good the trails are or how
regularly people intend to
use them, access is key to
promoting exercise and
active transportation.
Near Northampton, in
Amherst, one neighbor-
hood lacks easy access to the
Mass Central–Norwottuck.
Many who live there don’t
own a car. Walking on the
street isn’t safe—the narrow
road lacks sidewalks—and
at certain times, getting to
the closest supermarket by
bus can take an hour and a
half. The safest, most direct
route is the rail-trail, even though people
must first cross through private property,
climb a hill and pass through a narrow
fence opening. “You have to be very able-
bodied” to navigate this route, explains
Bankert.
Healthy Hampshire worked with the
health department to understand such
problems by surveying residents, including
a visually impaired couple that got stuck
while negotiating the route with their chil-
dren and guide dog. The resulting report,
Getting Around Amherst
, details neighbor-
hood needs, including better trail access.
Looking ahead, Bankert says Healthy
Hampshire has “new tools in the works”
to encourage physical activity throughout
the county.
This is a goal supported by Anne Lusk,
a research scientist in the Department of
Nutrition at Harvard University’s School
of Public Health. “We know that rou-
tine activity needs to be part of life,” says
Lusk, adding that people are more likely
to use trails with destinations or connec-
tions to other paths. Because much of
Massachusetts is densely populated and
built, trails such as the Mass Central–
Norwottuck and the Minuteman are pep-
pered with amenities. “This is the advan-
tage to Massachusetts as opposed to, say,
Iowa,” she explains. Compounding the
effect, Massachusetts is marbled with an
“unbelievable buffet, a labyrinth of rail,” as
Fries describes it.
Trail Popularity
If support for active transportation con-
tinues, then several of Massachusetts’ old
railway corridors will likely become trails.
Many people in the state see the Minuteman
Bikeway as a model to emulate. Located
8 miles from Boston, the 11-mile rail-trail
isn’t epically long, but it runs through an
economically robust area without an MiM
program; locals choose the path without
prompting, and weekend enthusiasts drive
to it from farther afield. From Cambridge’s
Alewife transportation hub, the trail passes
through Arlington and Lexington into
Bedford. It was completed more than 20
years ago, has been honored for urban
design excellence and is in Rails-to-Trails
Conservancy’s Rail-Trail Hall of Fame.
The bikeway is simply an integrated part
of the community in a way that’s distinc-
tive. “Nobody anticipated in their wild-
est dreams how popular [the path would
be],” says Jack Johnson, founding member
and former chair of the Arlington Bicycle
Advisory Committee. Joey Glushko, a
planner in Arlington’s Department of
Planning and Community Development,
explains this popularity: “The bikeway
fits into many people’s program of well-
being. It accommodates every age group,
it accommodates many aerobic activities,
it provides a safe and extended length for
walking … and [accommodates] simply
being out-of-doors.”
But the Minuteman’s positive effects
transcend physical health: “The bikeway
has kind of become the Main Street for the
community,” says Johnson. “It’s where I see
my neighbors.”
The Minuteman’s popularity supports
Lusk’s view that trails with destinations
attract more use. “The Minuteman Bikeway
is kind of unique in that it connects a lot
of densely populated areas,” Johnson says.
Locals willing to bundle up and brave the
elements use the path year-round to navigate
between these areas. Like Northampton,
Minuteman towns plow their trail; some-
times it is an easier route than streets nar-
rowed by ample snowbanks, “a godsend,”
Johnson says. Moreover, its link with Alewife
subway and bus station makes the trail a
critical connection to the area’s public trans-
portation system. The Minuteman defines
active transportation.
As a planner at the Metropolitan Area
Planning Council, David Loutzenheiser
hopes to increase greater Boston’s active-
transportation network far beyond the
Minuteman. Ultimately, Loutzenheiser aims
to create a connected network of green
ways—rail-trails, cycle tracks and multi-use
trails, filling in gaps with connectors such
as low-traffic streets—to link Boston via
200 cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly miles.
Originally dubbed Green Routes, the idea
now is called Land Line and reflects the
Healthy Transportation Compact’s goal of
health-promoting transportation.
Inspired by Quebec’s 3,100-mile
Route
Verte
, Land Line is already 40 percent com-
plete. So far, reactions have been positive;
more than 40 organizations and elected
officials already support the project. “There’s
a large group of people who are scared to
bike on streets,” Loutzenheiser says. “If
there’s a trail system, they’re likely to try it.
We’ve put together the concept and now …
we have to sell it to the people and politi-
cians. The political side is coming soon.”
Amidst the perpetual ebb and flow of
political attentions and public funding,
Massachusetts’ health workers, trail advo-
cates and active-transportation proponents
sound confident when discussing the
future. Synergy is afoot. The sea change has
begun. The commonwealth is abuzz with
energy for getting active and staying healthy
by making movement just another part of
everyone’s day, and for creating the system
that makes that happen. As more paths con-
nect, so do more people, and that energy
has just begun to gather.
Fries, for one, can’t wait to see how it
all unfolds: “Come back in five years,” he
says, “because Massachusetts will blow you
away.”
Heather Beasley Doyle, a freelance writer,
lives close to a Boston-area rail-trail where she
happily runs and bikes every day.While living
near Delft, the Netherlands, before moving to
Boston, she developed a deep appreciation for
active transportation.
Courtesy Mass in motion new bedford
rails
to
trails
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