Hannah Edelheit
About 20 cycling enthusiasts and other residents gathered over beers and snacks at Trinktisch in Belmont Center last week to learn about an impending milestone in the Community Path Project, a planned 2.1 mile paved, off-road pedestrian and bicycle route that will connect one end of town to the other.
Many participants seemed anxious for the path to open, since it’s been in the works — in one form or another — for decades.
“I would just like to say that I turned 80, and I hope I can ride on that bike path,” one resident said, drawing laughter from the room.
“I turn 53,” another resident chimed in. “And I’m hoping to ride on it.”
With any luck, they’ll get their chance.
The town is now waiting for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to approve 25% of the first phase of the project. Phase one would connect the Fitchburg Cutoff Path to the Clark Street bridge. It would also build a pedestrian walkway under the railroad tracks, linking the Winn Brook neighborhood with the new Belmont Middle and High School.
No date is set for the MassDOT vote. But supporters of the path are hopeful that it will be soon.
“We want to let people know that we are really close,” Jarrod Goentzel, chair of the Friends of the Belmont Community Path, an advocacy group that held the meeting.
After the MassDOT meeting, the public will have a chance to weigh in on other design elements.
“As we move beyond the construction methods, you’re going to get into details like fencing, like benches, like plantings that are going alongside your path,” said Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC), an appointed group advising the town.
Special Town Meeting last month approved $335,868 in Community Preservation Act money to cover additional costs of phase one design plans. The extra costs came after the MBTA made a change, reducing construction costs and speeding up the building timeline, according to the CPPC. Community Preservation money is being used to design the project, Muson said.
Nitsch Engineering submitted the 25% design of phase one plans in October 2021. Phase two design plans are in the works. That part of the project would connect the Clark Street bridge to the Waltham City line.
Once completed, the path would become part of the larger Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT), a 104-mile trail connecting Boston to Northampton. The Transportation Improvement Plan is paying for the construction of the estimated $21 million Belmont Community Path, with 80% of the money coming from federal funds and 20% from the state, Muson said.
Because this project has taken so long, “a lot of people have fatigue,” said Goentzel.
“I started engaging with this when my son was in elementary school and I said ‘I hope you can ride to high school on this at some point,’” Goentzel said. “He graduated last year.”
