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
Haverhill recently produced a delightful pocket trail guide, and it was very nice of Mark Sheehan, their Conservation Officer to drop a copy off for me to review. All it did was make me jealous as it’s more elaborate than I expected and certainly well worth the ten dollar cover price.
Each trail gets a foldout page that not only has great maps, directions and legends, they have also gone so far as to include suggested walks, area history, sections on the wildlife, botany and geology of each area.
The book covers eleven trails in Haverhill, but it has lots of extra pages, such as the activity index, that show much care was put into it. I especially like the page with the animal tracks.
It is available at the Haverhill Conservation Office, the Haverhill Public Library and other select venues around the city.
Haverhill Conservation Office
City Hall
4 Summer St Rm 210
Haverhill, MA
M-F 8-4
978-374-2334
Windham residents split over restoration of rail. Cost decried, economic benefits touted (read article) by Terry Date
This isn’t even NEW news, just a rehash of last months coverage of the Interstate 93 Transit Investment Study and basically a profile of rail proponent Peter Griffin.
The cost of the train isn’t even correctly estimated, that 200mil are 2008 dollars and doesn’t include any upgrades to infrastructure, like road widening, bridges, stations or parking. If the Express BUS service won’t even be completed for 17 years, can we hazard a guess how long it will take for train service to be completed? 20 years , 30 years? We can still have a nicely walkable trail in less than a year and with proper funding a bikable one in about two.
So, if we pretend that the country is not in an economic crises and isn’t looking at a serious recession to pay for the bailout, the war and the national debt. We will also have to pretend that federal funding won’t be harder to find than a vegan in Texas Roadhouse, we are still looking at 20 plus years of use for property that presently isn’t being enjoyed at all.
On October 22nd the first general public meeting of the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor project was held at the Salem High Auditorium. The presentation laid out the scope of the five mile Salem project, which has been broken into four sections. Short presentations where made by representatitves of the Windham and Derry trails, to tease the Salem supports with what they can look forward to. The highlight was when Greg Bakos of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin engineering firm presented satellite imagery with the trail demarked. Salem’s trail looks like it will be a charming mixture of greenspaces and sidewalks, opening up the entire length of Rt 28 shopping district to daily non-auto travelers.
Methuen really does need to get in on this well before this project is in its advanced phase. The trail head at Hampshire St has already been targeted for a parking area and trail access point. Adding the 1.4 mile access to the downtown methuen, will make it easy for folks to get up to Salem using this corridor and also invite travelers to continue their journey all the way into Methuen center.
Salem Bike-Ped Corridor Official site
from the Boston Globe:
“The Bay Circuit arcs around Boston, from Plum Island in Newburyport to the Bay Farm Conservation Area at the Kingston-Duxbury line. It’s a Frankenstein trail, stitched mainly from existing footpaths over land owned by state agencies, municipalities, land trusts, utilities, and conservation groups, mostly inside the corridor between Route 128 and Interstate 495. Where forests no longer exist, the Bay Circuit follows town streets, sticking wherever possible to historic neighborhoods.”
“What the trail needs now”, said Alan French, has given 20 years of his life to the trail project, “are people to walk it.”
(read article)
Bay Circuit Trail homepage
Tags: Bay Circuit Trail
I finally got out to Salisbury Eastern Marsh Trail, and it is a great example of the interim stages of trail construction. These trails are most like what Methuen has to work with and the most realistic vision of what we can create.
To get to the hard pack stone condition of Salisbury’s Ghost Trail, you grade flat a base of the old rail bed gravel, and cover it with 9 feet wide landscape fabric and then with 4 inches binpac (stone dust and fine gravel mix); then roll the whole thing flat with a heavy roller.
Where the interim condition of gravel isn’t yet ideal for road bikes, with heavy soles or fat tires it is still a nice afternoon. When the trail is finished I will be among the first to go for a spin.
For most of the heavy machine labor Salisbury found local contractors who donated dozer time for grading and for the parts through the woods, they got a Recreational Trails Grant from the state, as well as some money from foundations. They also hired contractors to clear and grade and install gravel.
(click here for full uncropped map)
Tags: Salisbury Eastern Marsh Trail
I started a little late to do the entire 12.5-miles, it is deceptively easy to go just a little further and then a little further than that. But it is deliciously straight and level, passing through everything from farms and wetlands to downtown Pepperell. The smell of freshly cut hay and farmlands are an added bonus.
The Massachusetts part of the trail goes through Ayer, Groton, Pepperell and Dunstable, and is managed by the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation. It is in exemplary condition save for a few frost heave cracks.
The northern section of the Nashua River Rail Trail continues into the city of Nashua and connects with the Mine Falls Park their 325 acre recreation park.
Mass Official Site
Tags: Nashua River Rail Trail
from Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes:
Saturday, September 20th is the official opening of the NH Seacoast Greenway, the first border-to-border marked route for the East Coast Greenway (ECG) in any state. To celebrate there will be two rides on the Greenway’s newly signed on-road route and a family walk in Portsmouth, all converging at Strawbery Banke Museum for a dedication ceremony at Noon.
The NH Seacoast Greenway is New Hampshire’s segment of the East Coast Greenway, envisioned to be an all-season, multi-use trail extending 3,000 miles through 25 cities along the East Coast from Calais, ME to Key West, FL – an urban Appalachian Trail.
The Inaugural is part of a full weekend of bicycling events in the Seacoast, including the Tri-State Seacoast Century Ride on September 20th and 21st, which will bring more than 1,600 riders to the area for their featured 100 mile ride and the Portsmouth Criterium bicycle race in Portsmouth’s Market Square on Sunday, September 21st, featuring some of the top pro riders in the country plus a slate of kids races and a lifestyle expo, annually drawing over 7,000 spectators.
It’s Bike Week(end) in the Seacoast! Come on out and celebrate the bicycle.
BTW: I will be among the volunteers this weekend (September 20-21) for the Granite State Wheelmen’s 35th Tri-State Seacoast Century - If you are doing any part of the ride look for me at Fort McClary on Saturday from 12-4.
