LYNNFIELD — Three warrant articles in relation to the Lynnfield Rail Trail are going to a vote at the Town Meeting on Monday, April 28th, after they were supported by the Select Board.
Characterized as more “technical” steps of the project by Department of Public Works Director John Scenna, the articles ask to dedicate a parcel of Lynnfield Middle School (LMS) land, approve project right-of-way at four parcels, and accept Ford Avenue as part of the trail.
Also approved at the meeting was an Intermunicipal Agreement with Peabody, needed as the end of the rail trail will be crossing into the city’s boundaries.
“These are just very technical matters. What happens at Town Meeting with successful passage of anything, the right-of-way, technical aspect of the project will come to a conclusion,” Scenna said. “Then, if we’re awarded construction funding, we move into the last phase, where we start to draw back in some abutters, scheduling, bidding, and all that.”
Scenna brought up a new update to the construction schedule, with the possibility of getting funds for construction from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) moved up from Fiscal Year 2029 to 2026.
He said they will get confirmation from MassDOT if this will happen or not within the month but says there is a strong possibility the rail trail gets pushed up due to a group of projects scheduled for FY26 falling behind.
“That’s a perfect situation for projects that are at 100%, already submitted, ready to go, to move up,” Scenna said. “We would not move up to 27 or 28, those projects are actually ready and funded, but there is a strong chance that we could move into 26… if we do move forward, it would be bid in Fiscal Year 26, it would go into construction, I’d say, comfortably some point late summer or fall of 2026.”
Lynnfield submitted 100% of the design for Phase 1 of the rail trail, which extends from Ford Avenue to Nichols Lane in Peabody. Phase 2, which starts at Foster Lane in Wakefield and goes to Ford Avenue, will need to go back through MassDOT’s system to get construction funding after Phase 1 ends.
Mina Makarious, a lawyer working with the town on the rail trail project, explained each of the warrant articles in detail to the Select Board.
Included in the presentation were a few updates to Phase 1, including upgrades to the Summer Street crossing, a paved area to connect to Lynnfield High School, and the need for right-of-ways included in the rail trail.
“That is a requirement from MassDOT, that rail trails need to start and end with connections to public rights-of-way,” Henderson said. “The good news is, you don’t have to redo the whole engineering, but you do have to go through the formal right-of-way acceptance process.”
Ford Avenue and the LMS parcel acceptance both deal with a portion of the project that connects the trail to the school’s athletic fields.
“The rail trails have always been proposed to connect to the high school and middle school; it’s one of the great features of the trail,” Scenna said. “It’s one of the reasons MassDOT has scored the project so high and is thinking of advancing it for construction in 26.”
Going forward, Scenna and the Select Board emphasized the numerous occasions for public participation, with three Planning Board public meetings scheduled and one more scheduled for the Select Board, as well as the consistent conference with abutters that will be affected by the project and its construction.
“I feel, if this is to move forward, I can absolutely commit that public works will be having neighborhood meetings with abutters, going over details,” he said. “We’ll do that before the project goes out to bid… we want to do right for our people.”
