Posts Tagged ‘ maps ’
Border to Boston
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.
Methuen Walks
The city, along with the Mass Historical Commission, US Dept of the Interior, National Park Service and nameless others have gone in to produce this nice little full color map-let. This 16 page booklet with attached map goes beyond the previous incarnation of the Methuen historical place map; instead of depicting one walk around downtown, it has TWO separate routes with a write up on what’s left of our historically interesting landscape.
This heavily illustrated item is worth picking up when you find it. It should be available at the library and town offices. I got mine at the planning office in city hall.
(click the images for a closer look)
Bike Maps
Rubel BikeMaps are carried in the better bike shops and I even would suspect Borders and Barnes and Noble would not be sold out of them from time to time. I picked up mine at Al French’s Moor and Mountain in Andover for about $12. It is most like a regular auto map, in size but the markings are all geared towards ‘slow’ speed recreation, campgrounds, ice cream shops etc. It’s practically a must have for picking local roads for safer travel. Of course they have an entire line, Boston, Cape Cod, Western Mass, etc…
The New Hampshire maps created by the NHDOT and the Bike-Walk Alliance of NH, are free and harder to acquire but just as useful. The Merrimack Valley map and the others in the set should be available for the asking at the rest areas such as the one on Rt 93 in Salem.
From the New Hampshire Department of Transportation website:
A new set of seven regional NH bike maps are now available from NH DOT. After nearly two years of meetings, presentations, state-wide hearings, inputs for various cycling groups, revisions, budget cuts, and other time-consuming projects, the new maps were available in time for the Bike/Walk to Work Day events on May 16. To ensure the maps reach bicyclists and not just tourists looking for a free souvenir that is soon trashed, they must be requested. Distribution will be made via the rest areas on the NH Interstate Highways, by contacting the DOT, and from other key NH locations around the state. BWA-NH is a member of the bike map steering committee and can testify that a lot of time and effort has gone into these maps. To be sure, they are not perfect and the state infrastructure is a moving target that cannot be reflected on a map which may be outdated before it is printed. To compensate for such, the NH DOT Bike-Ped web site http://www.nh.gov/dot/nhbikeped will carry updated versions of the maps available for free downloading plus notation of corrections. Any problems or suggestions concerning the maps should be sent to the attention of Jerry Moore in the NH DOT Bike-Ped Office at JMoore2@dot.state.nh.us.
Status
As it stands the 2.5 miles of Rail bed belongs to the MBTA. If Methuen wants to develop this property for use as a public Bike/Ped trail, we need to lease the land from the MBTA for 99 years.
The section that screams for use by the public runs north from the depot, under five corners, out behind Pine St. through the Nevins Bird Sanctuary, under 213, across MSPCA land, behind the Village Mall and extends parallel to Route 28, until it ends behind the IHOP. This section is only 1.45 miles. Without the trees, shrubs and some odd bits of trash here and there, it is a very nice walk in the country, best described as a cross between a meadow and a country lane.
