Rail trail plan in high gear

   The Mass. Pike is probably the last road in the state you'd want to bicycle on, but cyclists can thank the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for breathing new life into a 113-year-old idea:  Turn the old Central Massachusetts railroad line into a bike path.
   Under pressure from legislators outside Route 128 to remember projects besides the Big Dig in Boston, the Turnpike Authority has earmarked $1 million a year for local public works and tourism efforts.  A $30,000 Turnpike grant funded a state transportation study, released this month, that found it feasible to pave 23 miles of the defunct rail line, from Berlin to Waltham, as a recreational trail for cyclists, in-line skaters, joggers, walkers, cross-country skiers, horseback riders and wheelchair users.
   A nonprofit citizens group called the Wayside Rail Trail Committee is pursuing the idea, which was first suggested in 1874 when the railroad went bankrupt and idled the line from Northampton to Boston.  Passenger service ended for good in 1971.
   In Berlin, Hudson, Sudbury, Wayland, Weston and Waltham this spring, town meetings, selectmen and town councilors are being asked to endorse the rail trail proposal.  State or federal money would be sought for construction, and the towns would have to pay to maintain and police the trail.  Together, that would cost the towns an estimated $50,000 per year, or 35 cents per resident, according to the feasibility study.  Sudbury voted yes last week, and the Berlin town meeting is May 5.
   If the towns endorse the rail trail, their regional planning agencies can begin negotiating with the MBTA, owner of the land, to lease the right-of-way, and they can seek funding -- most likely from the Massachusetts Highway Department -- to design the trail.
   Based on counts of users of the Minuteman Bikeway from Bedford to Cambridge, the study authors estimate 700 to 1,400 people in each town would use the Wayside trail on any given weekday, and more than twice that on weekends and holidays.  Estimates are even higher if based on counts from the Norwottuck Trail, the 9-mile bikeway from Northampton to Amherst on the western end of the Central Mass. rail line.
   Bikeways like these don't always appeal to road cyclists who like to ride far and fast -- they get crowded with skaters swinging their arms wide and walkers pushing baby strollers -- or who need to get somewhere off the path.
   But such bike paths are immensely popular among riders who just aren't comfortable with traffic on the roads, including many families with children.  And their existence often is the eye-opener that government planners need to make them realize that bike-friendly road improvements also are worthwhile -- that there are thousands of cyclists out there, and they will use roads to get to the bike path.
   To support the Wayside Rail Trail, contact Andy Greene of Waltham by e-mail at aggreene@msn.com or call 617-893-6758.
   Other rail trails in the area's future include:

• Assabet River Rail Trail, 12 miles from Marlboro to Acton, sharing 1.5 miles with the Wayside trail in Hudson.  Marlboro has been granted $235,000 to secure a 2.1-mile right-of-way from the MBTA, and the first .75-mile section of the trail is being designed from Fitchburg Street to Fairbanks Street alongside a new access road for Stratus Computer.  Meanwhile, five Assabet Valley towns have applied for a $770,000 state grant to continue the trail.
• Nashua River Trail, 11 miles from Ayer to Dunstable.  The state Department of Environmental Management has almost completed the design, according to bikeways planner Dan O'Brien, and hopes to submit plans to the Highway Department this spring.
• Quinebaug Valley Trail, 11 miles from Southbridge to Webster.  Before negotiating acquisition of the right-of-way from the Providence & Worcester Railroad, DEM needs to coordinate with Connecticut planners, as the trail would include three miles in Thompson, O'Brien said.  The state's Transportation Improvement Program lists $250,000 for design in 1998 and $250,000 for construction in 1999, but the dollar amounts and timetable are likely to change, according to Rich Rydent of the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission.
• North Central Pathway, 16 miles from Gardner to Winchendon.  The first mile is being built this year in Gardner, and Gardner is seeking grants to continue the trail, partly on an old Boston & Maine Railroad line.
• A six-mile trail from Ware to Hardwick.  DEM granted an initial $3,000 last month, and Paul E. Hills, Ware's community development director, aims to seek federal and state money for construction.
• Another mile of the Central Mass. line in West Boylston, separated from the Berlin segment by the Wachusett Reservoir.  Wachusett Greenways won a $19,410 federal grant to have the rail bed, from Thomas Street in Oakdale to the Holden line, surfaced with compacted stone dust, and town meeting voters will be asked May 19 to approve the expenditure.  The town expects to do the work in late summer, with help from the Metropolitan District Commission, according to John Wilson, superintendent of streets and parks.

   TIP OF THE HELMET _ To Bridgewater State College for inducting 1899 world bicycle racing champion Marshall W. "Major" Taylor into its Hall of Black Achievement this year. Taylor, who lived in Worcester, was the second black athlete to become a world champion, following bantamweight boxer George Dixon in 1891.  The League of American Wheelmen had banned blacks from amateur bike racing in 1894 but let Taylor register as a pro after he unofficially broke two world track records in his native Indianapolis in 1896.

Lynne Tolman's bicycling column archives
Lynne Tolman's home page