Cape Cod Magazine - Cape Cod Rail Trail Article

the trail built, planners had to accept “good” because they didn’t
have funding for “perfect.”
The trail budget couldn’t cover two important bridges needed
in Harwich and Orleans to carry cyclists over Route 6. Without
the Orleans bridge, cyclists would use surface streets for two
miles before rejoining the trail. Engineers had tunneled the trail
under a Brewster road but couldn’t in Orleans because the water
table was too high. Without the Harwich bridge, cyclists would
use the Route 124 shoulder, evade vehicles at the highway interchange,
then pick up the trail on the other side.
Planners had to opt for a slightly coarse asphalt surface because
there wasn’t enough funding to put down a preferred type
of fine surface. Over time, water seeped through, causing frost
heaves, and roots pushed upward, creating miniature mountain
ranges. Cycling on the trail became a teeth-jarring, tire-flattening
affair. “It was an incomplete solution,” Reed says. But it got
the path built.
An Orleans resident complained trail planners were discriminating
against horses. To accommodate equestrian use of the
trail, engineers had to lop the “peak” off the hump-shaped rail
bed and widen it from 8 to 12 feet. This permitted a horse path
to be added alongside part of the paved bike trail.
Trail planners had to figure out how to get ambulances and law
enforcement onto the trail in emergencies while keeping other
motorized vehicles off. The solution was a creative marriage of
posts and boulders at the trail’s entrances. Removable metal posts
were installed at the center of trail access points. Each post has a
removable pin at its base that official personnel can unlock and
remove to permit emergency vehicles onto the trail.
And the planners had to figure out how to get bicyclists onto
the new path. A critical strategy would be connecting it with a
system of “feeder” trails. Orleans upgraded its downtown sidewalks
to draw cyclists toward it. Bike paths in Brewster’s Nickerson
State Park and in the Cape Cod National Seashore would
become vital feeder links.
Throughout planning efforts, a question dogged the planners:
Would anyone use the Cape Cod Rail Trail
The trail was built and cyclists came, from kids on bikes with
training wheels to elite athletes on whisper-fast bikes. Others
came, too – runners, inline skaters, power-walkers, skateboarders,
parents pushing strollers, birdwatchers, charity events, and
commuters heading to jobs. Trail parking lots filled, bike businesses
opened, and vendors sold hot dogs to hungry trail users.
In 2013, 164,481 people used the Cape Cod Rail Trail, according
to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
which manages the trail.
The trail sprouted from 16 to 22 miles in 1995 via an extension
from the Eastham trailhead to Lecount Hollow Road in Wellfleet.
In 2001, 21 years after the trail’s launch, a bridge was finally
built over Route 6 in Harwich, eliminating the risky Route 124
dash and correcting one of the early design compromises. The
Route 6 bridge in Orleans was finished in 2003 and a new threequarter-mile
stretch of bike path was added. Repairs began on
the bumpy trail surface in 2001.
The Old Colony Rail Trail opened in 2005, linking the Cape
Cod Rail Trail to Chatham. To keep cyclists moving safely where
the two trails intersect in Harwich, designers borrowed a feature
from Massachusetts roads: They built a bicycle rotary that allows
riders to merge smoothly.
The abandoned railroad, a remnant of a previous era, has
evolved into a valued regional treasure. Trail users pass cranberry
bogs, kettle ponds and tidal marshes just as rail passengers
did a century earlier. Cyclists can peddle through the shade of
Cape woods, finding relief from mid-summer sun. Runners can
exercise on terrain that’s largely flat, where birdsong is abundant
and vehicle exhaust is not. The success of the trail has inspired
efforts to extend it the entire length of Cape Cod—westward toward
the Cape Cod Canal and from Wellfleet to Provincetown.
Like the railroad before it, the trail has had a major impact on the
communities it crosses. The nonprofit group Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
reports trails like the Cape Cod Rail Trail are economic
engines that increase tourism and boost property values.
Though trail abutters were initially skittish, their proximity is
now considered an advantage. Real estate ads announce properties
are “near the rail trail!” as an inducement to potential buyers.
The once-feared trail is now a revered human-powered transportation
corridor.
Most will never know how much cajoling, negotiating and
persistence it took to launch the Cape Cod Rail Trail. It’s visionary,
Wally Ruckert, has passed away, but Reed savors how he,
Ruckert, Wylie and others overcame obstacles and eroded resistance
to create a Cape Cod gem.
“The day it was opened was a big day,” said Bliss, the former
state forest and parks director. “It’s been a great source of enjoyment
ever since.”
Dukakis is glad he propelled the project forward. “I’ve biked it
many times,” says the former governor. “I love that trail.”
www.capecodmagazine.com OCTOBER 2014 CAPE COD MAGAZINE 67