ONE2017finaledits 08-03-17

Walkers, joggers and cyclists enjoy their morning exercise along the Danvers Rail Trail.
PHOTOS: MARK LORENZ
to my backyard.”
Vince Inglese, a member of the
Friends’ group Leadership Team, said the
funding meets the state Department of
Transportation estimate. “The trail cost
is between $7 million and $9 million.
Lynnfield’s trail will not be surfaced
with stone dust. It will be paved with
asphalt and be ADA (Americans With
Disabilities Act) compliant,” he said.
Inglese said the $5,000 in annual trail
maintenance amounts to $2,000 per mile
and is modeled after successful trails in
Topsfield and Danvers where support
groups are composed of volunteers, as it
would be in Lynnfield. He noted those
communities raise maintenance funds
through sponsors of one-tenth-mile trail
markers.
“The marker would have the donor’s or
the business sponsor’s name on it,” he said.
Not every Lynnfield resident was pleased
by the pro-trail vote.
Robert Breslow posts statements on the
opposition group’s website www.nofor
lynnfield.com.
After the April vote, he announced the
group plans to continue its fight, adding
that any structure built in Lynnfield
Conservation Commission.
Breslow also pointed out any potential
grants for the project likely would not be
made available from the state or federal
government until 2021.
The opposition group has warned
Lynnfield taxpayers they could be
responsible for construction budget gaps,
extra policing and emergency medical
response costs, fence maintenance, storm
damage repairs and additional parking
expenses, all without any guarantee of
future funding.
Breslow decried the trail will increase
town traffic, put more bicyclists on the
roads, create a need for traffic lights,
heighten the risk of fire and crime, cause
noise and water pollution, result in litter
and dog waste, and present a threat to the
environment.
Lynnfield and Wakefield in 2007
conducted a joint feasibility study on
whether to build the bike path along
property owned by the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority (MBTA). The
corridor was once part of the southern
section of the now defunct Newburyport
Railroad. The subsequent plan showed
1.9 miles of trail in Wakefield and 2.5
miles in Lynnfield. Once built, it would
become part of a 30-mile trail plan linking
eight Essex County communities.
Reedy Meadow has also complicated
Lynnfield’s efforts to create a bike trail.
The meadow was once a marsh and during
storms it still floods the railroad tracks
that cross it. The flooding has clogged
culverts beneath the rail bed, curtailing the
flow of water.
The situation has raised questions about
potential environmental damage, and
the cost of building and maintaining a
wooden walkway across the wetlands.
Wakefield residents have expressed
concern about the lack of parking for trail
users, particularly near the town’s alreadycongested
business district. Two additional
parking areas on town-owned land have
been examined as solutions.
SWAMPSCOTT
In Swampscott, a measure to spend
$850,000 on design, engineering and the
legal costs of acquiring property rights to
the proposed trail, was passed by Town
Meeting on May 15. The vote was 210-56.
The outcome was quickly challenged by
a citizens’ petition that gathered enough
signatures to put the appropriation to a
ballot vote on June 29. Forty-six percent
of Swampscott voters turned out, resulting
in an outcome of 2,741 to 2,152 in favor
of the trail project.
“I’m very happy that plans for a rail trail
09 | ONE MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2017