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn. Since it was published, Strown Towns' audience has grown and some of the best writing from their archives is likely new to those who have recently discovered the Strong Towns movement. Read more.
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The new Norwottuck Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation specifically set up to help get the longest rail trail in New England--the Mass Central Rail Trail --built-out, operational and notable.
We can help do that by making small, mini-grants available to local groups and communities that will bring restore/renovate/replace historic mile-markers on the corridor. Or help fund kiosks that will call out forgotten railroad or industrial history of that locale.
We will want to work with the state park agency Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on standardized kiosk designs.
We will keep you all posted as to developments as we go. We have made it easy to DONATE through the Network for Good.
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Amazingly, Constant Contact alerted us that this newsletter is in the top 10% of all of Constant Contact's newsletters, worldwide, in terms of readership engagement.
Imagine that!
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