Rail Trail e-Newsletter October 2022 #71
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Hello all,
The 1st phase of the important report about the Mass Central Rail Trail--the survey--is now underway. We have a link to that below along with a survey from the Natoinal Park Service about the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Please do take both surveys as they are important. Each are only a few minutes long, but as I said, they are important.
We also have a short video featuring Steven Hawk's short speech after being awarded a Golden Spike Award at July's GS2022 confernce.
We also have news about more of the MCRT construction getting underway in several places and news about the CT legislature about to pass a bill about an improvement in their Rec Use Statutes that will make it easier to build rail-w-trail projects there. I never expected this to happen. This pretty much leaves Vermont as the only outlier.
Also, the New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway website has a nice update about the gaps in this trail--the longest interstate trail in New England.
And of course we can't forget that MassTrails is holding an in-person conference on Saturdy November 12 in Fitchburg. There will also be several days of optional outdoor tours and workshops as well. Please do plan on coming as it will be a great confrence filled with useful and inspirational talks. Check out the great website on that.
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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See the short video of Steven Hawk getting his Golden Spike GS2022 Award |
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The highlight at the GS2022 conference this summer was the short acceptance speech by Steven Hawk. I've now had several requests to have that portion of the conference as a short, stand-alone video. Click Here to see it. The Town of Ware is developing signage a kiosk dedicated to Steven's efforts there. More on that soon. |
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WANT TO DO SOMETHING THAT'LL HELP BUILD THE MCRT?
THEN TAKE BOTH OF THESE SURVEYS. THEY ARE IMPORTANT.
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This is the 1st phase of the creation of the report about what a completed trail will mean to the Commonwealth
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The National Park Service requires the Commonwealth to conduct this survey every 5 years. |
Both of these these surveys are important! Please do your part! |
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More MCRT development news. . .
Design hearing in Waltham and MORE construction underway now in Hardwick
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Planning Underway for Mass. Central Rail Trail Link Over I-95 in Waltham, Weston StreetsBlog By Christian MilNeil Sep 19, 2022
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has begun designing a short but crucial missing link in the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail (MCRT) to connect existing and under-construction segments of the trail in Weston and Waltham by bridging Interstate 95. DCR officials and consultants presented their conceptual plans for the project In an online hearing last week. Read more.
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East Quabbin Land Trust and the Town of Hardwick started the construction of another section of the MCRT. It is sometimes referred to as the Hardwick Fitness Trail, but will also be part of the Mass Central Rail Trail. The west end of this 3/5 mile section (colored gold) is across the street from the ex-B&M RR station now Hardwick House of Pizza. The east end will be on RT-32, across the street from the south gate of the Saint Aloysius Cemetery. CLICK HERE to see the image
on the MCRT map. Here's a link to Tom's great interactive map of the entire 104+ mile corridor.
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Plans to connect Hatfield to region’s network of trails (MCRT) win support from many, skepticism from others
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer. Hampshire Gazette. Published: 9/26/2022
HATFIELD — Bicyclists from Hatfield who drive to Damon Road in Northampton, unloading their bicycles to hop on the Mass Central Rail Trail Norwottuck section, are among those who like the idea of connecting their community to the regional network of rail trails.
“This is a dream come true for me, and I know it is for other people I know who are bicyclists,” Carol Walker of King Street said during a Select Board forum last week on the plan to extend a connection to Hatfield. Read More.
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The National Assoc. of City Transportation Officials recently held their annual conference in Boston and had a walking tour of a section of the MCRT in Somerville that is under construction right now.
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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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MASSTRAILS CONFERENCE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 12th in FITCHBURG, MA
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CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR DETAILS!
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
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OSI Begins Construction on New Round of Improvements to Wallkill Valley Rail Trail
9/29/22
Project will further improve public access and safety along the rail trail.
New Paltz, NY. The Open Space Institute (OSI), today announced the start of a project, being completed in partnership with and with funding provided by Ulster County, to improve a 5.5-mile section of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail between Plains Road in New Paltz and Main Street in Gardiner. Read more.
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OP-ED | Rail With Trail In Connecticut, Long Overdue
by Anthony Cherolis
September 2, 2022, 4:45 am
One unassuming paragraph in Connecticut’s 2022 legislation will have a big impact on the state’s bike routes and multi-use trails. In the short 2022 legislative session, House Bill 5255, proposed by Connecticut’s Department of Transportation (CT DOT), was passed and signed into law. Four lines of text give the state more options to close gaps in urban and regional multi-use trails. (VT is now the only outlier state in New England without the 21st century regs. How much longer will it take to get it done in VT? Like in Brattleboro where the lack of R-w-T is stopping an interstate trail. CDP.) Read more.
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Autumn on two wheels: 11 scenic bike rides across the Hudson Valley Robert BrumThe Journal News
The air is crisp, the bugs are gone, and hopefully the trees are holding up their end of the bargain. What better time to hop on a bicycle and tour the Hudson Valley? Read more.
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News from the longest interstate trail in New England--(or maybe the longest in the northeast.) Posted on the a new page at the website for the New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway. Read more. |
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The Ying and the Yang of Bedford
along the Minuteman Bikeway
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The story below to the left is about a "to-do" in Bedford, Mass about extending the Minuteman Rail Trail in Bedford beyond it's current terminus, and allowing it to continue into Concord. The story to the right tells about Bedfored elementary school kids in the 1970s initiating the process that led to the builiding of the Minuteman Rail Trail. Yes Martha, it takes a good, long time to build trails in Mass. Even in places where you might think it would be the proverbial "no-brainer". In a place where kids in the 5th grade, 50-ish years ago were advocating for it.
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From the StreetsBlog, by Grecia White. Read more.
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AND IN THE ORANGE AREA
Interesting, "High-Altitude" Stories From Around the Country and Sometimes Beyond.
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Did you ever wonder where the idea of Rails-to-Trails started?
The nation’s expanding network of rail trails started in Chicago with one woman’s ambitious vision.
Paul Gordon Contributing Writer Sep 29, 2022 Grist.org
May Theilgaard Watts, a mother, activist, and visionary, proposed the first rail trail in the U.S. Her legacy lives on in communities that transform infrastructure to fit their needs. Read more.
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The Alien Plant that Can't be Stopped. BBC Future, by Zaria Gorvett 10-6-2J2
Japanese knotweed evolved in one of the harshest environments on Earth – now scientists are desperately trying to find a way to destroy it.
Do you have Japanese Knotweed along your dead RR being converted to a trail? You are going to want to checkout this story CDP. 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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I was recently invited
to be on a Podcast. click below. Caution! 1.5 hours
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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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