Trail Easement and Connections Project Moving to Next Step

By Kim Siebert MacPhail

At their June 26 meeting, the Land Acquisition Committee agreed that it was time, after a full year of discussions, to move on to the next step of an easement project that would improve bicycle and pedestrian mobility around town and provide ways to circumvent Bedford’s high volume, dangerous roadways. As identified by the Committee, this next step is to be a presentation before the Selectmen, potentially in early August.

Terry Gleason of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, who has worked with Land Acquisition on this project, restated the rationale for the easement effort, saying that a network of pathways would:

• Facilitate access to Town Center, schools, shopping conservation areas, bike paths;
• Provide off-road connections for bicyclists and pedestrians;
• Connect, extend ‘greenways’ for recreation and transportation.

Gleason— along with Dan Hurwitz of the Trails Committee—also reviewed a list of privately owned land parcels that would, if the property owners agree, help to establish a connective network of trails around town.

Of the over 40 identified easements, Gleason said that some are already being used without formal agreement, but that in order to include them on a Town-generated trail map, the arrangements need to be formalized. Hurwitz agreed, saying that formal agreements were essential, particularly if trails need improvements—for example, if a bog bridge over wetland needs to be in place so that a path can be used in all seasons.

“We’ve been working on easements since 2000,” said Gleason. “Bob Sawyer [a member of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and a Friend of the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway] made a “Shop by Bike or Foot” map in 2005. [It shows] ways to get to all the different shopping centers and avoid The Great Road. The average bicyclist does not want to ride down Great Road to get to the shopping centers.

“In 2007, Susan Grieb, Ralph Hammond and I went around town and identified 16 easements that we thought were priority easements for a trails/bicycle collaboration and since that time, the list has grown to over 40,” Gleason explained.

Several easements have already been agreed to, Gleason noted, such as the one on Bridge Street behind Stop and Shop and another on Washington Street that connects the Elm Brook trail to the Reformatory Branch railroad bed trail. An easement into the Wilderness conservation land off Lantern Lane near Old Stagecoach Road has recently been made official.

Costs of surveying easement lands— where necessary— as well as ongoing trail maintenance were matters of concern. Land Acquisition Chair Walter St. Onge was particularly sensitive to the question of cost, although he was in favor of the project.

“This can help enhance the ability for people to access the different areas of town where they can take advantage of recreational activities—or just the ability to get out and walk,” St. Onge said. “It’s not just riding a bike, but also just being able to walk in areas safely where there are no sidewalks. What we were aiming to do is to come up with the spreadsheet that identifies [and ranks] the 40 or so potential easements. It’s not an all-or-nothing process, and no one expects this to happen overnight.”

Hurwitz of the Trails Committee said that the spreadsheet of identified easements had been evaluated by his committee to establish the priority connections from the pedestrian perspective. The Trails Committee based their rankings on criteria such as “avoids traffic,” “connects things” or “is part of the proposed circuit trail system.”

While a comprehensive ranking that takes both pedestrian and biking priorities into account still needs to be developed, Hurwitz said that, in his opinion, some of the easements should be easy to obtain.

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit,” Hurwitz said.