This list of rail trails in Massachusetts details former railroad right-of-ways in Massachusetts that have been converted to trails for public use and proposed rail trails where trails exist but have not been fully established.
Massachusetts has at least 69 rail-trails, covering 347 miles. A massive new project proposed by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, called the Landline, seeks to connect these trails, creating a 1,400-mile network of greenways and foot trails within the Boston region. When finished (currently 45 percent of the greenway network and 60 percent of the foot trail network is complete), the network would bring trail access within a half mile of three-quarters of the region's residents, and 92 percent of residents would be within one mile of the nearest trail or path." [1]
Holliston is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. The population was 14,996 at the 2020 census. It is located in MetroWest, a Massachusetts region that is west of Boston. Holliston is the only town in Middlesex County that borders both Norfolk and Worcester counties.
The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, shared-use paths; as of 2021, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of the route (35%) meets these criteria. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about 29 miles (47 km) to its mouth at Dorchester Bay between Quincy and the Dorchester section of Boston, near the painted gas tank.
The Minuteman Bikeway, also known as the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, is a 10-mile (16-kilometre) paved multi-use rail trail located in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. It runs from Bedford to Alewife station, at the northern end of the Red Line in Cambridge, passing through the towns of Lexington and Arlington along the way. Also along the route are several notable regional sites, including Alewife Brook Reservation, the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum, Spy Pond, "Arlington’s Great Meadows", the Battle Green in Lexington, and Hanscom Air Force Base.
The Massachusetts Highway Department was the highway department in the U.S. state of Massachusetts from 1991 until the formation of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) in 2009.
The Fairhaven Branch Railroad was a short-line railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from West Wareham on the Cape Cod main line of the Old Colony Railroad, southwest to Fairhaven, a town across the Acushnet River from New Bedford.
The Blackstone River Greenway is a partially completed 48-mile (77 km) paved rail trail defining the course of the East Coast Greenway through the Blackstone Valley from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island in the United States.
Lake Cochituate is a body of water in Natick, Wayland, and Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. Originally a reservoir serving Boston, it no longer serves that function, and is now a local recreational resource and home to Cochituate State Park.
Commonwealth Connections is a greenway and conservation initiative co-developed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the National Park Service, and over fifty trail and land conservation agencies and non-profit organizations. Begun in 1999, the initiative was designed to create "a coordinated greenway and trail network that will help conserve important resources, provide recreation and alternative transportation opportunities close to where people live, and connect communities throughout Massachusetts."
The Bay Circuit Trail and Greenway or Bay Circuit is a Massachusetts rail trail and greenway connecting the outlying suburbs of Boston from Plum Island in Newburyport to Kingston Bay in Duxbury, a distance of 200 miles (320 km).
The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (BFRT) is a partially-completed rail trail in Massachusetts. The path is a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) paved multi-use trail, available for walking, running, biking, rollerblading, and other non-motorized uses. It follows the right-of-way of the disused Framingham and Lowell Line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The constructed route connects with the Bay Circuit Trail, and Phase 2D will connect with the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside. The total planned length of the trail—which will eventually run continuously between Lowell and Framingham—is just under 25 miles (40 km). The trail is named for Bruce Freeman, a state representative from Chelmsford who advocated for the trail in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1985 and 1986 before his death. The trail is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation from Lowell to South Sudbury. In July 2020, MassTrails awarded Sudbury $300,000 to purchase the right-of-way from South Sudbury to the Framingham line, and Sudbury became the railbanking trail sponsor for this section in December 2020. In December 2022, Framingham signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with CSX to purchase the right-of-way in Framingham, and Framingham became the railbanking trail sponsor for this section in December 2023. The trail is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the communities through which the trail runs.
The Lower Neponset River Trail is a 2.4-mile-long (3.9 km) rail trail running along the Neponset River in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts. It roughly follows the path of the eastern part of the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad from the Port Norfolk neighborhood in Dorchester to the Central Avenue T Station in Milton, passing through Pope John Paul II Park, the Neponset Marshes, and the Lower Mills area.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operates subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service in the Greater Boston region. Boston has some of the highest rates of non-motorized commuting in the United States, including high bicycle usage. The MBTA offers certain provisions for riders wishing to make part of their trips by bicycle. The agency allows bicycles to be carried on all fixed-route services except the Green Line and the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line light rail lines, although they are restricted on the commuter rail and heavy rail subway services at peak hours. Bicycle storage areas are offered at many stations, with "Pedal and Park" locking bicycle cages at certain high-usage stations.
The Milford Branch is an abandoned railroad line in Massachusetts. The line formerly ran from Milford to Framingham, traveling through Holliston and Sherborn, connecting to the Boston Subdivision in Framingham and the Milford Secondary in Milford. The line was originally part of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and the end of the line was later abandoned under Penn Central, before the rest of the line was abandoned by Conrail. Although the line passes through Sherborn and terminates in Framingham, the majority of the line lies in Holliston.
Elections to the Massachusetts Senate were held on November 4, 1908, to elect 40 State Senators to the 130th Massachusetts General Court. Candidates were elected at the district level, with many districts covering multiple towns or counties.
The Cochituate Rail Trail (CRT) is a rail trail in Framingham and Natick, Massachusetts. The CRT is a 3.7 miles (6.0 km), 12 feet (3.7 m) wide paved multi-use trail, available for walking, running, biking, rollerblading, and other non-motorized uses. It follows the right-of-way of the disused Saxonville Branch of Boston and Albany Railroad which was railbanked. The trail is maintained by the Towns of Natick and Framingham. The CRT is named after Lake Cochituate, of which it offers scenic views.
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