Blackstone bike path to officially open Monday
Ceremony and tour will mark longawaited completion of bike path
BLACKSTONE – Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew A. Beaton will be in Blackstone Monday to celebrate the opening of the first segment the Blackstone River Greenway, a 3.7-mile stretch in Blackstone, Millville and Uxbridge that has been open to the public since this spring.
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Leo P. Roy, Blackstone Town Administrator Daniel M. Keyes and other town officials will join Beaton for the celebration, which kicks off at 1 p.m. at 93 Canal St.
The celebration and formal ribbon cutting is open to members of the public who are invited to bring their bicycles for a ride and brief tour of the bike path.
The southern end of the bike path was supposed to
open with a grand ceremony last fall, but was pushed back to this year.
Much of the work on the bike path last year was focused in Blackstone where town officials granted the state an easement so it could construct a half-mile connection between the Blackstone Depot site and the Rhode Island state line. The southern end of the Massachusetts stretch had been under construction for the past two years, including bridge repairs.
The Greenway in this stretch is 3.7 miles of trails and a multi-use path along the former railroad line between South Uxbridge, Route 146A, through Millville and to the Blackstone Depot site. The project itself terminates at Route 146A in Uxbridge. Additionally, several miles in Uxbridge, from the Greenway trail near Route 146 Exit 1 to the River Bend Farm on Oak Street, is being evaluated by the state’s engineering and design firm.
The piece of the Greenway that was constructed over the past two year included the building of seven bridges, construction of a tunnel at Church Street and restoration of a bridge over Main Street in Blackstone.
The third and last contract is the actual construction of the entire Greenway, which will link all the bridges, the tunnel, and reconstruction of the most complicated bridge – the Triad Bridge in Millville.
The cost for all three construction contracts is $20 million, and is one of the most expensive greenway sections ever built in New England.
When completed the Blackstone Valley greenway will go from Route 146A in Uxbridge to the Rhode Island border - roughly 3.7 miles in length – then from the Rhode Island border all the way to Providence for a total of 24 miles.
The Blackstone River Greenway was conceived of as including a 48-mile long bikeway connecting Worcester to Providence, running the length of the National Heritage Corridor and following the Blackstone River and canal wherever possible. The Greenway will also connect to the already completed East Bay Bike Path, allowing users to continue to Bristol, and ultimately, Newport.
In Massachusetts, approximately 3.5 miles of the bikeway are complete, including 2.5 miles of off-road facility in Millbury and Worcester. In Worcester, additional on-road path stretches connect the Greenway with various neighborhoods, including Quinsigamond Village where a bike path spur went into construction last year and connect with the Worcester Blackstone Visitor Center, currently in design. Between Crompton Park and Union Station, another stretch of the bike path is in design and is expected to be on-road facility where the users will be separated from roadway traffic.
In Rhode Island, collaboration between the Departments of Transportation and Environmental Management has resulted in 11.5 miles of continuous off-road bike path being open to the public in Cumberland, Lincoln, and Woonsocket, and several miles of on-road path in Providence and Pawtucket. In total, nearly 16 miles of bike path have been completed along the Blackstone River Greenway, and the remaining 8 miles are in design.