Cape Cod Rail Trail Extension Finally Starts

Hurray!  Looks pretty awesome too:

The recent removal of rusty rail tracks behind his home on Beacon Street, as they were dragged out whole by heavy equipment after the wooden ties were removed, was “like watching two large snakes going by all the houses,” according to Barry Clayman.

The activity marked the beginning of the long-awaited Cape Cod Rail Trail extension through Dennis and Yarmouth.

More here

This will be a great money maker for nearby business as well, as tourists on bike will be hungry and thirsty.

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Video: Virtual Tour Of The $39m Bike-Ped Path Coming To Somerville

Greg Hum (Contributor) plays drums on his bike, gets people together for really big midnight and monthly bike rides, and is easily distracted by shiny things and fried potatoes. He shares stories and more on his personal bike blog, The Humble Cyclist.
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Have you ever wished there was a better way to bike from Boston to Somerville? Or vise-versa?

Not long ago state officials secured $39m in funding for a new Bike and Pedestrian path in Somerville that will connect Somerville and Boston, and yesterday MassDOT released this virtual tour video of the bike path so you can see what it will look like to bike on when it’s completed:

From the globe,

The path, an extension of an existing network of paths, will connect the Lowell Street, Gilman Square, Washington Street and relocated Lechmere stations providing a continuous route between Bedford and Boston for cyclists and on-foot travelers. If you are in o virtual sports also, the Uneekor golf simulator might work just well for you.

This 1.9-mile path is the blue-dotted line on this map (the black-dotted lines are existing paths). In addition to providing a safe bike and pedestrian link between Boston and Somerville, it will also serve as a final link in the 104-mile network of the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail connecting Boston to Northhampton, MA. You’ll not only be able to walk and bike on a safe path from Alewife to Boston, but also from Boston to Central Mass. Pretty exciting stuff (and more info here):

Source: SomervilleMA.gov Tiger Grant Application

This community path is part of the Green Line Extension project, which will bring the Green Line up into Somerville through Union Square, which you can also ride a virtual train through to see what that will look like:

Both the community path and the Green Line Extension are slated to be completed around 2020, but the path will open up as sections of it are completed.

Hell yes.

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Public Meeting On Norwottuck Rail Trail

The Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and MassHighway will be hosting a public forum on the future of the 11 mile Norwottuck Rail Trail at Hopkins Academy (131 Russell St.) in Hadley MA on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 @6:30pm. The meeting marks the start of the design phase for a $4 million trail rehabilitation project. Money for the project will come from federal funding secured by congressmen John Olver in a federal transportation bill and by MassHighway

Public comment is being solicited by DCR regarding such diverse issues as beaver and wetlands impacts, universal accessibility, bridges tunnels and parking lots, as well as signage. Vegetation management, including removal of the trees whose roots have an impact on the trail surface, will also be addressed. This last issue is likely to be the most controversial, given Hadley?s recent wrangling over tree removal in the towns? old cemetery,
The main issue to be addressed is a new asphalt surface for the trail, correcting the problem of recycled glass embedded in the old surface. This glass has plagued riders and punctured bike tires since the trail opened in 1993. Andrew Morris-Friedman, the Hadley representative on the Norwottuck Rail Trail Citizens Advisory Group, described the glass as, “A noble experiment in glass recycling that went horribly wrong. There?s no truth in the rumor that the new trail will have recycled thumb tacks instead.”

For more information about the meeting:
Andrew Morris-Friedman: [email protected] (413) 549-0060
Or Robert Kusner [email protected]

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