The 100% design has been submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, marking a significant milestone in the road to construction of the community path.
According to Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Committee, the review comments are due back soon and a second submittal — called the Plans, Specifications, and Estimate — will happen later in the spring. Those are the documents used to go out for bid, which MassDOT has scheduled for August.
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.
Another major step for the project was the approval of two articles at the most recent special Town Meeting.
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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.
Once the 100% design, which includes the necessary Right-of-Way plans, receives state approval, 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.
