BOSTON — Design plans for the proposed extension of the Northern Strand Community Trail into Lynn and Nahant were shared during a forum hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) on Wednesday night.
The existing Northern Strand Community Trail already links the communities of Everett, Malden, Revere, and Saugus. A ribbon-cutting for the community path, or part of the Lynn leg of the trail, is scheduled for Friday, but there are additional plans to connect the trail through Lynn, all the way to Nahant Beach.
These additional plans, which when completed would offer a contiguous, roughly 11-mile long recreational path, were the subject of Wednesday’s night’s forum; this virtual session was attended by both Lynn and Nahant officials.
According to the night’s speakers, the two-mile design plan for this particular part of the Northern Strand extension project is approximately 25 percent complete. The goal is for there to be 100 percent completion of the design plans by November of 2022.
“It is really exciting to see us at this point of 25 percent design; it really is a game-changer in transformation for the whole length of this Northern Strand project,” said Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee. “I’ve had the chance to bike all the way to Everett several times through all the communities; this is an opportunity to go both ways — to come to the beach and allow Nahant and Lynn residents to head into some of the beautiful marshland.”
The proposed project would provide a separated shared-use facility for non-motorized transportation throughout the entire length of the Northern Strand trail network. The existing Lynn leg of the trail begins by 826 Boston St. in West Lynn and ends at Spencer Street by Market Basket, where the ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday.
The trail will eventually continue via a street route to the ocean by way of South Common Street and Market Street. The project is aimed at improving pedestrian and bicycle safety and has been a vision of Bike to the Sea since 1993; this vision consisted of a trail free of cars that extends from Everett to the beaches in Lynn and Nahant.
While speakers from Lynn and Nahant were largely supportive of the plan, there was some concern on the part of Nahant officials, who spoke about having issues with a possible lane reduction at the Nahant rotary that could occur as a result of the extended community trail. The rotary has already been a traffic concern and the design could possibly reduce the far right lane that goes directly to the causeway, according to Nahant officials.
“The rotary is already a bottleneck and will become a greater challenge as a bigger bottleneck.” said Nahant Board of Selectmen member Gene Canty.
However, Nahant Board of Selectmen Chair Josh Antrim was largely supportive of the project, a sentiment that he said was shared by his colleagues, despite their traffic concerns.
“All of the Board of Selectmen and our town administrator are supportive of this plan,” said Antrim. “As a cyclist, I am excited to see this come to fruition. I’ve ridden the existing bike path from Market Basket to Malden and it is a real treat.”
“We are extremely supportive of this project and excited that you are creating a way for folks to come to the shore and also for use at the shore to get inland,” said Nahant Town Administrator Antonio Barletta. “Having that protected bike lane is extremely valuable and we are excited for that.”
Barletta suggested some alternatives to avoid further impeding traffic at the rotary, such as having the trail continue southbound on the causeway to go up and around the rotary.
“I am supportive of this effort,” said Nahant Board of Selectmen member Mark Cullinan. “We do have some concerns about the traffic issues at the rotary. I know this is ongoing and there will be a lot of changes. I look forward to seeing this happen, and hopefully with the least amount of traffic issues as possible.”
If anyone has concerns or would like to provide input for this design, MassDOT asks that they email [email protected] with the project number, which is 610919.
