Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
Nicholas Lapointe, PE, Senior Transportation Engineer/Project Manager, Fuss & O'Neill
The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is a 10-foot-wide paved shared-use path that extends 12.7 miles through the towns of Cheshire, Lanesborough, and Adams. This picturesque trail is a regional destination that showcases the spectacular biodiversity of the New England landscape. The trail contains a visitor center, picnic areas, and restrooms, making it ideal for residents and tourists. This trail is a regional economic driver, creating non-vehicular access to local businesses and access to more amenities by other modes of transportation.
The trail balances aesthetics and functionality, which maximizes
the user's experience.
Fuss & O’Neill recently completed the design and construction administration for a 1.56-mile extension of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail into Pittsfield, which completes a nearly 14-mile off-road trail from Adams to Pittsfield. This segment represents the first connection into the largest population center of Berkshire County by providing safe walking and bicycling transportation facilities into a commercial area. Design of the 10-foot-wide trail alignment followed the guidelines set in the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities for an 18 MPH design speed. Completion of this connection marks one of the first projects in Western Massachusetts to provide rail trail access into a Gateway City.
Public safety was a major component of this project. Safety features include shaded rest areas and two new large parking areas with new lighting. The majority of the project follows a heavily wooded former railroad corridor with no immediate off-trail access to public facilities. Thus, emergency vehicle turnaround points and mid-trail rest areas were installed in the event an emergency occurs. Signage and Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) at roadway grade-crossings provide additional safety where sight distance of vehicles presents risk. There are also reticulating swing gates for protection from unauthorized off-road vehicle or snowmobile access. Two new parking areas, including 40 spaces at Crane Avenue and 34 spaces at the Route 7/8 Connector, greatly improve accessibility to this trail. The trail is fully ADA compliant, as is the fully plumbed comfort station, which is unique in the Commonwealth. New sidewalk segments on Crane Avenue enhance the connectivity and accessibility to the nearby commercial shopping area.
The trail borders wetlands, so special care was taken to mitigate impact.
The project area borders wetland resources. In addition to providing alternative transportation and reducing vehicle trips and emissions, the work to increase hydraulic connections, mitigate wetlands impacts, avoid disturbing invasive plant species, and provide additional flood storage capacity all support stormwater resiliency and sustainability. The design involved extensive environmental permitting with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) to create wetland replication areas, provide new 100-year flood storage, and reconnect two expansive wetland resource areas that were previously degraded and bifurcated when the Housatonic Railroad was originally constructed.
This project was a coordinated with the City of Pittsfield (the project owner), MassDOT, the Town of Lanesborough (trail connectivity to existing terminus across town boundaries), and MADCR (the property owner of the Lanesborough segment and many miles of the trail to the north). This project required a complex three-way lease agreement with the MassDOT Rail & Transit Division, the City of Pittsfield, and Petricca Industries (one of the largest employers in Berkshire County), which has its headquarters adjacent to the trail. Extensive right-of-way (ROW) coordination and easement plan preparation were included in the project’s scope. Stockade fencing, earth berm, and tree plantings were installed accordingly to delineate trail use from outdoor business operations. Late in the design process, ROW negotiations were rapidly evolving, and a special team (consisting of City officials, City legal counsel, MassDOT ROW Division, and engineers from Fuss & O’Neill) was assembled to coordinate last-minute easement changes within a six-week period to successfully meet the fiscal year advertisement deadline.
The trail provides non-vehicular access to local businesses.
Now built, the completed trail balances accessibility with serenity, as it provides users with both a recreational resource and a functional gateway to various areas in Berkshire County by means of alternative modes of transportation. The project promotes an active, environmentally-friendly lifestyle. It helps serve the approximately 5% of Pittsfield households who do not own an automobile, and it supports a low-income population that resides within the north border of Dalton Road to the northern border of Pittsfield. The last half-mile of the trail, along with new sidewalks, connects residential neighborhoods – including the environmental justice neighborhoods – to major commercial areas, schools, and parks. This is a project that truly emphasizes the power of connectivity through creative transportation design.