What is the difference between the Friends of the Ashland Upper Charles Trail and the Upper Charles Trail Committee?
The two distinct organizations have different responsibilities but they are teammates with one common goal: to help Ashland realize its dream of building the Ashland Upper Charles Trail.
The “Committee” is a town-sanctioned organization whose job it is to design the route for the trail and to ensure that the trail is constructed in a safe and efficient manner. The committee is also responsible to pursue grants and state funding for the overall trail.
The “Friends” group is a private, non-profit organization that wears a number of hats. It is a fund-raising organization to help raise money for trail projects. It is an outreach organization to build community-wide support for the trail. It is a maintenance organization to keep the trail in pristine condition with such activities as trail clearing and cleaning, planting gardens along the trail, placing benches at key locations and a wide variety of other activities.
How much will the trail cost? How will we pay for it?
These are always very difficult questions to answer. It is not uncommon for trails like these to cost $1 million per mile. The Ashland section of the Upper Charles Trail, has a number of elements that could either increase or decrease that estimate.
First, it may be possible to build the trail, or at least parts of it, with a stone dust surface the way they did in Holliston. That will be far less costly than paving the trail with asphalt. In sloped areas, asphalt will likely be the preferred surface due to maintenance issues.
Second, the downtown section of the Ashland trail will run on the roads using bike lanes. This will obviously be much cheaper to construct. The downtown section will run from Megunko Rd to Chestnut St.
Third, a small section of the trail has already been constructed along Memorial Drive (formerly referred to as the MBTA Access Road).
All of the above factors will help lower the per-mile cost of construction.
On the other hand, the boardwalk section that will run from the dam in Ashland State Park to Main St will be very expensive to build.
To really pin down the cost per section, the Committee has initiated a process to have the trail engineered. Part of the engineering report will provide “cost to construct estimates.”
One way to pay for the trail is to apply for funds under the Massachusetts Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This program can provide substantial amounts of funding but it is difficult to qualify for funding and is likely to take years before the trail could be completed. Alternatives include a variety of grant opportunities, some “do it ourselves” support from the Town of Ashland, and perhaps funds appropriated for the project directly from the State legislature.
Senator Spilka has put $3 million into an “Environmental Bond Bill” that the Committee hopes to access to start engineering and constructing other sections of the trail. The “Committee” has also been receiving strong support from Representative Lewis.
What is the timeline for completing the trail?
Building the trails in Holliston and Milford took 18 to 20 years. Holliston’s trail was built on a pre-existing rail bed. To plan and build a trail like the one we’re working on in Ashland is far more difficult because very little usable rail bed exists. The “Committee” has been incredibly resourceful in designing a trail that met a number of key criteria:
Connect to both Hopkinton and Sherborn
Link together key “destinations” within Ashland
Maximize the trail’s access to Ashland’s scenic beauty
Minimize the impact on residents by minimizing the number of private easements needed to build the trail.
The “Committee” has already spent roughly 4.5 years planning the trail.
In February, 2020, the town applied for and received a Mass Trails Grant to fund engineering of the Trolley Brook Section of the Upper Charles Trail. For various reasons, some of the funding was eventually used for the actual construction of the trail. The town was notified of the grant award during August, 2020 and work was completed during November, 2021.
The town currently is exploring plans to extend the Megunko end of the trail to Stone Park using funds from its capital budget.
How long will the whole project take? A long time but less if we all push for progress as hard as we can.
Are any parts of the trail open to the public?
The Holliston and Milford sections of the Upper Charles Trail have both been completed and are open to the public.
As of November 19, 2021 the Trolley Brook Trail section in Ashland is completed and fully open to the public.
Within Ashland, other sections of the trail that are owned by the Town of Ashland are also “unofficially” open to the public. These sections include the trail (aka the wide sidewalk) that runs along Memorial Drive (formerly referred to as the MBTA Access Rd.), the downtown section (via sidewalks), the section that passes behind the High School, and the Dike Trail that runs from Route 126 to the Sherborn line.