Village Shared-Use Trail Engineering to Start November 2013, Construction Slated for 2014

After more than three years of planning, engineering for the Manchester Shared-use Trail is set to begin the week of November 4^th and construction to begin in 2014.  The Shared-use trail will convert two miles of the former New York Central Rail Road rail bed within the village limits into a finished, ADA accessible, walking and biking route.  Trail amenities include benches, observation decks, information kiosks, restrooms, trash and trail lighting.On Saturday November 2^nd about thirteen people joined Ray Berg and the Manchester Shared-use Trail team members, Susan Fielder and Laura Sutton, for a public design session.

One of the key factors in the agreement between the Trail committee and the village is that the trail is to be totally externally funded.  No Village Tax reserves or monies from the general fund are to be used to build or maintain the trail. “quote here” The current cost estimate for the trail is $255,000 and of that $252,000 has been already been raised through grants from the county, the Chelsea Wellness Foundation, and the Kiwanis.  The trail team has identified a number of potential sources of funding for the remaining estimated $3000 and other costs which may develop in final engineering.

A concern of the Village is the long term maintenance of the trail. The Village is requiring the trail committee to come up with a 5 year “Legacy Reserve” for long term maintenance costs.  The committees plan is to form a 501(c)(3) non-profit called “The Friends of the Manchester Trail” to maintain and fundraise for the trail. The Friends of the Manchester Trail is not organized yet, but several residents have expressed interest in participating in it. “This will be worked on in the near future and publicized in various media“  Mr. Berg said.  He also commented that “The 501(c)3 process is a bit lengthy, but we wanted to wait until we had final approval from the Village for the trail before proceeding.”

The Friends of the Manchester Trail will be a volunteer group with members taking responsibility for different segments of the trail. The trail team has also identified potential sources of funding for the maintenance reserve – including Federal/State non-motorized transportation enhancement, foundation funds allocated for trail purposes, and private donations.  One of the fundraising ideas is to have different trail tours.  Some of the themes that were mentioned were nature, history, and bird watching. The final amount needed to be in the maintenance reserve is being calculated. It will then be presented to the Council for approval, and the funds secured before final construction begins. At this point, only the engineering has been approved.

Currently, the most heavily used portion of the trail is the section between Main St and M-52 (Chi-Bro Park), it has been noted that students regularly walk this portion of the trail to get to school. The trail committee is considering making this portion of the trail a hard surface instead of just crushed stone.  Mr. Berg felt that in all likelihood this section would be paved.

Paving this section will increase the funding needed.  Because this was not in the original Shared-Use Trail Proposal, it raises the question of how to pay for winter maintenance and lighting.  “For any part of the trail which may be paved, it will also have to be determined who will be clearing snow, it’s just too soon to answer this question” said Mr. Berg. Although Mr Berg has not pursued it at this time, one possibility to offset the upgrade costs may be using Safe Routes to School grant money, available through MDOT.  When Jeff Wallace (village manager) was asked about winter maintenance for paved sections of the trail he said “Since the Shared Trail Proposal has no winter maintenance included, this would have to be decided if it is to be part of the maintenance funding agreement before construction began.”

The Village council has formed a “Shared-Use Trail Design Committee” that includes the trail team members and representatives from village council, the planning commission, and the Parks commission.   The committee should be meeting in the next few weeks. They are waiting for final approval of the contract with the engineering firm, Stantec and the availability of Stantec design personnel.

One of the current challenges for the trail committee is that the river bisects the trail and the big question they need to answer is how to connect the two halves of the trail.  Another issue they face is what to do with the trail on Railroad Street.  The rail bed that the trail is being built on and railroad street are one and the same.  According to the Village Railroad Street is not legally a road but some access needs to be maintained for the DPW, especially in the winter for snow plowing.  The committee is also looking for input on where to put “jumping off” spots on the trail to encourage people to “jump off” the trail and come downtown.  “That’s our goal, to get people in to town”- Ray Berg

The plan in its entirety can be found here:

http://www.5healthytowns.org/?module=Files

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by News News