Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)

[RandomWalk]

True.

A clear example would be the Reformatory Branch Trail. Forcing Bedford to do the eminent domain tripped up any improvements to the gap along Railroad Ave.

 

[themissinglink]

I hope that Millis, Medway, and Bellingham start work on their sections of the trail sooner rather than later. I've only heard some discussion about expanding the trail west of Medfield, but there aren't any serious plans as far as I know.

Millis Branch (Needham-Woonsocket): Intermittent freight service near Medfield; mild potential Medfield-Medway as a Franklin Line branch. Portions in Needham and Medfield have trails; Dover has been NIMBY about it. State-owned as far as Medfield; chopped up with a mix of owners further south. (Woonsocket actually owns a section in Blackstone where it meets the SNETT.)

I reached out to the Open Space Committee in Medway to ask about plans for a rail trail in place of the former rail ROW. This was their (disappointing) response:

Thank you for your interest. A rail trail would be great. The Open Space Committee has researched it extensively. It is not feasible in Medway. Property owners on either side of the track actually own their "half" of it. As such the town does not have the right of way to build the trail.

We have researched trying to create a trail from Holliston street to Oakland. There are several private homes whose land and driveways cross through the area that make this challenging.

There is a trail club in town that helps maintain and create new trails on land the town can access or owns.

They do have a Facebook page if you'd like to know more about them or learn how to help out when you can.

I'm confused by the claim that "property owners on either side of the track actually own their "half" of it". According to the MA Parcel Viewer, the Town of Medway owns the vast majority of the ROW, until you get to West Medway (aside from two parcels, highlighted below). Plus, people have been using the old railroad ROW as an unofficial trail for at least 20 years, if not more. There are even "no motorized vehicles" signs for the ROW in two separate places, since so many people use the ROW for walking and biking. It's gonna suck if every other town along the former rail ROW has a rail trail except for Medway.

It looks like two properties between Oakland Street and Holliston Street have encroached onto the ROW; I've highlighted these parcels in red:

A rail trail through Medway is still listed as a "priority trail" on the Massachusetts Priority Trails Network Viewer (by MassDOT):