Mass Central Rail Trail Continues Expansion

By John Dieckmann

Progress continues on the Wayside section of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) from I-495 to Boston. Two paved segments were recently completed: five miles, from the Waltham-Weston town line to Route 20 in Wayland at Russell’s Garden Center, and approximately three miles from Brighton Street in Belmont to Lowell Street in Somerville.  

In addition, two major segments are under construction. The Somerville-Cambridge section being constructed along with the Green Line Extension will open in late summer and will complete the MCRT from Brighton Street to Boston in the vicinity of the TD Garden. Construction has also begun on the central Waltham section, 2.75 miles from Beaver Street to Main Street near the Market Basket shopping center at 1265 Main Street. Waltham has funded the approximately $9 million cost of construction of its segment from city revenues.

This construction will leave three gaps in the overall section from Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland to Boston. They are:

• Belmont, a little over two miles
• East Waltham, about three-quarters of a mile from the Belmont-Waltham line to Beaver Street
• West Waltham, about three-quarters of a mile from Main Street to the Waltham-Weston line

Belmont’s progress

In Belmont, detailed design work on Phase 1 is moving along slowly. Pending Mass Department of Transportation approval of the 25% design, expected this fall, the design should advance to the 75% stage rapidly. At the May 26 meeting of the Boston Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization, construction funding was included in the 2022–2026 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for FY2026. With anticipated completion of the detailed design by late 2023, it is possible for construction to move up to FY2025 if other projects on the TIP aren’t shovel-ready at that time.  

At the June 6 session of Belmont Town Meeting, $200,000 of Community Preservation funding was approved to begin detailed design of Phase 2. Additional funding for Phase 2 is anticipated from the state and from the recreational trails program.

While Waltham is focused on the central section, the three-quarter mile eastern section will be getting some attention from friends groups. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has taken the lead on the detailed design of the three-quarter mile western section which includes the existing railroad bridge over Route 128/95 and a truss bridge over the Fitchburg Commuter Rail line at the Weston border.

MCRT west from Route 20

This brings us to the focus of this article, the section of the MCRT running westward from Route 20 in Wayland at Russell’s Garden Center to the current trailhead of the Assabet River Rail Trail (ARRT) in eastern Hudson off Route 62, a total of 8.3 miles. Detailed design and construction of this section is going to be carried out in the same manner as for the five-mile Weston-Wayland section. The electric utility Eversource has obtained an easement from the MBTA to construct a 115,000-volt transmission line in the MCRT right of way from the Sudbury substation to Hudson. The line will be placed in an underground conduit. To provide maintenance access, Eversource will construct a heavy-duty gravel and stone dust road. The DCR will pave this road, which will serve as the multiuse MCRT. In addition to paving, the DCR will implement safe road crossings, guard rails, and other necessary features. 

This plan has been opposed by elements in Sudbury, delaying the project for almost three years. In April 2017, Eversource petitioned the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) for approval to construct the transmission line. In December 2019, the EFSB issued a final decision approving the project. Sudbury and a citizens’ group calling itself Protect Sudbury appealed the EFSB final decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In January 2020, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of Eversource and the EFSB. Then, in March 2021, Protect Sudbury petitioned the Surface Transportation Board to block the project on the basis that the corridor had not been formally abandoned. In February 2022, the Surface Transportation Board ruled in favor of Eversource and the EFSB. This latest judgment ended legal challenges to the project.

With the legal challenges over, what is the timing for design and construction?  It is looking like Eversource will begin construction this August and could finish in Spring 2024.  DCR is prepared to implement the upgrade to paved shared use path level and could be finished as early as Spring, 2025.  Given the complexity of the powerline construction, having this section of the MCRT open in another three years isn’t half-bad.

In early June, I spent an afternoon examining the right of way (ROW) of this section, mostly at road crossings. Generally speaking, the ROW is intact, without encroachments, and is passable on foot, maybe on mountain bike, on a single track path alongside the tracks (which are deteriorating, but still in place along most of this section).  The path varies from six inches to a few feet wide.  

Starting at Russell’s Garden Center, the corridor runs parallel to Route 20, on the south side of Route 20, passing through a portion of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, mostly wetlands. A narrow footpath exists, but it is not clear if it is passable all the way to Landham Road, the next road crossing, 1.5 miles from Russell’s. The ROW passes under Landham Road then goes through woodland the rest of the way to the ARRT trailhead. At 2.4 miles from Russell’s, the ROW crosses to the north side of Route 20, then intersects the ROW of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. At this point and continuing west, a nice path has been cleared to the side of the tracks, about four feet wide and easily mountain bikeable.  

Continuing west, in 0.84 miles, the corridor crosses Horse Pond Road. I walked the next mile from Horse Pond Road to Peakham Road to Dutton Road, a pleasant wooded stretch that averages about 100 yards wide with large residences on either side. From Dutton Road, the corridor enters Sudbury’s Hop Brook Marsh Conservation Land, reaching the Hudson town line in a little over a mile and crossing White Pond Road in Hudson, in another 3/8 of a mile.  

Several road crossings later (Parmenter Road, Main Street, Chestnut Street, and Route 62) the corridor meets the Eastern trailhead of the ARRT in Hudson. To the west, the MCRT ROW parallels the ARRT for about a mile before turning a little north and continuing to Berlin. The Eversource power transmission line-based project ends for the MCRT at the ARRT trailhead; the conduit continues into Hudson Center along roadways.

While the parts of the ROW described above are passable now, when construction begins in August, I would expect the ROW to close and stay closed until construction is completed in 2025.

John Dieckmann is a director of the Belmont Citizens Forum.