'Very Exciting': Sudbury Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Paving Starts

SUDBURY, MA — The first section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail through Sudbury is set to hit a major milestone this week: paving.

MassDOT is scheduled to begin laying down the first course of asphalt for the trail, beginning along the section between Route 20 and Old Lancaster, according to Sudbury Planning Development Assistant Marcia Rasmussen, as first reported by Sudbury Weekly. The paving will continue toward Morse Road next week, Rasmussen said at the Sept. 20 Rail Trails Advisory Committee meeting.

The first phase of the rail trail in Sudbury will travel from near the Concord line south to Route 20. Construction officially began in January, although a groundbreaking ceremony was held in May.

Rasmussen said having the first course of asphalt in place before winter will help move construction along come spring. She called the asphalt movement "very exciting." The town has estimated that the 4.4-mile section will take about two years to complete.

A separate section south of Route 20 through to the Framingham line is still in the planning stages. Framingham is moving ahead with buying a section of former rail corridor that would take the trail from the Sudbury line to its planned end near Route 9.

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, including a new bridge over Route 2 that opened in June.