During the past year the CTC has
made great strides in continuing to gain the support of the local business
community and the public at large.
Most importantly, with CTC’s assistance and with the continuing support
of our Congressman John Tierney, State Senator Steven Baddour and State
Representative Mike Costello, the four local communities have made significant
progress in designing and developing the trails and in obtaining critical
rights-of-way from private landowners.
A partial list of accomplishments in 2007 includes:
OLD EASTERN MARSH TRAIL DEVELOPMENT, SALISBURY
The Town of Salisbury completed surveying and preliminary design
work on a 1.3 mile section of Salisbury’s Old Eastern Marsh Trail from the
Merrimack River to Mudnock Road.
Mass Highway is providing up to $2 million to design and construct the
trail. When completed, it will be
the first link in Salisbury’s north-south rail trail that will ultimately
extend to the New Hampshire border and connect residential areas with the
town’s parks and elementary school.
OLD EASTERN MARSH TRAIL SIGNAGE, SALISBURY
The Town of Salisbury received a $2,000 grant from the Essex
National Heritage Commission to develop three interpretive signs and two
entrance signs for the Old Eastern Marsh Trail. CTC recently received a $650 grant from the Salisbury
Cultural Council for the signs.
CTC will contribute an additional $1,500 to complete funding for the
project. All of the research and
design of the signs is being done by CTC volunteers. The design is nearly complete and the signs should be
installed this summer.
SALISBURY POINT GHOST TRAIL – LIONS PARK CONNECTION
CTC paid for surveying the recreational trail easement donated to
the Town of Salisbury by resident Anne Jones that will connect the Salisbury
Point Ghost Trail directly to Lion’s Park. CTC used funds donated by the
Institution for Savings in Newburyport and the Fields Pond Foundation to pay
for the work needed to complete the survey.
The Town of Salisbury was awarded a $50,000 grant from the
Commonwealth’s Recreational Trails Program to construct an extension of the
Salisbury Point Ghost Trail to Lion’s Park. CTC also was awarded a $5,000 grant by Fields Pond
Foundation to support the trail extension. Work has begun on the extension, including clearing trees
and grading the trail. SPS New
England made a major contribution by removing hundreds of old railroad ties
from the rail bed. A cooperative
workday is planned for Earth Day this spring (April 22) with Timberland
Corporation, local contractors, Salisbury town workers and CTC volunteers. This link will greatly benefit area
children who use Lion’s Park and the Boys and Girls Club, senior citizens who
visit the nearby Hilton Center and residents of the neighborhoods near Salisbury
Square.
SALISBURY POINT GHOST TRAIL – RABBIT ROAD CONNECTION
The Salisbury Planning Board negotiated an agreement with Vaughn
Manufacturing to donate a recreational trail easement to the town to connect
the Ghost Trail to Rabbit Road. That key easement will complete assembly of the
trail’s right-of-way from Lion’s Park to the Salisbury/Amesbury town line.
RIVERWALK EXTENSION, AMESBURY
The Town of Amesbury received a new funding commitment by the
state to move forward with extending Amesbury’s 1.5 mile Riverwalk to
downtown. Agreement was reached to
fund the $177,000 cost of carrying out a state-required revision of the design
for the project, which calls for construction of a 400-foot-long bridge linking
the Riverwalk with Main Street.
Future plans include extending the Riverwalk an additional mile to the
Salisbury line, linking the two towns by trail.
CLIPPER CITY RAIL TRAIL, NEWBURYPORT
The City of Newburyport completed the design of the Clipper City
Rail Trail from the MBTA station to the Merrimack River. Construction is scheduled to begin later
this year. Mass Highway is
providing up to $2 million to construct the trail, including a new bridge over
Low Street.
MERRIMACK RIVER BOARDWALK – CLIPPER CITY RAIL TRAIL
CONNECTION, NEWBURYPORT
The
Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council made a commitment to give the City of
Newburyport $450,000 to help develop a new section of its boardwalk along the
Merrimack River. That
connection will link the Clipper City Rail Trail and the MBTA commuter rail station
to the downtown and the harbor.
REPRINTING
OF CTC TRAIL GUIDE
CTC secured
commitments from advertisers and completed printing 1,500 additional copies of
our successful Coastal Trails Guide, to be sold through local retail
outlets. The Guide also may be
purchased on line at this website.
NEW SALISBURY COASTAL TRAIL BROCHURE
Salisbury Coastal Trails designed and printed 1,500 Salisbury
Coastal Trails brochures featuring Salisbury’s growing trail system as well as
the entire Coastal Trails Network.
The Salisbury Chamber of Commerce donated $1,000 for printing costs.
BIKE RACK INSTALLATION
CTC
installed two bicycle racks for the use of the public on Plum Island. The racks were purchased and installed
with funds that CTC obtained through a grant from Bikes Belong. The installation is part of CTC’s
ongoing program to promote bicycle access to Plum Island, which has included
contributions toward paving and marking the bike lanes on the Plum Island
Turnpike.
TRAIL WALKS
CTC raised public awareness of our goals and the evolving
recreational trail system by hosting a trail walk and picnic in June on the
Salisbury Point Ghost Trail and its proposed connection to Lion’s Park. The event was sponsored by the Institution
for Savings.
CTC hosted a second trail walk in September on the Old Eastern
Marsh Trail as part of the Essex National Heritage Commission’s Trails and
Sails Weekend.
BORDER TO BOSTON TRAIL RELAY
CTC helped to organize the Border to Boston Trail Relay in
October. Conceived as an opportunity
to showcase the benefits and challenges of trail building, over 40 trail
advocates and community leaders walked or biked up to half of the proposed rail
trail’s 28 miles, including sections in Salisbury, Newburyport and Newbury.
PARKER RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ACCESS PROJECT
CTC participated as a core advisor in the Parker River National
Wildlife Refuge Access Project, a planning effort to develop safe,
non-motorized connections between Newburyport’s MBTA commuter rail station and
the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and Visitor Center—key
destinations in the Coastal Trails Network.
RECOGNITION
FROM NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR CTC PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT
CTC received recognition from
the National Park Service for its ROVER Project. The project, created to engage the public’s interest in the
trail network, enlisted the community to explore and photograph the trail
system. The resulting images were
posted on the ROVER sculpture. The
sculpture has subsequently been taken on tour and served as a rallying point
for later trail events. The
report is available at: http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/news&events/ACL_Final_small.pdf
Walmart's Joan Tessier presents CTC's Jerry Klima a $350 donation check.
