The Community Path project is running against the deadline to meet the state’s fiscal year 2026 funding schedule. If it misses, the project will slip into the funding cycle for FY27.
“This is a pull-together moment and we can make it happen,” said Select Board Vice Chair Matt Taylor. “I hear from everyone who’s involved … that this is our moment to get it over the finish line.”
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.
As engineers work toward completing the 75% design phase, the project has until September 2026, the end of the state’s fiscal year, to reach 100% and be eligible for FY26 funding. According to Community Path Project Committee Chair Holly Muson, the slack in the schedule has “basically evaporated.”
In an update to the Select Board Monday night, Taylor, who attended a recent Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting with Muson, said issues with bridge design—a result of the MBTA reversing its decision on the building method—were the cause for the delay. Without those plans, the project cannot receive 75% approval.
“At the moment, we’re on what’s called the sketch plan phase,” said Project Manager Matthew Styckiewicz of Nitsch Engineering. “We have approval on the bridge type selection worksheet, which was sort of the initial phase. We had to go back to that once we switched from tunnel jacking [to cut and cover]. We submitted the sketch plans, but as part of the review process, they have comments.”
Styckiewicz said Nitsch has received the MBTA’s comments and will address them before resubmitting plans. As part of that, the MBTA has asked for a subsurface utility exploration, or SUE, before it can approve the plans.
“That is currently what’s holding up the project,” he said. “We’re working with the MBTA to get the access permits so the SUE can be performed … . Ideally, everything will be addressed as soon as we add SUE to it.”
Nitsch Chief Operating Officer Aaron Gallagher said the particular MBTA permit being sought is one that typically has a long lead time, sometimes as long as six to nine months.
Taylor said he is working with state legislators, including Sen. William Brownserger, who may be able to accelerate the process with the MBTA.
“The really good news is there is broad support for our project for how it fits into the Mass Rail Trail and the broader vision, the connectivity—not just in Belmont, but the adjoining communities,” he said. “This is going to be a whole team effort … to be on the ball, to pay attention to details and make sure we’re hitting our timelines so we can stay on FY26 funding.”
Funding
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization previously estimated Phase 1 to cost $21.3 million, with $17 million coming from the federal government and the balance from non-federal sources.
“Although the project construction cost estimate has increased, last week we were told by a MassDOT representative that such increases are to be expected as projects get closer to 100% design and incorporate all of the comments and requirements identified during state agency review,” Muson said in an email statement. “Based on comments I heard at the MPO meeting on March 20, I therefore expect that all of the construction cost increases, whether the project remains in FY2026 or slips into FY2027, will be borne by the MPO.”
Muson said that while 100% of the construction is funded with state and federal money through the state’s Transportation Improvement Program, the design and right-of-way acquisition costs are the town’s responsibility.
Town Meeting recently approved $160,000 in Community Preservation Act money, which will serve as the match for a $475,000 MassTrails grant awarded last year. The grant came as part of $12 million in funding to support 65 trail improvement projects across Massachusetts, according to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
