First Mass Central Rail Trail Cross-State Bike Ride Coming This Fall

SUDBURY, MA — The Mass Central Rail Trail is coming to a community near you, even if it doesn't exist there yet.

Advocates pushing for the completion of the Mass Central Rail Trail in September will hold the first ever complete bicycle ride of the trail from Northampton to Boston. Along the 120-mile route, trail ambassadors will stop to eat and talk to locals about the effort to finish the trail.

"Each day we’ll be having rest stops, an outdoor lunch, and an evening dinner event. At each of the stops and events, we’ll be meeting with local leaders who are eager to get
the rail trail finished," Norwottuck Network Chairman Craig Della Penna said in a news release.

As it stands, the 104-mile trail is about 60 percent complete, with a series of paved and unpaved sections. The trail cuts along the south side of the Quabbin Reservoir before heading north into Barre, and then almost due east through Worcester and Middlesex counties before ending in Boston near the TD Garden.

The September ride will follow one of the newest sections of the trial that runs from the Assabet River Trail in Hudson along Route 62 through Sudbury. That section of trail is being built by the state as part of an Eversource infrastructure project to bury transmission lines under an old rail line. One of the two main stops along the ride will be in Hudson, where riders will meet with local officials about completed the MCRT.

The MCRT's connection to the Assabet trail — and another connection in Sudbury to the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, also under construction, but likely to open in the fall — is one of many connections to other non-motorized trails between Boston and Northampton. The Norwottuck Network commissioned a study showing a complete MCRT could provide $200 million in economic activity each year, with the potential for more than 4 million visits annually along the main trail and connecting ones. The trail cuts through many downtowns and commercial areas, from Northampton, Amherst and Gilbertville to Wayland's Town Center, downtown Waltham and beyond. The connecting trails add even more destinations, including Lowell, Winchendon, Newton and Billerica.

The MCRT has been under construction in some form since 1980, when the state purchased 8-1/2 miles of an abandoned rail line, kicking off a 13-year process to build the Norwottuck Rail Trail in Northampton, Hadley and Amherst. The trail has been completed in small sections ever since, with plenty of opposition along the way. The Sudbury and Hudson sections were the subject of multiple lawsuits by the group Protect Sudbury. Other groups, including equestrians, have opposed other sections of the trail, including the now-complete section between Wayland and Weston.

The September ride will pass through 26 communities along the 120-mile route. The full ride will initially be fore about a dozen trail ambassadors, but day riders may also join. For information about the ride and joining a section, contact Della Penna at [email protected].