Rail Trail e-Newsletter May 2023 #77
Hello all,

First of all, sorry for the delay in getting out another e newsletter. I've been pretty busy with both the final details on the report, and real estate.

Our report about what a completed MCRT will mean to the Commonwealth is now done and we are planning a big splash to the media--all over the region in a few days.

The key, take home metrics that the report shows are:
  • 4.5 million users a year.
  • 960,000 users a year just in Worcester County.
  • 400K-500K overnight visitors a year.
  • 64% of the state's population is within 10 miles of the trail.
  • $200 million a year in economic impact.

Lots of other good news stories too. In Maine and in Southampton Mass as some other interesting and surprising stories.


best,

Craig Della Penna, Board President
Norwottuck Network, Inc.
62 Chestnut St. Northampton, MA 01062
413 575 2277 CraigDP413@gmail.com
In the GREEN area, we have news about the
Mass Central Rail Trail
and or its connecting paths
THE REPORT and a 1 page summary
This has been worked on for several months and it is now done. We have developed a comprehensive campaign to get it out to numerous newspapers in the coming days. Kudos to both teams at Kittelson and Cambridge Econometrics for their hard work. Download the report.
Just before the Pandemic, Mass Trails commissioned a report on four trails in Massachusetts and the benefits and impacts they are producing at a local level, even though the are relatively short or in one case, relatively new.
Here is a link to an 8-page Executive Summary that does a deep-dive with illustrative and contemporary infographics on impacts in the areas of Economic, Health, Transportation, Environmental, Accessibility and Equity 

The interesting thing about this 8-pager is that 3 of the 4 trails in the report are a part of, or connect directly with a completed Mass Central Rail Trail. And as I said, this will be a part of the overall campaign about the Economic Impact of the MCRT. 
Cambridge Crossing arrives after two decades. It was worth the wait.
By James McCown Boston Globe Correspondent, May 11, 2023. Read more (Funny how this story of the glamorous mega project at the eastern terminus of the MCRT doesn't even mentioned the MCRT by name. Yes, the longest rail trail in New England comes right through this project and it isn't even mentioned in the article. How could they not even know? We'll have to fix this. CDP)
Belmont Community Path section of the Mass Central Rail Trail has an upcoming meeting. LINK HERE
A great slide presentation showing construction in Sudbury on both the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the Mass Central Rail Trail. This is by Len Simon, former Sudbury Selectboard Member. LINK Here.
MBTA In Court Over Lawsuit Involving Mass Central Rail Trail Neal McNamara,
Patch Staff Wed, May 3, 2023 
SUDBURY, MA — A Land Court judge is set to decide whether to dismiss a lawsuit over a former rail corridor in Sudbury and Hudson where Eversource is burying power lines — and that will eventually become a leg of the Mass Central Rail Trail. Read more.
Unresolved Accessibility Issues Push Somerville Community Path Opening to Mid-June StreetsBlog Mass By Christian MilNeil Apr 27, 2023
The opening date for the long-awaited, MCRT's Somerville Community Path, a new multi-use trail along the new Green Line tracks in Somerville and Cambridge, has been pushed to mid-June. Read more

Scan the QR code or the link above to send an email to people who need to hear from you.
SAVE THE DATE!! Our 9th GOLDEN SPIKE CONFERENCE will be held on Saturday 10-14-23 at the AmVets facility at 79 Superior Dr. Natick. Right between the Cochituate Rail Trail and Cochituate Lake State Park. A draft website is at: GS2023.org More info including speakers, tours and how to register will be set up soon.
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's a link to a two-page infographic about the history of the MCRT

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.
Wayland: Link here. 
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 regularly updated history of DCR's efforts on building out this complicated trail.
Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust: Link here. updated info.
Clinton Tunnel: Link here to a story on WBZ Boston TV about the tunnel.
Wachusett Greenways: Link here.
Wachusett Greenways Facebook page with a link to their E-newsletter: 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.
Here's DOT's Recent Feasibility study about how to piece together the middle sections of the MCRT.
AND IN THE WHITE AREA,
OTHER NEWS AROUND THE REGION
Good news at two long-developing projects.
One in Maine and one in Southampton, MA.
The State Legislature in Maine has 2 bills in the state house to make the old Mt. Division line into a trail and to fund that conversion
I was asked to write a letter in support. Read it here.
A new Friends of the Southampton Greenway has just launched. Yay. (finally) Read more.
More Gateway Cities
getting their rail trails
The Northern Strand Trail Is Growing In Lynn and Everett
Streets Blog By Christian MilNeil April 7, 2023
Two projects – one under construction now, and one due to start construction later this year – are poised to extend both ends of the Northern Strand Trail in the cities of Everett and Lynn. Read more.
Fall River is building more rail trail, with a goal to connect Cape Cod to RI by bike Dan Medeiros The Herald News
FALL RIVER — The Quequechan River Rail Trail is about to get a tiny bit longer, just in time for outdoor-fun season. An extension of the path will bring it exactly to Fall River’s eastern border with Westport.  Read more. (hello Spfld. friends, note the long bridge through the wetlands. CDP)
AND IN THE ORANGE AREA
Interesting, "High-Altitude" Stories From Around the Country and Sometimes Beyond.
Europe just got its first solar-covered cycling path 
Michelle Lewis May 1 2023
Europe’s first solar-covered cycling path has made its debut in the German city of Freiburg, in the Black Forest – here’s the lowdown on the pilot project. Read more
During the pandemic, cities opened their streets to pedestrians. So what now?
The questions around Moody Street in Waltham sum up a debate happening all over Greater Boston. By Diti Kohli Globe Staff April 11, 2023

WALTHAM — For three years, Moody Street was the site of a radical experiment. Read more
BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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.
Here's Podcasts I've been on.
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!