• Bike to the Sea project receives state grant.
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The Patrick Administration announced that 22 trails projects across the commonwealth will receive grant funding under the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Recreational Trails Grants Program. The DCR program, which is part of the national Recreational Trails Program funded through the Federal Highway Administration, is awarding total of $465,000 in grants to local communities and nonprofit organizations to fund the trails projects.”
Tags: Bike to the Sea, Federal, FHA, grants, Mass DCR
I was tooling around yesterday getting some hopefully usable video footage of all the neighboring rail trails and I got to watch some of the finishing touches being put on
Manchester Street Park in Lawrence. This 5 acre parcel is anchor to the
Spicket Greenway project from Groundworks Lawrence.
The Spicket Greenway extends along the banks of the river THROUGH the city of Lawrence. The the conceptual plans for this four million dollar project, include a bike path paralleling the river. This river walkway conveniently lies at the southern end of the Methuen Rail Trail. Seeing as how we now have places to GO once we get the trail completed we really have no excuse now not to throw some more coals in the furnace.
Tags: Groundworks Lawrence, Lawrence, Manchester Street Park, Spicket River Greenway
A small group of Methuen Rail Trail supporters met up on Windham’s Rail Trail last Monday. The Banks, Tondo, Gallagher and Lavoie families (as well as myself) took a small cruise up and down Windham’s well cared for trail. Only a few of us had visited the trail in the past, and those that hadn’t were all a flutter with the idea that we could have anything like this for our very own. Hopefully we can make this a regular thing that will keep us inspired until that day comes.
Tags: Cycling, event, Methuen Rail Trail Alliance, Windham
At 1.3-mile
Amesbury Riverwalk is the shortest I have visited, combining it with Amesbury’s regenerated downtown and it is one of the loveliest. The trail head is on Water St where the old Salisbury Point Rail road depot has been planted. But it plans are to connect it with the Salisbury Point Ghost Train Trail and thus join the Border to Boston Trail and rest of Coastal Trails network.
Physically it’s a tad different a winding narrow paved path with a divider line, it runs along the c Powwow River and through some nice residential areas. But worth the walk as it ends at Carriagetown Marketplace. (out behind McDonalds.) The trail has been quite embraced by the community, places like the Riverwalk luxury Apartment count trail access as an amenity. On the day I went the folks from Amesbury Treasures the partnership of sixteen historic sites and museums were handing out walking tour maps at the Salisbury Point Railroad Historical Society’s Depot hangout.
Tags: Amesbury’s Powwow Riverwalk, Area Trails
There is a small group riding the Windham Rail Trail on Tuesday after supper at 6PM. Tentatively we are meeting at the Roulston Rd access. If anyone has a reason to meet up at the Windham Depot, we can easily change the meeting point.
Email us if you are planning to come.
There is space for a few cars on the shoulder of Roulston Rd.
View Larger Map
Tags: event, Methuen Rail Trail Alliance, Windham Rail Trail
from the Eagle Tribune:
Derry bike trail to be built soon by Eric Parry
DERRY — Construction on the town’s bike trail should begin this month and the whole two-mile route should be completed by the end of summer.
The Town Council has given the Derry Rail Trail Alliance permission to begin building the first phase of the project from Kendall Pond Road to Bowers Road.
Derry Rail Trail Alliance President Erich Whitney said he expects the grading and paving on that stretch of the trail to begin soon and be completed within three weeks.
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Salem is also working on extending the trail south through their town to the Methuen, Mass., line.
Bill Carter of the Salem Conservation Commission said the town is working on a transportation enhancement grant application to pave a one-mile stretch from the Windham line to Rockingham Road. The grant application is due by June 1. . . . .
(read the article in its entirety)
Tags: Derry Rail Trail
I am available to go out and take casual walks on the trail (trash picking optional) Just to give you all an idea of what it out there on the trail right now, i have uploaded the images I took the other day.
If you haven’t looked lately I have a cache of Trail images on Flickr.
I also have some images from Salem, Derry and Windham and other trails.
Tags: Derry Rail Trail, images
My apologies for not mentioning the hard work of the the Topsfield Rail Trail Committee for putting on such a lovely event. The Topsfield Historical Society donated the meeting space in their Gould Barn.
Despite the foul weather, Rachel & Harry Banks and I nipped over to Topsfield to catch the Trail Talk evening program organized by the Topsfield Trail Committee. There was of course a large contingent of Topsfield residents getting used to the idea of having their own trail as part of the entire Border to Boston corridor. For them Craig Della Penna’s excellent rail to trails 101 slideshow must have been very encouraging. When we can predict filling an entire hall, I am certain we can get Craig up here with his pretty pictures of successful trails and happy towns.
There was also a smattering of folks from area trails, Salisbury, Haverhill, Danvers, Wakefield etc. The highlight of MY evening was the short discussion given by Atty Steven Winslow regarding liability and rail trails. My thumbnail description would be that the liability for abutting homeowners for the trail is the same as it would be for the sidewalk or street in front of their home. Your homeowner’s policy should protect you. And the towns liability coverage would extend to the trail as it would with any newly acquired property. 
Statistically events ON the trail are exceedingly rare, to me this is sounding like a non issue, sort of the last bastion of the anti-trail argument.
I wish I had thought to take pictures of the circa 1710 post and beam construction of the Gould Barn. It was a swell little meetinghouse.
Tags: Area Trails, Border to Boston, Topsfield Rail Trail
They have done up a new Border to Boston Brochure and THIS was on the back. I had not seen a map that incorporated the planned
NH Seacoast Trail, the Maine Eastern Trail AND the Border to Boston. But I can tell you right now, I will be there on Opening Day to ride to Maine on my 50 year old bike.
It seems there is plenty of effort being put into rebirthing these North South Rail corridors as shared use trails. We here in the the Merrimack Valley will have to put some extra effort into working on an East/West Corridor along the river. In 10-15 years we could have a nice network of straight passthroughs bringing folks from all over the region THROUGH our city, to get to Maine, Manchester and Boston.
Tags: Border to Boston, maps
worth reading • From the Rails to Trails Conservancy website, this case study for the completion of the trail system in the Manchester, New Hampshire region. The Salem-Lawrence section of track is mentioned on page 5. (download 19pps)
To say that the current regional pattern towards trail development in Southern
NH is alive and exciting would be an understatement. Here are just a few of
the current projects already underway:
• Salem NH: Studies and engineering plans are being developed to convert the abandoned Manchester / Lawrence Railroad bed to a Bike/Ped Trail that will connect
with the completed trail in Windham and could eventually travel south to
Lawrence, Massachusetts.
• Windham, NH: An active group has completed and is maintaining its portion of the
North/South 4.1 Mile Lawrence/Manchester Rail bed as a Bike Pedestrian
Manchester Regional Trail System Case Study Page 6 Rail Trail. In the planning stages is the Windham greenways project that could eventually connect Windham to Nashua and Rochester via the East/West Worcester, Nashua, Rochester Railroad line.
• Derry, NH: Utilizing the Manchester/Lawrence abandoned rail bed, Derry has completed approximately 1 mile of paved rail trail with phase two in the planning stages to create approximately 2 more miles and completing the connection to Windham. Derry is also working on the planning and designs for the completion of the Trail heading north to Londonderry.
• Londonderry, NH: The town is actively studying and planning the creation of its portion of the Manchester/Lawrence Rail bed to connect to Manchester and Derry. Londonderry has several local trails that are maintained and created by the Londonderry Trailways organization.
A thoroughfare from here to Manchester would be very exciting and linking up to points south would bring a stream of travelers right through the center of the city. Imagine folks coming INTO downtown Methuen instead of just trying to pass right through?
Tags: Derry Rail Trail, New Hampshire
