City of Newburyport Provides Update to Phase II of Rail Trail Construction
NEWBURYPORT — Mayor Donna D. Holaday is pleased to announce that the City of Newburyport, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, is currently constructing Phase II of the popular Clipper City Rail Trail.
Phase I of the trail (1.1 miles) was constructed six years ago, and Phase II will extend 1.5 miles from Newburyport’s central waterfront through the South End neighborhood into Newbury. The trail will be 8 feet to 10 feet wide and paved with asphalt. It will be an off-road multi-use pathway for pedestrians, bicyclists, wheelchair users, strollers, skaters, dog-walkers, and others, serving people of all ages and abilities.
Additionally, Phase II of the trail will have multiple access points and a dramatically varied character, as it travels along the Merrimack River, through the South End residential neighborhood, and curves through acres of woodlands. The contractor, ET&L Construction Corporation, began work in June, and removed trees along the old railroad corridor, installed a subsurface drainage system, worked on retaining walls, and is filling, compacting, shaping, and grading various sections of the trail. Throughout the fall, ET&L will lay down the base layer of asphalt on approximately 35 percent of the trail. Workers will remain on site until the winter, when work will be paused, and resume again in the spring.
Although the MassDOT contract allows substantial completion by the spring of 2019, it is expected that the contractor will largely complete the trail work in 2017 and 2018.
For more information, please contact the City’s Senior Project Manager Geordie Vining at 978-465-4400 or gvining@cityofnewburyport.com.