Arlington receives $80,000 MassTrails grant

A new study will determine the feasibility of a trail connection from the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington Center to the Mystic River Path along the Mystic Valley Parkway, and town planning has announced that Arlington will receive $80,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) MassTrails Grant Program to fund this study. 

The project will review the option for a new trail along the Mystic River from the intersection of River Street and Mystic Valley Parkway to Summer Street and connecting to the Minuteman Bikeway through Buzzell Field.

This trail connection is envisioned in several studies and master plans, including the state  DCR, Mystic Reservation Master Plan, the recently released DCR Parkways Master Plan, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Landlines Vision Plan, and the Mystic River Watershed Association’s (MyWRA) Mystic Greenways Initiative, and Connect Arlington, the town’s recently approved long-range sustainable transportation plan.

The portion of trail under evaluation is 1.5 miles long and includes the rotaries on either side of the Route 60/Mystic Valley Parkway bridge at the border of Arlington and Medford. A focus of this study is to improve safety and access for people walking and biking in the area.  

The MassTrails grant application for this project received significant support from a wide variety of stakeholders, including Representative Sean Garballey, Town of Arlington committees, advocacy groups and residents, Mayor Lungo-Koehn of Medford, Medford community-based organizations, the City of Somerville, and MAPC. Arlington also received a commitment of $10,000 from the Lawrence and Lillian Solomon Foundation to assist with the funding match for the grant. Town staff will partner with MyWRA to oversee the project development and will seek a consultant to conduct the study beginning late summer 2021.

The MassTrails Program is an inter-agency initiative of the Commonwealth led by the Governor’s Office in collaboration with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. MassTrails Grants focus on the improvement of existing trails, the construction of new trails, and the maintenance of the statewide trail system. Funding for MassTrails Grants comes from the DCR capital budget and from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Read more about the MassTrails Grant Program at mass.gov/guides/masstrails-grants. 

To learn more about the project, contact Daniel Amstutz, Senior Transportation Planner, at 781-316-3093 or damstutz at town.arlington.ma.us.

This news announcement was published Friday, July 23, 2021.