MassDOT Reveals Route Of MCRT Extension From Wayland Into Sudbury

SUDBURY, MA — MassDOT has revealed initial plans for a Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) extension from Wayland into Sudbury.

MassDOT held a public hearing Thursday to review fledgling plans to turn a former rail corridor into the newest piece of the MCRT, whose eastern leg ends at Route 20 in Wayland. The project will a gateway to a longer extension of the trail through Sudbury — called the "Wayside" section.

MassDOT and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation will build a 1.9-mile extension of the non-motorized trail from the Wayland line to an Eversource power station just short of Landham Road. Construction on the $3.3 million trail extension could begin by spring 2027, according to MassDOT.

The project is still in the design phase, and the state is accepting public comments on the plan. The 1.9-mile section would be built over wetlands and will include the rehabilitation of timber trestle bridges.

The Sudbury MCRT section is part of a wider plan by Eversource to use a former MBTA rail corridor to bury transmission lines. Eversource is working on that project from a substation near Landham road northeast to Hudson. Once complete, the state is planning to pave over the buried transmission lines to create a longer section of the MCRT.

The MCRT is a planned 104-mile non-motorized trail that, when complete, will provide a pathway from Northampton to Boston. The trail is complete in some spots in different ways — for example, the section from Wayland to near Waltham is paved, but a section in West Boylston is a dirt pathway; the Norwottuck section is paved and links Amherst, Hadley and Northampton.