The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is the primary regional shared-use path in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. In a hilly region like the Berkshires, building a long-distance trail has its topographic challenges, but being on a former railroad bed that hugs the Hoosic River allows the trail to achieve a forgiving grade that extends more than 12 miles at present, connecting the communities of Lanesborough, Cheshire, and Adams.
But the trail really wants to stretch out some more. In fact, its history, like that of many regional trails, is one of stretching over time. It has grown in three phases, from its opening segment in 2001 to its most recently completed extension in 2017. The latter project, with a price tag of $2.1 million, nudged the trail north from downtown Adams.
The next step, forging another mile-and-a-half south into Pittsfield, is now under construction. That project is designed by Fuss & O’Neill and is being built by local contractor Maxymillian, Inc. of Pittsfield. This segment, expected to be open in Spring 2022, will continue the 10-foot-wide paved path and feature an upgraded trailhead parking lot with bathrooms (source). Heading north, as the linked iBerksihres article notes, “a Williamstown section is out to bid and a one-mile North Adams leg is still in the planning stage”.
The even larger vision is for the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail to extend over 20 miles south, through Lenox and Stockbridge, to Great Barrington, plus over 10 miles north from Williamstown into Vermont, through Pownal, to Bennington. But as far as trails are concerned, a journey of 30+ miles is taken in increments of a mile here, a couple miles there. While contributing to the whole, each increment adds value, destination connectivity, access, recreational benefits, and the opportunity to experience new places and landscapes in the relaxed, slowed-down fashion afforded from the seat of a bike or mobility assistive device, or moving with one’s own two feet.
Jeff Brubaker 