Rail Trail News From Around the Northeast

Rail Trail Newsletter 8-31-2018 #25

Greetings!

Wow! Didn’t summer just FLY BY! It did for me, anyway. In my real estate world, summer is usually slow, but not this year. Ten closings in the past month and some of those deals were not easy ones. And tying that in with the Golden Spike Conference at the end of July, which was about ten months of organizing meetings for that, late August was a fitting time for a culminating event.

This is when I went to the State House in Boston to meet both the Governor and Lt Governor and to see some of my old friends in the Inter Agency Trails Team. I wanted to give them all kudos for their hard work in getting more and more of this network built out. The Gov and LG have been going to ribbon-cuttings all over the state in the past couple of years—talking up the trail getting opened that day and all the benefits that are coming to the place because of it. Yes, it is nice to see them at ribbon-cuttings as I’ve only seen such high level folks appear a couple of times in the past 20+ years that I’ve doing this advocacy work. But more importantly, they’ve followed it up with really needed things. The behind the scenes stuff that most of you don’t ever see. I do because I’m a geek on this stuff.

I know all the impediments behind the scenes. Both the created ones, and the accidental ones. This administration is working carefully, methodically, and with purpose, to get the impediments removed. And to get this done. You might ask. What is “this?” What we have here in Mass [and southern New England as a whole] will be the densest network of biking/walking trails in North America. This network will be different from other areas of the country in that it will connect right where people, live, work, play, and go to school. These are not obscure branch lines going to nowhere like played-out mines. This network goes where the old mills were. And those old mills are now becoming apartments, high tech businesses, etc.

In Massachusetts, there is now a recognition at the state level that developing this network is important to the well- being for all the communities lucky enough to have this inter-connected system of dead railroads. That it needs to be built out as trails, and as soon as is practical. To facilitate this, the administration has put together an inter-agency working group to remove impediments, break down the silos that prevent one agency from knowing what another is doing in this realm, and to put together creative solutions to complicated problems. CLICK HERE TO GO TO A PRESENTATION ABOUT THE INTER AGENCY TRAILS TEAM.

If you are a Mass resident, and love rail trails, you should consider giving the Governor your vote for re-election. He certainly deserves it. Giving him another term will mean that a lot more will be done by 2022.

Craig Della Penna

413 575 2277

Craig@GreenwaySolutions.org

"In the News"

and Updates About the Longest Rail Trail Project in New England

More news about the MCRT and and follow up about Golden Spike 2018

The 2018 Golden Spike Conference attracted more than 100 Massachusetts and Connecticut rail trail advocates to Northampton on Friday July 27 and Saturday July 28, 2018. The Saturday session focused on presentations from community representatives that highlighted challenges and successes in their segments of the trails. A keynote address, provided by Kurt Gaertner, Director of Land Policy & Planning at MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, detailed promising initiatives and future funding possibilities for rail trail projects in Massachusetts. In addition to these presentations a variety of organizations and authors provided information on their work and books. An important goal of the conference was also to provide attendees with the opportunity to meet fellow trail proponents and policy makers, accomplished both through an informal networking event on Friday night and via scheduled walking and biking tours on both Friday and Saturday afternoons. Read more here. Or CLICK here to go to the conference booklet.

RECENT GRANTS TO FUND THE BUILD OUT OF THE MCRT, FOOT BY FOOT

Mass DCR in partnership with MassDOT and the Mass Rec Trail Advisory Board has recently funded several projects related to the Mass Central Rail Trail. Here is the list of Mass Central Rail Trail related grant projects funded in a recent announcement – Wachusett Greenway for work in Holden ($100,000), the Weston Rail Trail Advisory Committee ($50,000), the City of Northampton ($100,000), and the East Quabbin Land Trust for work in Ware ($44,000). To read a short description of each project, CLICK HERE .

Also two DCR projects relative to the Mass Central Rail Trail are also funded - Wayland to Sudbury Design & Permitting ($140,000), and construction of the Conant Road Underpass in Weston, ($790,000).

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE LIST OF 75 PROJECTS FUNDED THIS YEAR--ALL ACROSS THE STATE.

On Wednesday August 29th Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito invited me to come to the State House, to present to them, the Golden Spike Awards from the recent Golden Spike 2018 Conference held in Northampton this summer.

Above are the Golden Spike plaques for GOVERNOR BAKER and LT. GOVERNOR POLITO in recognition of their extraordinary efforts to build-out the network here in Massachusetts.

HERE'S THE GOVERNOR, THE LT. GOVERNOR AND THE INTER-AGENCY TRAILS TEAM [and me]

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS TEAM. This group has been a game-changer by the way.

And a couple of pictures of the Gov and Lt Gov and their plaques. Click on any of the pictures and they will enlarge a bit.

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.

Somerville: Friends of the Community Path's Facebook page is here .

Waltham: Link here to the Waltham Land Trust's site. Link here to the Waltham Bike Committee. And link here to the City's page on the MCRT.

Weston: Link here .

Wayland: Link here .

Sudbury: Link here for the N-S intersecting trail--Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

Hudson: Link here .

Berlin: Link here goes to the town's Rail Trail Committee. Once on that page, you can sign up to get notices of meetings, agendas, minutes, etc. They also have a pretty nice website w pix of the future trail. Link here .

Clinton: Link here .

Wachusett Greenways area: Link here .

East Quabbin Land Trust service area: Link here .

Ware: Check out the new FaceBook page. Link here .

Belchertown/Northampton area: Link here .

AND IN OTHER NEWS

AROUND THE REGION

NH Bike-Walk Summit identifies next steps

Representatives from local rail-trail groups attending the first-ever New Hampshire Bike-Walk Summit in Concord identified some key areas for strengthening statewide bike-walk efforts. Read more here .

Westside Greenway Bollards Still Causing Injuries And Mayhem To Cyclists They Are Supposed to Protect

Meet another victim of the new math on the Hudson River Greenway in NYC.

On a busy Sunday on North America’s busiest bike and pedestrian path, a cyclist was injured in a crash caused by the metal anti-terrorism bollards that state officials stated installing earlier this summer . Read more here.

Big Win for the Malden River Greenway

It’s been nearly two years since MyRWA and partners packed Everett, MA City Hall for the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Chapter 91 License Application Public Hearing about the National Grid site located along the Malden River—and we finally have some good news. Read mor e here . [btw did you know that the utilities in Mass own more miles of former RR corridor than private sector RRs do? CDP]

Lynnfield-Wakefield Delegation Secures $500,000 For Rail Trai l

By Bob Holmes

A joint press release from the entire Lynnfield and Wakefield legislative delegation:

BOSTON – Members of Lynnfield's and Wakefield's legislative delegation have successfully secured a $500,000 funding earmark for the Wakefield-Lynnfield Rail Trail as part of a $2.4 billion environmental bond bill that was recently signed into law. Read more here .

Pedal for the Path - a ride to help complete the

South Coast Bikeway

Pedal for the Path; What is it?

On Sunday, 16 September 2018, the South Coast Bikeway Alliance (SCBA) will hold its first regional bike-ride fundraiser, Pedal for the Path. Beginning and ending at the Running Brook Vineyard in Dartmouth, in between you can count on 52 miles of fabulous cycling, postcard perfect scenic views, more historic places than you can count, and, along the way, memorable ice cream. Registration Opens August 14th. As space is limited, sign up - right away! Read more here .

Crossing the Black Bridge at Albany, NY

We finally got a chance to check out the new paved path in Green Island that leads up to the southern end of the Black Bridge. And short story short: it's nice.

The Black Bridge is worth checking out sometime if you haven't already. There's a small parking lot at the end of Cannon Street on the Green Island side, and it's a short pedal from downtown Troy via the Green Island Bridge. Read more here.

Maine Voices: East Coast Greenway a true gem, and Maine could help it reach full potential YARMOUTH, ME — My biking adventure began in Calais, just this side of the St. Croix river from Canada. Calais is at the northern tip of the East Coast Greenway. My wife, Debbie, and son Sam joined me for much of this journey.