Rail Trail e-Newsletter December 2022 #73
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Hello all,
In this issue we have a large amount of stories to share. Though the Eversource construction project has begun in Hudson and next week in Sudbury, the antis in Sudbury have begun to evolve their fight. They can't stop the Eversource project, so now they are challenging the MBTA's ownership of the corridor. A "Hail Mary" pass to be sure. We have all the filings before the STB on that.
In other news, yesterday, 12-5-22, the State of Massachusetts has stood-up an Office of Outdoor Recreation, along with the best acronym ever, OOOR. Also, the last remaining section of the Bruce Freeman Trail that was owned by CSX is going to be purchased by the Town of Framingham. Kudos to the Mayor there. AND the Bike to the Sea trail--also known as the Northern Strand Trail is complete. Imagine that, only 30 years in. Wow. Enjoy.
best,
Craig Della Penna, Exec. Director
Norwottuck Network
62 Chestnut St. Northampton, MA 01062
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In the GREEN area, we have news about the
Mass Central Rail Trail
and/or its connecting paths
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AND THE SUDBURY DRAMA CONTINUES. NOW BEFORE THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD IN DC. HERE'S LETTERS FROM OUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
THAT ARE SEEN AS HELPING THE OPPONENTS.
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Letter to the left is from Congressional Representatives Lori Trahan and Katherine Clark.
While on the right is a letter from Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren.
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Letters to the STB and our Congressional Leaders from local leaders |
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A clear, concise, response letter from Sudbury resident and former Select Board member, Len Simon, clarifying the real issues for our Senators and Congressional Representatives. Read more
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Interested in seeing all the filings on this case at the STB? The good, the bad and the incredulous? Well step right up and click on the image above.
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And a response letter from Attorney Andrew Fischer who writes about the real reasons for this action at the STB. Click on the image above
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Clinton trail development work is in process!
Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust is pleased to share that initial work has begun on the MCRT – Clinton Section. We have divided our project into two parts because the areas are so different and will be worked on by different crews. Top photo left shows Frannie Hodge of CGCT along with Fuss & O'Neill staffers and right shows the west portal of the 1,000+ foot tunnel. Read More.
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Yesterday, The Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs stood up the Office of Outdoor Recreation. The new agency with the great, acronym of OOOR. Read more. And here's a site with a great video of the event.
(Interestingly, in the late 1990s when I was working for Pinsly RR Co., I was called to go to Kentucky--where our company owned miles and miles of dead RR corridor-- to talk about rail to trail conversions. I presented to a joint committee of the state legislature there and they later stood up an Office of Rail Trails. And now we have a similar thing here. Who'd have thunk that CDP)
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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 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.
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AND IN THE WHITE AREA,
OTHER NEWS AROUND THE REGION
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Rails, trails or both? Maine state officials urged to do something with unused Augusta-to-Brunswick rail corridor
Officials have begun a nine-month process to consider using the state-owned Lower Road rail corridor for a recreational trail that would pass through several central Maine communities. Read more
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Trail supporters continue to push for tunnel By Julie Huss jhuss@derrynews.com Dec 1, 2022
DERRY — The talk continues as supporters of the local trail system and trails in general continue to speak out about the state’s alternative plan and design for how best to connect Derry’s trail to Londonderry, part of the planned I-93 Exit 4A project in town. Read the newspaper story Friends website is here
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NEWS FROM BOURNE ON CAPE COD AND
MATTAPOISETT ON THE SOUTH COAST OF MASS
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Bourne Bike Path Group Confronts Resident Opposition
By MICHAEL J. RAUSCH Nov 30, 2022
After four years and countless hours of research and development, the group charged with coming up with a way to connect the Shining Sea Bikeway in North Falmouth with the canal service road at the Cape Cod Canal faces its toughest critics within the confines of the Town of Bourne. Residents appear uncertain as to whether the 6.5-mile extension should be built. Read more. (Yes Martha, opposition to a trail still sometimes happens, but in this case, both the pro-side and the oppo-side are in the dark about key points here. Can someone on the pro-side please contact me. CDP)
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Here's a link to an update about happenings on the beautiful South Coast of Mass. Read more
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Ever thought of putting a giant mosaic mural on your trail? Check this out from Burlington VT. Read more
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TWO STORIES ABOUT A DEAD Railroad IN QUEENS, NY |
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Abandoned rail tracks are being transformed into park space across the U.S.
Drawing inspiration from Manhattan’s famous High Line, cities across the country are turning old rail lines into “linear parks”. Here's a short video story about the Queens Way project. Play the video
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By Winnie Hu Nov. 26, 2022 NY Times
A derelict rail line is being reimagined as a linear park, like Manhattan’s High Line. But in a borough that lacks both green space and transportation, locals wonder whether its best use would be the original one. Read more.
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Mass State House delegation visits, surveys Nashua River Rail Trail conditions By Shane Rhodes srhodes@lowellsun.com Lowell Sun
11-26-22
GROTON — State Sens. Jamie Eldridge and Ed Kennedy made their way to Groton last Friday to survey the current state of the Nashua River Rail Trail. The Nov. 18 site visit, came in response to a letter penned by Peter Cunningham, a member of the Groton Select Board and the Friends of the Nashua River Rail Trail, back in August that described the condition of the “vital recreational resource” as “deteriorated.” Read more.
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Bedford Voters Reject Minuteman Extension at Town Meeting
StreetsBlog Mass By Grecia White
Nov 16, 2022 In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the proposal to extend the Minuteman Trail through the Town of Bedford failed to pass after residents failed to meet the two-thirds majority needed during Monday evening’s Special Town Meeting.
Inside the packed gym at Bedford High School, residents of the town gathered to vote on several articles, including Article 10, which would determine the future of the Minuteman Bikeway Extension Project. Read more I'll have more on this in a future issue. CDP
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New Bennington pedestrian, bike path opens by: Sara Rizzo 11-24-22
BENNINGTON, Vt. (NEWS10) — The Bennington Rail Trail is now open for pedestrians and bicyclists to use. Although the trail is not fully completed, is it safe and available for the public, said Bennington town officials.
The Bennington Rail Trail begins at the western end of the Walloomsac Pathway at the public parking area on Depot Street. Read more And I'll mention that I've been waiting for this to happen for almost 20 years now. Way back when I was a sub to VHB assigned to write a historic narrative about old Rutland RR's presence in the industrial district of Bennington VT. Check it out to the right. CDP
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Report for the Town of Bennington, VT about their industrial heritage and the tie-in from the long gone Rutland Railroad. Read more. |
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And the dark world of buying dead railroad corridor from CSX. . . . |
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CSX sells 1.5 miles of dead RR for $11.2 million.
Those of you who are/were representatives of the 7 or 8 communities in Mass who have been lamenting your generations' long, scorched-earth negotiations with CSX. Over what you all felt was over-paying for your piece of post-industrial wastelands, can now feel relieved that you actually got a bargain. Read more ( Glad I made your day for you. Oh and those of you in NH and ME who were glad that CSX is coming into your area, you are about to have a cold, wet, reality check. Don't think it was by accident that MassDOT and the MBTA were opposed to CSX taking over Pan-Am. You are about to find out why. CDP)
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It was 20 years ago this year that I hosted a meeting where a rep from CSX came to talk to folks from 8 communities about developing a plan to purchase corridor in all those places.
Yesterday, Mayor Charlie Sisitsky of Framingham signed a P&S to purchase their section of the future Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. 3.2 miles for $5 million. Read more.
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Athol developing strategy for Rabbit Run Rail Trail
By GREG VINE, Athol Daily News
The trail would follow the right-of-way of the long-defunct Enfield & Athol Railroad, which ran from Springfield to Athol for 64 years before being shut down in 1935 to accommodate the flooding of the Swift River Valley to create Quabbin Reservoir. While the old rail bed runs through a portion of the South Athol Conservation Area, it also bisects several parcels of privately owned land. Read more
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Bike to the Sea Celebrates 30 Years, Official Trail Opening at Annual Meeting 11-14-22
Bike to the Sea celebrated its 30th year and the official opening of the Northern Strand Community Trail at its annual dinner/meeting/party on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Pearl Street Station Restaurant in Malden.
Bike to the Sea members have been working since 1992 to create the Northern Strand Community Trail, which now winds it way through Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn. Read more. (30 years.
Wow. Thanks to Steve and Helen and the entire B2C team this lifetime project. CDP)
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AND IN THE ORANGE AREA
Interesting, "High-Altitude" Stories From Around the Country and Sometimes Beyond.
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Toward More Walkable, Resilient, and Inclusive Gateway Cities
A new report out last month by Mass Inc. which talks about “Social infrastructure”. SI is an expansive term for aspects of the built environment that breed social capital by supporting human interaction. Walkable places and other core components include libraries, parks, and recreation centers. In vibrant neighborhoods, cafés, barbershops, gyms, and other “third spaces” account for a large share of social infrastructure. Read more
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Not about rail trails per se, but about public access to public land. Buckle your seatbelts on this one. Read more
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Here's a great review I saw on History.net about Peter Harnik's new book about the history of Rails to Trails in the US. Read the review
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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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Here's Podcasts I've been on. |
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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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