Construction On Bruce Freeman Rail In Sudbury Starts — Officially

SUDBURY, MA — After years of planning and putting together funding, Sudbury is about to hit a major milestone toward completing the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail through town.

Starting Monday, construction crews will officially begin work on a 4.4-mile section spanning Route 20 to the Concord line. The work starting Monday will involve clearing trees and brush from an abandoned CSX rail corridor now owned by the town.

"The early stages of this work will include vegetation clearing, including invasive species removal, and chipping within the project’s limit of work in the corridor," the town said in an update Friday. "This activity will be followed by the installation of erosion control measures, and then the removal of rails and ties in the coming weeks. Grading of the limits of work will begin afterward."

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail — named for a former Chelmsford state lawmaker who was a trail advocate — is a larger rail trail project that, when complete, will span Lowell to Framingham. About 15 miles of the trail has been completed from the Lowell-Chelmsford line to Concord.

Sudbury's first 4.4-mile section could be complete within two years, the town has estimated. A second 1.4-mile section spanning Route 20 to the Framingham line is still in the planning stages. Framingham late last year closed on a $5 million deal to buy a 3.2-mile section of the CSX corridor to build the final leg of the trail.