Rail Trail e-Newsletter February, 2024 #85

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay. Busy in all realms still. You'll discover that quite a bit is going on in the trail realm too. On 1-19-24, we had our first ever, cross-state workshop for the MCRT and have begun to create a coalition to get a plan together to FinishTheRailTrail. You'll see a little bit about that and several other things of interest.

But here we are in mid-February, but not feeling like mid-winter, but spring is getting closer. Be on the lookout for it.

best,

Craig Della Penna, Board President

Norwottuck Network, Inc.

62 Chestnut St. Northampton, MA 01062

413 575 2277 Craig@MassCentralRailTrail.org

In the GREEN area, we have news about the

Mass Central Rail Trail

and or of the 18 other trails that connect to it.

On Friday, January 19, 2024, NN hosted an all day facilitated workshop about the MCRT, about the steps needed to FinishTheRailTrail. It was held at the Publick House in Sturbridge

It was held at the Publick House in Sturbridge and it was led by Julia Riseman of Riseman Consulting. This was the first time we had a cross-state workshop about how to get the MCRT finished. Or as our new landing page URL says: FinishTheRailTrail

We about 50 people there--right at the room capacity and had an amazingly productive day, thanks to Julia. One big take home was that Pete Sutton, of MassDOT promised a document about how much it will cost to finish the trail. You'll be hearing more about what we did, as time goes on. Click here or on the photo to see the attendees.

Here's the presentation by Tom Baird, P.E. working for Baird & Loguidice in Albany, NY talking about how the NYC Water Dept built a rail trail alongside the reservoir that provides 40% of the water to NYC. They saw the trail as being less a threat to the reservoir than a RR. Imagine that. View the presentation It is about an hour long but well worth it because he is expert on this topic and is a bit funny along the way too.

Sudbury's Economic Development Efforts Gain Momentum BY KEVIN LAHAISE JANUARY 20, 2024 Sudbury Weekly.

In May of 2023, Select Board Vice-Chair Lisa Kouchakdjian recommended the formation of an Economic Development Committee. She noted that the timing was right, in part because Sudbury was on the cusp of opening two rail trails. Read More

MassDOT Expands Multimodal Connectivity Across Massachusetts with 20 Miles of Shared Use Paths Opened in 2023

25 additional miles expected to open by end of 2024.

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is pleased to announce approximately 20 miles of shared use paths opened in 2023. Read More

And some good news from Belmont regarding the MCRT

YES YOU ARE SEEING IT RIGHT. A 25% DESIGN HEARING BY MASSDOT IS COMING TO BELMONT. ONLY 25+ YEARS IN.

THURSDAY MARCH 7

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM.

I'M PLANNING ON BEING THERE AND SO SHOULD YOU! Read the flyer

Belmont Citizens Forum publishes a great news-letter about things happening in town. The image above is about a new project under development called Residences at Rail Trail Path. For more about that story, a larger take about properties near rail trails, and other stories about the developing MCRT in Belmont to this link. Read More

An RFP for web redesign (tell your techy friends)

Here's an RFP to find a consultant interested looking at our websites to do a refresh, reset, to be more contemporary, robust, and pleasing to our audiences. RFP is here and here is a one-pager about where we are as a project.

New Trails We Can Look Forward to in Mass in 2024 By Christian MilNeil StreetsblogMASS 12-26-23

In the past year, MassDOT and municipalities across the Common-wealth cut ribbons on over a dozen multi-use pathway projects, opening up roughly 20 miles' worth of new bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Read more.

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's a link to the report that answers the main question. "What would a completed MCRT mean to the Commonwealth and the communities along the way."

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 directly to you.

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.

Waltham: 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.

Berlin-Hudson: Link here to the new FaceBook group.

Friends of the Berlin Rail Trail. newly stood up in 2023. Link here.

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. And link here to a more recent story on MassLive about tunnel and efforts to restore it.

Wachusett Greenways section in the center of the state: 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 Feasibility study about how to piece together the middle sections of the MCRT.

And here's the report that describes what a completed MCRT will mean to the Commonwealth and the communities along the way.

AND IN THE WHITE AREA,

OTHER NEWS AROUND THE REGION

Celebrating the newly open Manchester, VT Rail Trail

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Monday along the Manchester Rail Trail marking the transfer of the trail to the Town of Manchester from a private group of local citizens who developed the walking and biking trail. The trail runs from North Road to Hunter Park, and joins another trail leading to the Dana Thompson Recreation Park. Read more What?! A privately built rail trail that then gets donated to the town? I can't believe it. Can someone in VT contact me and tell the back story? CDP

Just what you've been waiting for. A book that teaches you how to build a trail--from the NY set of protocols--which aren't too different really from how we do it here in New England. You'll really like it. AND it is only 24 pages. Read more. And here's an official press release about it. btw, you'll note that the press release is by I Love NY--the travel and tourism agency for NY. Can someone tell me why MOTT (the Mass Office of Travel and Tourism) hasn't been put onto the Mass Trails Team?? Did you know that tourism is the 3rd largest industry in Mass? MOTT does. And they are one of three missing agencies that need to be inside Trails Team. CDP.

Peabody and MassDOT discussed plans for a major extension of the Peabody Independence Greenway that includes two pedestrian bridges, with one spanning over Route 1, during a virtual public hearing.

The new bridges and their trails are the second segment of a two-part, $21.5 million project to extend the Greenway and connect it to the Border to Boston Trail, a 70-mile trail that connects about 20 cities and towns between Boston and the New Hampshire border. Read more Oh woe is us. We'll never be able to build a giant bridge to connect the trail. Bzzzt. Wrong. Almost every issue of this E-newsletter has a story or two about a new bike-ped bridge. Here's a link to a national story about the growing phenomenon of bike-ped bridges. CDP

NY Residents and officials in Castleton-on-Hudson are preparing for a hearing in the village’s fight to create a safe crossing over Amtrak rail lines and develop a new park along the Hudson River.

The Illinois Department of Transportation, in conjunction with Amtrak, have totally upgraded their system from St. Louis to Chicago, to accommodate 110 mile an hour passenger trains, and they have over 100 grade crossings that allow pedestrian access.

And one of our major points is if Illinois can do it with Amtrak, why can't New York state DOT and Amtrak. Read more. I'm sure that people in Mass will love to know about this bit o' news. CDP

TWO more, NO-- THREE more PEDESTRIAN DEATHS IN SPRINGFIELD MASS

Two stories from Strong Towns, a national advocacy group

Just Another, and Another, and Another Pedestrian Killed on State Street

We expect that the people who design and maintain our streets hold safety as their highest priority. In places where safety shortcomings have been revealed, we expect those problems to be addressed.

So, how do we explain a situation where people are routinely killed—in the same location—and nothing is done? How are we to understand this? Read more. And another story in Strong Towns about this same situation. Read more.

And in the monthly magazine AARP, there is a story about Betsy Johnson, a resident of Spfld and a force to be reckoned with.

AARP, which stands for American Association of Retired Persons did a feature story about Betsy and her efforts to fix pedestrians problems in Springfield. Oh btw, she is also the Board President of Walk Massachusetts . I'm betting that Besty will prevail in getting the city to deal with this. Read more about the AARP article.

btw, a great way to get peds --and bikes too for that matter --to be seen is to build out the dead RR through the city into a trail. Spfld has a dead RR that traverses 5 separate neighborhoods, but the city is too cowardly to build it out. At least so far. CDP

Gov. Hochul in NY announces $13 million to help complete the Adirondack Rail Trail BY EMILY RUSSELL (ADIRONDACK REPORTER)

1-25-24

The Adirondack rail trail is getting another big influx of state cash.

“Thirty-four miles to take you through paradise," said Gov. Hochul. "It’s extraordinary. Read more.

Here's a great podcast interview of Peter Harnik on Resources Radio with Margaret Walls: My guest today is Peter Harnik. Peter is the cofounder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national nonprofit organization that was founded in 1986 and advocates for investment in bike paths and the repurposing of abandoned rail lines for biking and multi-use trails. Peter is also the founder of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land, which is how I originally met Peter. We worked on city-parks issues together. Read or hear more.

AND IN THE ORANGE AREA;

Interesting, "HIGH ALTITUDE" Stories From Around the Country and Sometimes Beyond.

Here's a story about something new. Jeff Speck has partnered with Chris Dempsey formerly of Transportation 4 Mass to form a new firm. SpeckDempsey, "a new planning and design firm serving government, non-profit and private clients." Read more

Last month we had a story about Hartford CT beginning to look at the idea of a Greenway through the urban core next to the active RR. Now St. Louis is exploring it too. CDP 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.

Or if and when we need to, (or are asked to) we will commission major reports to answer the "elephant in the room" questions, never asked.

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 some of the Podcasts

I've been on.

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Phone: 413-575-2277 or Email Me

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