Governor Charles Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito are paving the way for Lynn and Swampscott paths.
The administration announced $5 million in 2019 Mass Trails grants, with $100,000 for Swampscott’s rail trail and $300,000 to Lynn for its community path, at a press conference in Lowell on Wednesday. While the municipalities have to match the grant, $175,668 from Swampscott and $75,000 from Lynn, officials in both say the cash from the administration will jump start the beginning of each project.
“It’s a big deal to get this funding from the state and to get them to back this effort in a way that would help bring construction soon,” said Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald. “This is the beginning of a lot of great things to come. It’s exciting that Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito are helping to create a safer, yet healthier, Swampscott for future generations.”
“Lynn is the only city that developed this concept,” said Lisa Wallace, president of Community Path of Lynn Coalition. “We wanted more for our community and to be able to bring everyone together. We went from not being able to mention the phrase bike path, to getting $300,000 from the state to be able to do this.”
The funding for Swampscott’s rail trail will cover construction for the first one-half mile segment, between the town’s middle school and Humphrey Street, said Community and Economic Development Director Marzie Galazka. At 10-feet wide, the stone dust trail will be a multi-use, non-motorized, accessible pathway and linear park connecting neighborhoods with schools and recreational areas, including the beaches.
Conversations about the trail have been ongoing for years, Galazka said, but when the approval was decided at Town Meeting in 2017 they knew the project had to be completed in segments over a period of time. While the full trail’s design is still being constructed, final cost estimates are still unknown, she said.
“I think it’s such an exciting time and it is just a great project for the community,” Galazka said. “It will provide a link to the Marblehead rail trail that will ultimately link to other trails within our region.”
Throughout the years of planning the rail trail, there have been a number of abutting neighbors who voiced concerns about it being so close to their properties. Galazka said she has held meetings with and contacted those with concerns regarding the trail’s design.
Open to the opportunity of discussing more concerns with any residents, Galazka wants them to reach out to her. Her email is [email protected].
Wallace said she is over the moon in regards to the funding received for the community path she has been working on for more than six years. The $300,000 from Baker’s administration will cover construction for the Western Avenue to Summer Street segment of the shared-use path.
Calling it the “calm place” of the project, the segment will be more like a botanical garden, Wallace said, equipped with a trellis where Lynners can grow plants and bunches of fragrant flowers. She wants it to be a spot where people can go and relax.
A few months ago, Wallace began an initiative that had locals collecting plastic bottle caps that would be melted down and made into weather-resistant furniture. The soon-to-be constructed segment will include benches, outdoor seating and trash receptacles made out of the recycled plastic, as well as planted trees and decorative paving.
Construction for the path’s first segment are set to begin July 1, depending on when the coalition can finalize with the MBTA, given they still own the old railroad tracks, Wallace said.
“It’s a good win for our residents and I hope it shows people who live here that they can do things for their neighborhood and they can empower people to have a stake in their city,” Wallace said. “It takes a lot of work but it can be done.”
