LYNNFIELD — With design work speeding ahead on the Lynnfield-Wakefield rail trail, project supporters hope a 2024 planned construction date can be pushed up to 2023, maybe earlier.
“Our theme is to advance this project in a timely manner,” said Friends of the Lynnfield Rail Trail President Vincent Inglese.
Proposed to run 4.4 miles spanning Lynnfield and Wakefield with the Lynnfield section including a Reedy Meadow crossing, the trail plan survived an initial rocky reception from town residents with supporters winning by one vote Town Meeting authorization in 2017 to have the Board of Selectmen advance the project.
Subsequent votes endorsed the project by wide margins and design work has reached the 75 percent design stage. Town Administrator Robert Dolan said the trail design is a complicated process involving coordination with Wakefield and state transportation officials and wildlife experts. He said design focus includes environmental permitting and culvert crossing plans for Reedy Meadow.
Rusty rails and rotting wood ties poke out of the ground along the proposed trail length running from behind St. Paul’s Church past Reedy Meadow Golf Course to a culvert in the meadow.
Inglese said designs call for the trail to cross a boardwalk spanning the meadow for a half mile.
“It will be built with minimal footprint and above the floodplain,” he said.
Inglese said the trail will offer safe off-road use, centrally located, connecting town landmarks for pedestrian, bicycle, baby strollers, roller blading and cross country skiing. It will be built to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and restricted to non-motorized dawn to dusk use.
Friends of the trail championed the trial as a multipurpose recreation addition to the town similar to trails that have proven popular in communities, including Peabody.
Opponents warned about the proposed route’s proximity to residential backyards and the influx of potentially unwanted visitors to the town.
Friends member Axel Wirth pointed to Gov. Charlie Baker as a rail trail supporter and said the trail is the type of passive recreation outlet people need more than ever in a time of pandemic semi-isolation.
“Plenty of studies support the health and social factors. They clearly demonstrate the benefits of access to green space,” Wirth said.
The trail’s current price tag is $10 million with federal money paying for most of the construction cost. Town Meeting members approved $348,000 for design costs in September, 2019 — roughly half of the design cost Lynnfield is splitting with Wakefield.
Inglese is looking forward to a November 75 percent design work completion date and he is even more optimistic about a target date for building the trail.
Dolan said the work is scheduled for 2024. Inglese hopes accelerating the final design’s completion can, in turn, move up construction funding allocation and the work schedule.
Friends member Mark Preston views the trail project as an asset for Lynnfield that will unite the community.
“I think it’s something that caters to all generations,” he said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
