Rail Trail e-Newsletter May 2025 #2.1 | | |
Hi Craig,
Here we are, deeper into spring and change is in the air. Change is here too. I'm rebranding my newsletter back to Northeast Greenway Solutions (NEGS) my old consulting firm, because I'm stepping off of the Board of Norwottuck Network as we revamp to becoming something clearer. Mass Central Rail Trail. . . . Coalition, Network or something else.
I will continue the e-Newsletter, and I'll be doing more in the realm of rail trail development than I have in the past several years.
I'll have a complete update in a couple of weeks as to what I'll be doing. It will involve standing up a national podcast about Rail Estate, Rail Trails and Bed & Breakfasts too. About how they all intersect.
Enjoy this one.
Craig Della Penna, ex-Board President
Norwottuck Network, Inc.
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 perhaps some of the 18 other trails that connect to it.
| | A direct and compelling headline | | | |
Another Yin Yang story line.
Below and to the left is about Ware and their early foray into developing a walking/biking trail through a neighborhood. And the photo treasure trove to the right is about Sudbury and their construction now in the final stages.
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Wow! Paving the MCRT in Sudbury is underway right now!
Here's a slew of pictures by Len Simon, Former Selectman in Sudbury and big booster/supporter of both the Bruce Freeman and the MCRT.
Batch one of pictures
Batch two of pictures
Letter of support from the Sudbury Selectboard urging the state to finish the rail trail.
| | | Two video presentations about the MCRT | | |
The Town of Stow, loves their developing section of the MCRT--even though they only have a few hundred feet of it.
They invited DCR's Trail Planner, Amber Christoffersen, to come in and give a talk on the local cable access channel. Click here to go to the presentation.
Click here to go to the letter of support from the Town of Stow's Select Board, urging the state to finish the rail trail.
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The Springfield Museums invited me to speak on May 8th at their Thursday speaker series--Museums à la Carte.
Here's an odd coincidence. Forty five Years for the anniversary of their lecture series. And forty five+ years for the state's efforts thus far to reassemble the longest dead RR in New England, into the longest and most impactful rail trail in New England. Here's my presentation on YouTube.
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AND IN THE WHITE AREA,
OTHER NEWS AROUND THE REGION
| | I've been doing this e-Newsletter for about 8 years now and it is in the top 10% of all the thousands of Constant Contact's e-newsletters world-wide. I get emails all the time from you all asking how you can help get this huge thing --the MCRT-- get built out. Well here you go. Two stories about how you can get involved | | |
Mass Parks for All is working with key state senators to get more funds with our state parks. Your help is key, as you can get your local state senator to sign on in support.
Sen. Jamie Eldridge has filed Amendment 324 to give DCR's operations account a 3.5 percent increase from this fiscal year's $110 million, to $113,850,000, or 0.5 percent above inflation. There are more details at this link along with a form where you can enter their address or the address of your park to find the correct senator and email a message immediately.
The deadline for co-sponsors is Friday. And thank you all for asking what you can do. Download the form and contact your State Senator.
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Call for interest in serving on the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board
Click here to download the notice.
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To the left is an important but easy task. Please contact your state senator.
Above is another important task, but a bit heavier lift in that it involves time.
If you can fit it into your already busy schedule, please do consider it. Thank you!
| | | Impressive News about the Two Former Canal Corridors in Southern New England | | |
Koopman Lumber Donates $45K to Support Blackstone Heritage Corridor
The Blackstone Heritage Corridor — a nonprofit offering leadership to preserve, promote, and celebrate the Blackstone Valley’s historic, natural, and recreational resources — has received a $45,000 donation to its Legacy Campaign from Koopman Lumber. Michael Vyskocil
Published May 9, 2025 9:23 AM Read more.
| | | New Haven section of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail finally opens. 'A long time coming' By Mark Zaretsky, Staff Writer May 9, 2025 New Haven Register. Read more. And here is another story. And below is great short video. A three-fer as it were. | | |
File this under: I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
RI is looking to become like 49 other states in the direction of travel on their Rail Trail network.
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Bill would change bike path traffic patterns. Hearing is set to consider changes to lanes of travel for riders, walkers
By Mike Rego EBayRI.com
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is expected to take up a bill pertaining to proposed new safety guidelines regulating the lanes of travel on the East Bay Bike Path. The legislation is co-sponsored by Rep. June Speakman
"As I understand it, Rhode Island is the only state in the country in which cyclists ride on the right and walkers walk on the left. The proposal is to have everyone on the bike path on the right, with passing on the left," Speakman explained. Read more. I remember 20+ years a fellow working for the NPS unit at Blackstone pointed out this anomaly and they got the governor at the time to start to undo this craziness but RIDOT begged the Gov not to do so and he didn't. Here we are now, all these year later and the old adage, "good ideas never die" still holds true. CDP
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And here is a letter to the editor urging, no change.
Bike path traffic flow is fine the way it is
May 5, 2025 To the editor:
I read with interest — and disappointment — your story ("Bill amending bike path use heads to committee,") about the bill proposed by Reps. Speakman and Spears to change the state’s laws about bike path use. . .
I live in Barrington just two houses from the East Bay Bike Path. I use the path daily as I walk, run, and bike. I have biked in many regions of the U.S. and across Europe. This is the first place I’ve seen the bike right, walk left system — and I find it brilliant. As a walker or runner, I stay to the left and face any oncoming bicyclists. That way cyclists don’t surprise me by coming up behind me and they know it’s their responsibility to slow down to pass, not mine. Read more.
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And I say to RI loudly:
Go and do the Switchover!!
You can do it! Here's a couple of examples to the right.
Print up the infographic
| | | Here's some updates about projects on the North Shore of Mass | | |
Rail trail item at Lynnfield Town Meeting by Anne Marie Tobin. Lynn Item April 29, 2025
LYNNFIELD – Residents packed the middle school Tuesday night to weigh in on 21 warrant articles at the Town Meeting.
A record-breaking number of residents attended Town Meeting at Lynnfield Middle School Tuesday night, with the check-in line stretching out the front entrance and down Main Street. That is, when they finally got into the building. Read more. And I'll never, ever forget the night in 2017 that Billy Starr and I were called-in to talk about the importance of this project. Several hundred people, packed into a school auditorium, and we did tag-team presentations about the rail trail project that was scheduled to lose, and this was a role of the dice, to save the project.
But amazingly when the vote took place, the community voted by a one vote majority, to move the project ahead. It has now become a juggernaut and construction isn't far off now. CDP
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MassDOT Is Filling Gaps In the Border to Boston Trail
Updates on the Mystic River bike and pedestrian bridge, new trail connections in Peabody, and rail trail upgrades for rural Essex County. By Christian MilNeil
3:23 PM on April 29, 2025 StreetsBlog Mass. Read more.
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Here's a great story about NH DOT's unusual proposal.
Derry Rail Trail: How a promised tunnel became a bridge too far
Dave Pierce • Union Leader Staff, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
Fri, April 4, 2025. Read more. This is going to curl your hair. 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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How an Arkansas City Became an Epicenter of the Biking World. By Emily Cochrane Video by Rugile Kaladyte Reporting from Bentonville, Ark. April 13, 2025 New York Times
Buoyed by the interests of the family behind Walmart, Bentonville has become an unexpected hub for cycling.
We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Bentonville, Ark., a thriving off-road biking network has drawn residents and tourists alike into mountain and gravel biking.
Listen for the click of a bike gear, shifting in tune with its rider. A whoosh of air as tires lift off the ground, then a satisfying thud as the bike returns to earth. The clack of a cyclist’s cleats, fresh off a ride, in the downtown square.
This is the soundtrack to Bentonville, a city of about 60,000 near the state’s border with Missouri that has dozens of immaculately kept trails for every level of biker. Read more
When the MCRT gets built out--along with the 18+ connecting trails, the impact here will be many times larger than the impact in the story above. CDP
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