With the design plan for Phase 1 of the Community Path at 75% and in the hands of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the project can move toward 100% design.
“It’s a very important milestone for the path to be at this state,” said Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Project Committee. “It means we’re on track … Mass DOT will [go out to bid] in September 2026.”
The Community Path Project has been considered for more than two decades. In 2019, the town selected Nitsch Engineering to design the path. Phase 1 will run from the Fitchburg Cutoff Path at the Cambridge line to the Clark Street bridge.
When Phase 2 is finished, it will complete a 2-mile link in the Mass Central Rail Trail, which will eventually run 104 miles from Boston to Northampton.
“This is the segment that is the closest to Boston that remains unfinished,” Muson said. “Solving this is both a huge amenity for the town and improves traffic for pedestrians and cyclists and makes connections between our economic centers in Belmont.”
Another major step for the project, she said, was the approval of two articles at the most recent special Town Meeting.
In October, Town Meeting, by a vote of 210-15 with five abstentions, authorized the Select Board to buy or lease easements (involving private property owners and the MBTA) to enable construction of Phase 1 of the path. Article 6, then, authorized the Select Board to create an easement on town property, specifically at Belmont Middle School, to allow for the construction of the path. That vote passed 220-6, with four abstentions.
According to Muson, only a few properties require permanent easements for the path. Most easements will be temporary for some or all of the construction. As part of the information meetings, affected individuals have the opportunity to ask questions of the design team and the town’s legal representative.
“[Easements and acquisitions are] a very prescribed process… through Mass DOT,” Muson explained. “There have been information meetings held with the private property owners, but … until the plan is 100% completed, we don’t do any appraisals. The town will wait for the 100% to be submitted… to be sure there aren’t any last-minute changes.”
Once 100% is reached, an independent appraiser will go to each property to do an evaluation of the easements required, according to Muson. After that, a second appraisal company will do its own appraisal to verify the first one.
“After two sets of appraisers have done their evaluation, then an offer would be made to the property owners,” she said.
Between now and September, the engineering firm, Nitsch Engineering, will go through two more rounds of submissions to Mass DOT, the first of which Muson expects will happen toward the end of December. The second set of documents, the PS&E (Plans, Specifications, and Estimate), is the set that will be used to send to contractors during the bidding process.
“The project is being funded by both state and federal money,” she said. “As a result, the strictest [requirement] of them applies.”
Phase 2 of the project, meanwhile, is also making forward progress, Muson said. In particular, an application has been submitted to the Community Preservation Committee for $250,000 in funding. The money would serve as a match to a $1 million earmark secured by Rep. Katherine Clark.
“It’s nice to have really positive news on both phases,” she said. “We’re in a good place. The project is moving on track, and we’re ready to get rolling with Phase 2.”
