Efforts to improve trails across Massachusetts are getting an annual boost from the state. Millions of dollars’ worth of grants have been awarded to local efforts including several in the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley.
The Healey administration announced $12 million will support around 65 projects with an eye toward improving and expanding parts of the state’s trail network.
The funds come by way of the MassTrail Grants Program, which offers yearly matching reimbursement grants to projects that apply for the funds.
Projects can range from construction to design to acquiring land, on top of supporting regular maintenance.
Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Commissioner Brian Arrigo, whose department administers the grants, says the funds go a long way for projects big and small.
“… at DCR, we manage a vast trail network that really serves as the backbone for many of our communities - creating connections between neighborhoods, connections between cities and towns that foster tourism, economic growth, and, really, provide opportunities for green transportation that help us do a number of things, including reach our climate goals and give people access to our beautiful natural resources that we know are so important to our to our health and well-being,” Arrigo said during the department’s Stewardship Council Meeting on July 11.
Among the projects in Western Massachusetts is one stretching from Franklin into Hampshire County — $195,000 awarded to developing the “Norwottuck North Shared-Use Path.”
The project would involve designing a 10-foot wide path that would go from the Whately Park and Ride lot by I-91, along Route 116 and through South Deerfield and Sunderland before ending “just south of Meadow Street in Amherst,” according to the DCR.
Also in Hampshire County – one of the biggest project awards in western Massachusetts – $500,000 dollars for “critical rehabilitation” work on over two-and-a-half miles of bikeway in Northampton.
Describing the project in its list of awardees, the DCR says the Mass Central Rail Trail’s “Northampton Bikeway” section receives routine maintenance for matters such as pothole repairs, but ultimately, there has been no structural maintenance since 1982, when the trail was constructed.
From State Street to Bridge Road, the two-and-a-half miles of bikeway would be rehabilitated, with asphalt resurfacing, signage and ADA-compliant at-grade rail trail crossings, among other improvements.
The same day as Arrigo’s DCR presentation, the Northampton City Council took up and passed a resolution involving the MCRT – one stating the council’s support for finishing the project to connect Northampton with Boston via a hundred miles of former railway converted into trails.
Northampton City Council President Alex Jarrett was among the councilors who read out the motion, which emphasizes the benefits believed to come with the project wrapping up.
“… whereas, the completion of the Mass Central Rail Trail project contributes to economic development in isolated rural communities, and positions our city, located at the west end of the trail, as an attractive destination for national and international bicycling and walking tourists,” Jarrett said.
Of the 104 miles involved in the project, the MCRT says over 60 miles are open, with 94.5 said to have “some kind of public protected status,” according to its website.
Nearby Easthampton also benefited from this year’s grants. The DCR says $330,000 was awarded for pavement preservation on the Manhan Rail Trail.
The project involves removing trees and roots that are “heaving the trail” and causing issues for pavement conditions, which has become a hazard for those passing through.
On top of crack sealing repairs, “full-depth trench repairs with tree removals, tree root removals and root barrier installations” are expected to be part of the efforts.
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle tells WAMC the funding, which is being matched with $110,000 from the city, comes at a pivotal time for the trail that runs through downtown Easthampton.
Recently, in coordination with the city, a detailed plan was put together to better address the trail's needs.
“We are now in a transition point - the committee, led by Barbara LaBombard, our city clerk, they put together a very thorough, three-year plan, and in the three-year plan, were the list of maintenance and rebuilds that we had to do,” the mayor said. “So, we sat down, our DPW team sat down - we look at the rail trail as a road and a commuting spur - and wrote the MassTrails grant, really, as an all hands-on-deck project.”
LaChapelle says the Manhan Trail had been created and maintained by volunteers, who have also performed fundraising for it. According to the Friends of the Manhan Rail Trail website, $10,000 of the city's $110,000 contribution is coming from the Friends "donations account."
Other projects awarded grants included one in the Berkshire County town of Adams. According to the DCR, $222,000 will go toward obtaining an easement in the area of Lime Street – part of the construction of a new trailhead to serve the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.
The trailhead would “enhance access to the completed trail to the south and a new segment scheduled for construction in 2028," according to the DCR's project description.
A full list of the projects, including a number of smaller initiatives throughout the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley, can be found here.
