New or refurbished public parks are often opportune projects for creating trail connections.
A glowing example is Riverside Park on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence. A partnership of neighborhood stakeholders and government agencies — led by what is now the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council — teamed up to build the park, which opened in 2008, on the site of a junk-filled brownfield site that used to have a mill complex. One of the park’s features is a segment of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway. (The local diminutive for the river’s name is “Woony”.) This part of the greenway starts at the park and runs about 2.5 miles upstream to Johnston, and the City of Providence has envisioned future connections downstream, both on- and off-street, through its Great Streets initiative. (Full disclosure: as a consultant, I worked on the Great Streets Master Plan.)
There are plenty of other examples in New England of shared use paths — in addition to the usual narrow walking trails in most parks — going through parks. But this post’s focus is on Terrill Park in Concord, NH, along the Merrimack River on the opposite bank from the state capital city’s downtown. A project to improve and transform the park began construction earlier this month. In addition to a multi-purpose field, playground, expanded dog park, and other amenities, the park will feature the first phase of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail (MRGT).
According to the City’s CIP project web page,
The park is on the verge of a transformation that will bring community members of all ages to the park and the river front. In the FY18 City Budget money was approved for the full design of Concord’s first artificial turf field, new larger dog park, additional parking and much more. The park is uniquely positioned with great access to interstate 93 and is part of the long awaited Merrimack River Greenway Trail.
The long-awaited MRGT is also an important link in the future trail network in New Hampshire. In the words of the Friends of the MRGT, the vision is for
a continuous, off-street paved trail in Concord, NH, following the Merrimack River from Pembroke to Boscawen. The trail is intended to be a 4-season paved “shared use” facility that will serve bicyclists, pedestrians, skiers, snowshoers and other non-motorized users. To the extent practicable, it will be universally accessible to people of all mobility abilities.
Significantly, Boscawen is the current southern terminus of the 58-mile Northern Rail Trail, the longest rail trail in the state. So when the MRGT is complete, it will mean about 70 miles of continuous trail running from south of Concord almost to the Vermont border in Lebanon. Zoom out, and the vision is for this trail to be just a part of the larger Granite State Rail Trail, which will run from the Massachusetts border at Salem, NH (linking to the Methuen, MA, Rail Trail), all the way to Lebanon.
A lot of work to do, but for now the City of Concord and trail advocates can celebrate Terrill Park’s contribution to the goal.
Jeff Brubaker 