Schedule of Related Events	MassPike ROW: An Appeal for Help; also, MassPike ROW flier(450K)	Getting On Track - Mass. Legislature report (see May 22, 2001) Rail Trail Studies	CRT Design and Construction Issues
Reconnaisance Study of the Saxonville Branch Right-Of-Way (CTPS, Jan. 2000) Preliminary Report of Natick Cochituate Rail Trail Task Force (Nov. 2006)	CRT Slideshow (Nov. 2006) CRT Brochure (Dec. 2001) (outside+map) (inside) (800K each)	Orthoimagery of CRT and Lake Cochituate  (latest color/Google Maps) (1994-95 grayscale/MIT GIS) (USGS Topo Map of same)	CRT History Sketch Map of Cochituate Rail Trail CRT logo

The "Saxonville" about to haul some passenger cars from the Saxonville RR Station. (1880 photo courtesy of the Framingham Historical Society.)

Disappearing Freight Use:
The Saxonville Branch Line's major recent user was a once- or twice-weekly freightcar exchange at Continental Baking Company's "Wonder Bread plant" (across Speen Street, just north of the Natick Mall). As early as 1996, we predicted the imminent elimination of the Wonder Bread factory; Interstate Bakeries Corporation's acquisitions of Continental, J.J. Nissen and other bakeries had left it with too many no-longer-competing factories, and the current real-estate value of this site (adjacent to the Natick Mall, largest mall in New England) made it an extraordinarily expensive place to bake bread and Twinkies. In December 1998, Continental confirmed that the plant closure would occur about mid-1999, and it did close that June. In late 1999 a NYC firm bought the site and remodelled the Wonder Bread building to become a Tech Commons "data hotel", filled with a lot of computer data storage and a few technicians. But that plan fell through with the "dot-com" bubble and the property again changed hands.

In 2000, the Town of Natick removed the rails crossing Speen Street; that spur ROW remains for future trail use. Natick has an easement to extend that trail along the north and west perimeters of the old Wonder Bread site, and is including major multi-use trail design as part of the Natick Mall expansion project.

From the RR bridge over Route 9 in Natick, the green view north toward Route 30 and Saxonville. An important urban goal: Preserving great views and that green screening!

Also in 1998, Conrail sold vast New England railroad holdings to CSX, including the Boston-to-Albany main line and this Saxonville spur line. Closer to Lake Cochituate on that same short side track, the only remaining CSX freight customer is new: S & D Meats/Metro Freezer and Storage. On Chrysler Road near Lake Cochituate, it shares a building with a child day-care center and averages less than one train visit per week (often at night).

So now the once-busy and lovely Saxonville Branch Line is little used. Rails and the lake shoreline are poorly maintained. Trains run at walking speed, which is just as well; even so, in one year beginning October 2000 there were three at-grade collisions of a locomotive with a vehicle at Lake Street in Natick, and one of these collisions demolished a truck! Trains are expected to cease their traffic through Cochituate State Park in 2006, and the Towns of Framingham and Natick are planning accordingly.

Natick Mall Expansion:
Currently, Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the owner of Natick Mall, has acquired this adjacent site and proposes to greatly enlarge Natick Mall so much that it probably will become the largest mall in New England! They proposed to also include a hotel, then changed that to two apartment towers, and, in 2005, proposed to include the apartment towers and a hotel! Furthermore, modified plans have also been submitted to build as a separate mall -- as a way to confound Macy's lease-guaranteed veto of competing stores (specifically, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom's). So Natick (and adjacent Framingham) may get the integrated mall that was planned, or two separate ones, and with an ever-growing list of add-in projects. It has, to say the least, been time-consuming and confusing for the local review agencies.

Through 2003, the Natick Mall Expansion proponents avoided working with local and regional groups regarding its link to the CRT. At the end of 2003, that was a key reason that its Draft Environmental Impact Report (including a proposed hotel) was found deficient by the Mass. Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA). Through 2004, the CRT groups were slightly included, but their minimum design goals were not met; at the end of 2004, the resulting Final Environmental Impact Report (now with two still-unplanned residential towers instead of the hotel) was still judged inadequate by MEPA. The NBPAC and other groups asked the Natick Planning Board (a) to include at least one local-trails-savvy consultant and (b) to include at least one nationally-prominent design group to add a new level of bike-ped design savvy to its own planning review team for this project, and also (c) to request (again) that MassHighway swing its own bike-ped experts onto this important regional project. The only part of that which was delivered was a walking consultant (without bicyclist-design skills), and this failed to achieve better agreement.

Other Regional Rail Trails:
A few towns to the north, the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway through Bedford and Lexington to Arlington is an excellent example of new usage for a retired rail line. Any nice weekend day finds its eleven paved miles teeming with bicycles, skaters and folks out for a walk. Once-skeptical neighbors find it far better than train traffic or idle disuse; good for relaxation, health, and property values. Other Massachusetts bikeways are in use and on the drawing boards across the Commonwealth (see MassBike, Mass. Highway Dept., multi-use trail projects map) and beyond (Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Trails and Greenways Clearinghouse). Rail trails can even coexist with busy rail lines, so either a slightly-used or abandoned Saxonville Line can serve.

From the notched RR bridge just north of Route 9, the view southwest over Carling Pond to the boat tunnel at Route 9 (once the historic Willow Bridge).

The Proposed Cochituate Rail Trail:
The Cochituate Rail Trail will utilize this Saxonville Branch Line roadbed to give downtown Natick a recreational route north along Lake Cochituate and to the day-use area of Cochituate State Park, plus car-free bike and pedestrian access over major highways to the very popular Natick Mall. The northern extension -- along the west bank of Cochituate Brook and up to meet Route 126 at the Sudbury River -- will provide the same advantages to cyclists and pedestrians from Saxonville and other communities north of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The entire path offers a protected, varied, lovely and functional four-mile bike and walking trail -- an incredibly untouched route through a very urbanized highway network. (See CRT map.)

The Cochituate Rail Trail's trailhead in Saxonville is only a few blocks from where the Carol Getchell Nature Trail (created in 2000) runs downstream along the Sudbury River, and only a mile from another wonderful trail being planned along the no-longer-used Weston Aqueduct, on which Callahan State Park lies another 3.3 miles to the west.

Walking bikes along the new boardwalk on the Snake Brook Trail.

Many thousands work along the proposed Cochituate Rail Trail; of them, hundreds would find it useful for bicycle commuting to work, and many more would use it for local shopping trips, noontime biking, jogging and strolling. It also serves thousands of residents

May 12th, 2001: With loppers and shears, CRT volunteers remove a decade of brush and greenbriar to reveal the trail.

along its route. For less local users, convenient automobile parking -- as well as food and other facilities -- is available near both ends and the middle. The Mass. Dept. of Environmental Management supervises other hiking and bike paths. Cochituate State Park staffers already are proficient at that; they also manage Callahan State Park, where hiking and biking are major attractions.

A year of our local efforts to organize resulted in late-1998 requests from the Selectmen of Framingham and Natick -- and support from the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Management -- to study the feasibility of converting this spur line from railroad use to recreational and alternate transportation use. In March 1999 metropolitan Boston's Central Transportation Planning Staff received authorization to begin that study, and delivered its Reconnaisance Study of the Saxonville Branch Right-Of-Way in January 2000. In general, it said the Framingham section north of Route 30 could be developed easily, while conversion of the Natick section was delayed by continuing train usage. It did not consider the two side branch options in depth.

Access to the already rail-free Framingham section is being jointly pursued by the Town of Framingham and the Mass. Dept of Environmental Management. Current owners are the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)

October 20th, 2001: In the eighth CRT clean-up day of the year, CRT volunteers complete initial Framingham trail-clearing from School St. south to Route 30 (where this encroaching wall also is to be moved out).

north of the Massachusetts Turnpike, and MassPike from there south to Route 30. Unfortunately, MassPike plans to sell off all of its 60-80'-wide right-of-way to adjacent companies, so they can extend their buildings and parking lots close to a remaining 18'-narrow trail easement. Instead of a linear park, MassPike would leave little more than an alleyway, with bicycle-unfriendly curves between extended parking lots, fences, and possibly new buildings. Keeping the wider ROW, with plenty of trees and brush for good linear-park screening and straight view lines, is a major rail-trail priority. A May 2001 Massachusetts Legislative Report, Getting On Track: Common Sense Ideas to Expedite Rail Trail Development in Massachusetts, urges the free transfer of public open spaces to appropriate government agencies. The report specifically mentions this trail (on its pages 14-16/footnotes 75-79). MassPike has not yet joined the other agencies that subscribe to that policy, so in July 2001 we issued an appeal for help, with further discussions in 2002.In October 2000, Mass. DEM (now DCR) awarded a $20,000 grant to the Town of Framingham, to clear that northern section of the CRT and to stabilize and redeck its rusting bridges. A first trail-clearing day, on May 12th, 2001 (the first day of Massachusetts Bike Week), saw 45 volunteers open most of the trail from School Street south to the Massachusetts Turnpike. By fall, further improvements were made and the trail was extended to Route 30, the entire 1.3 miles in Framingham. One short stretch just northwest of Old Connecticut Path will require a detour until the two old railroad bridges can be redecked, but in August 2001 MassPike awarded a $100,000

July 12th, 2002 (looking back from Route 30): The old encroaching wall is being removed. For now, a lower, straight one (foreground)  is being built along a staked line - still well inside the CRT ROW.

tourism grant to the Town of Framingham for that and more. We still await interim (pre-transfer) general-use permissions from MBTA and MassPike.

To celebrate the opening of a first section of the Cochituate Rail Trail and to increase public awareness, "CRT-shirts" were donated by The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick. They are on sale for $10 each (to benefit CRT projects) at REI in Framingham. A new CRT brochure also was designed and became available in December 2001. (Brochure printing is made possible by a gift from REI. Text is by A. Richard Miller. The CRT logo and CRT brochure design are volunteer contributions of commercial artist Steve Broadley, and the map editing is by Tom Branham.)

A proposed commuter-rail parking garage, on South Avenue in downtown Natick, would tie in well for bicycle commuters using this rail trail. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has begun to implement multi-modal improvements. Diverse groups (Town of Natick, MassBike, MassBike/MetroBoston) are urging the MBTA to include inside, visible, safe and free bicycle parking here -- an incentive to shift more commuters from parking their cars in busy downtown Natick, as it uses the train to reduce car pressures in downtown Boston. West of downtown Natick, Middlesex Path connects to the CRT via Pegan Cove Park,

August 27th. 2001: At proposed site for commuter-rail parking garage, NBPAC Chair Dick Miller and Natick Director of Community Development Sarki Sarkisian explain the proposed CRT-to-MBTA Commuter Rail linkage to Mass. Senate President Tom Birmingham and Mass. Senator Dave Magnani.

Natick's downtown waterfront park on Lake Cochituate's South Pond.

A walk along this railway now is lovely, and the improvements will make it exquisite -- a linear park, well-screened from the bustle just beyond. Natick and Framingham and Cochituate State Park are blessed with this gift from the Age of Rail. Natick's Selectmen have appointed a Natick Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and Framingham's Selectmen have appointed a Framingham Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee and, as detailed plans became necessary, a Framingham Cochituate Rail Trail Committee. At the June 2000 Lake Cochituate Annual Meeting, Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs Bob Durand and Commissioner of Environmental Management Peter Webber committed their high-level resources. Local legislators who support Cochituate State Park and the Cochituate Rail Trail include Framingham's State Representatives Debby Blumer and Tom Sannicandro, Natick's State Representatives David Linsky and Alice Peisch, and State Senators Karen Spilka and Scott Brown. They, and through them, the Metrowest Legislative Caucus and other legislators, are helping to install effective bicycle parking inside the proposed garage. Most of them, and many others, have provided strong support letters for the transfer of MassPike's full-width corridor. If you support these projects, let them (and us) know!

The NBPAC was founded in 1997, recognized by the Natick Selectmen in 1998, and reconfirmed in 2001 with seven voting Members (plus non-voting Associate Members). The purpose of the committee is to make Natick more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and to work with Town and regional agencies and local organizations to those ends. The committee serves as a facilitator of State and Federal funded improvements for alternate transportation, for recreational trails, and for street crossings and sidewalks in Natick.

The committee also sponsors public talks and promotes the Cochituate Rail Trail (along with the Natick Cochituate Rail Trail Task Force, Framingham CRT Committee, Framingham BPAC, and Cochituate State Park Advisory Committee), a trail along the Sudbury Aqueduct, two trails from Natick Center to South Natick, and other Town and regional trails (along with the Natick Conservation Commission, Natick Open Space Committee, Natick Walks, etc.). It leads easy walks and bicycle rides to feature local routes and recreational areas, channels public safety suggestions to appropriate agencies, and generally informs and acts in these interests.

Key reference materials (some in need of updates) include:
NBPAC Annual Report (for 2006)
MassHighway Project Development and Design Guidebook (2006)
MA Statewide Bicycle Transportation Plan (1988)
MA Pedestrian Transportation Plan (1998) 
MA Bike Path System (current and proposed)

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