Blackstone River Bikeway
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The Blackstone River Bikeway is a planned 48-mile paved rail trail defining the course of the East Coast Greenway through the Blackstone Valley from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island.
Approximately 7 miles of the trail has been completed in Rhode Island, connecting the communities of Lincoln, Cumberland and Manville. 2.5 miles of completed trail in Massachusetts connect Worcester and Millbury.
The path follows follows the right-of-way of the old Providence and Worcester Railroad and its predecessor, the Blackstone Canal, running alongside the Blackstone River. Once constructed, the bikeway will be linked to the East Bay Bike Path, for an additional 14.5 miles of trail to Bristol, Rhode Island.
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[edit] History
In 1986, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor (known after 1999 as the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor) was designated by the United States Congress, following the path of the Blackstone River from Providence to Worcester.
[edit] Rhode Island
In 1997, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and Department of Transportation began work on the first Rhode Island segment, from Lincoln to Ashton. [1] This segment was completed in 1998. A second Rhode Island segment was completed in 2002, from Ashton to Manville. [2] In August 2007, a bridge reconstruction project at Martin Street was completed, ending a three-year bike path closure. The new bridge also incorporated a major safety improvement for the path with the path passing underneath Martin Street instead of meeting it at grade. In November 2007, a 2-mile extension from Manville to the Woonsocket Water Treatment Plant was opened. The path is about 9 miles long as of late 2007-early 2008. RIDOT expects 1.4 miles of trail on the northern end of the bike path (built cooperatively with the City of Woonsocket) will open in 2008. Additionally, a 1-mile segment from Lonsdale to Valley Falls, which includes more than 500 feet of boardwalk over part of the Lonsdale Marsh, may also open in 2008. With those new segments, total mileage would be 11.4 miles. Additional segments are under design to extend the path further through Woonsocket toward the Massachusetts border and south into Central Falls and Pawtucket.
[edit] Massachusetts
In 1996, a study undertaken by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (known at the time as the Department of Environmental Management) produced a plan for seven segments of trail linking Worcester with Blackstone, Massachusetts and the Rhode Island border.
- Blackstone to Millville (2.92 miles)
- Millville to Uxbridge (3.30 miles)
- Uxbridge to Northbridge (9.09 miles)
- Northbridge to Grafton (1.39 miles)
- Grafton to Millbury via Sutton (6.02 miles)
- Millbury to Worcester (4+ miles)
- Worcester (2.61 miles)
Construction was delayed due to a lack of state funds, a shortfall attributed to the over-budget "Big Dig" highway tunnel project in Boston. [3] In 2005, the first 2.5 mile segment, from Worcester to Millbury, was opened to the public.
