Rail Trail Newsletter #95 - March 2025

• The remake of the Linden Street Bridge in Waltham to be open for bikes and pedestrians.

• Linden Street railroad bridge may be restored by end of 2025. By Christian Maitre,  Waltham Times March 11, 2025

• Creating Multi-Use Trails While Enhancing Reliability (from Eversource's March, 2025 e-Newsletter)

• The Springfield Museums has invited Craig Della Penna to speak on May 8th at their Thursday speaker series--Museums à la Carte.

• A couple of months ago, the Selectboard in the Town of Weston weighed-in, in support of "Finishing the Rail Trail". Now we are seeing the development of an official  Weston Pedestrian & Bike Plan.

• And in Ware, The town's only hospital, (now closed) Mary Lane Hospital--owned by BayState Health,  The Friends of Mary Lane Hospital, a 600 member friends group, has become leaders in effort to find a good route through the downtown to connect the MCRT to Grenville Park to the north.

• South Coast Bikeway Alliance writes to the MassDOT Secretary of Transportation urging the state continue funding bike-ped projects--in the face of uncertainty from the happenings in DC.

• Should Barnstable cut down 91 trees for the Cape Cod Rail Trail? Public hearing March 19. Heather McCarron Cape Cod Times 3-14-25

• 2013 Letter from the Mass Secretary of Transportation urging that we build more rail-w-trail projects.  https://www.norevisionisthistory.org/rails-w-trails

• Trump Administration Takes Aim at Bike Lanes and other projects.

• U.S. DOT Orders Review of All Grants Related to Green Infrastructure, Bikes.  USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy is coming for our bike lanes  by StreetsBlog

• The Trump Administration has started its attempts to claw back Biden-era USDOT grants for a slew of projects

 

Rail Trail Newsletter #94 - February 2025

• Select board in the Town of Hadley weighs-in, in support of Finishing the Rail Trail.

• Let's be careful out there on the trail.  From the Daily Hampshire Gazette

• Select board in the Town of Hudson weighs-in, in support of Finishing the Rail Trail.

• Select board in the Town of Weston weighs-in, in support of Finishing the Rail Trail. Read More.

• On Tuesday February 18th, the Select board in Belchertown voted to write a letter of support encouraging the state to Finish the Mass Central Rail Trail.

• City of East Somerville will install lighting on the dark segments of the community path.

• CT Heritage Corridor: How the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Is Sparking Connections and Community Prosperity in Connecticut By: Cory Matteson

• A popular Connecticut walking trail follows a defunct rail line not even locals know about!

• Congressman Richard Neal visits North Adams to celebrate over $17 million in federal funding to expand the Ashuwillticook throughout the Northern Berkshires

• Building out the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, better connecting the Berkshires. Lauren R. Stevens | The View from White Oaks, The Berkshire Eagle

• Berkshire Magazine feature about Paul Jahnige and the Mass Office of Outdoor Recreation (MOOR) and more tidbits.

• EASTERN TRAIL IN MAINE CONNECTIVITY STUDY AND COMMUNITY MEETING RECORDING By Jamie Perkins 11/21/24, The Enterprise

• The state might fund part of a rail trail in Warner, NH. Local residents fear ‘degrading’ environmental impacts  By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY Concord Monitor

• Study shows why bike lane projects are controversial and what cities can do to make it easier by Ron Johnson. Momentum Magazine

• How, when and why Seattle started to shift into a bike-friendlier city. Feb. 8, 2025 By Tom Fucoloro, The Seattle Times

• In Boston, who has the right to public space? Cyclists or drivers?

 

 

Rail Trail Newsletter #93 - January 2025

• Here's a concise update about what happened along the MCRT this year, in a nice video format. Click here to see the video.

• Here's a nice video about the Northern Rail Trail in NH. This is the longest rail trail project in NH and one of the more notable due to its heavily volunteer-based aspect.

• Our complete list of important and positive events on the MCRT. 

• Draw One Bridge will not have pedestrian path that was promised as mitigation from Big Dig By Sean Flannelly, Cambridge Day.

• Link here to the 1995 plan that promised the bike-ped path alongside the Draw Bridge. Been waiting for only 30 years now.

• State Rep. Michelle Ciccolo, co-chair of the Trails Caucus in the Mass Statehouse, announced the formation of the TRAILS ACCESS WORKING GROUP

• Fall rail trail improvements in NH are complete, more to come in 2025

• MassDOT Celebrates Mass Being Ranked 2nd in the Nation for Bicycling

• 45.2 new miles of Greenway Trail Constructed across New York

• Bourne - Rail-With-Trail Alternative Proposed For Rail Trail Phase 2 By Jamie Perkins 11/21/24, The Enterprise

• Rail Trail gets $125,000 grant from Gov. Hochul  - Judith O'Hara Balfe, Millerton News

• An update from the town’s Lynnfield-Wakefield Rail Trail team provided a positive outlook

• Trump Taps Business Associate Of Megadonor Timothy Mellon For Federal Railroad  Admin Role 

• Bike lanes save lives, so why are you still complaining?

• Dread your commute? These folks suggest trying a trail instead by Kate Kampner Community News Service, VT

• ​Under construction since 2021, this greenway, named for the champion boxer