The long-simmering effort to create a walking/biking path the length of Concord may take another step forward when the city council meets on Monday to consider buying 5.7 miles of rail line from Horsehoe Pond to the city’s northern border.
That purchase of what was originally part of the Boston and Maine system has been in the works since 2021 but was delayed first by state intervention and then when the line’s owner, Pan Am Railways, was bought by rail giant CSX.
On Monday the council was set to consider authorizing the city manager to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with CSX with the Boston and Maine Corp., a subsidiary of CSX Transportation, to buy the section. It would issue $105,000 in bonds and use $38,000 from the Recreation Impact Fee fund for the purchase, on top of $431,500 previously approved funds.
If the council goes forward, the proposal would go back to CSX for final approval.
“We hope to close within six months. Once we own it, have a [Transportation Alternatives Program] grant through [the state] to start to design of a portion of it,” said Beth Beth Fenstermacher, director of special projects for the city.
CSX would have the right to salvage rails and other equipment along the line, which hasn’t carried trains for many years. Turning it into a usable trail for walkers and bicyclists, however, will take a lot of work and money.
“Funding is going to be the thing that extends the deadline,” Fenstermacher said.
Concord has been working with various organizations to create the city-spanning trail for years, buying and rehabbing small sections. The plan is to make it part of the Northern Rail Trail, which currently stretches 57 miles from Lebanon to Boscawen as a four-season trail, with portions of it open to everything from snowmobiles to wheelchairs as well as hikers and bicyclists.
Extending it through Concord by connecting with the Greenway Trail on the east side of the Merrimack River could create a trail extending from the Upper Valley to Manchester, which is working to connect with trails that go through Derry to Salem and points south.
Advocates have long said that lengthy, connected rail trails are not only fun and useful for locals but a big draw for tourists.
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David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com
These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
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