The second phase of the rail trail will extend from the Westfield River to Orange Street.
WESTFIELD – Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail are planning a celebration later this summer or early fall to mark the completion of the first of three phases of the trail in Westfield.
The group is also turning its focus now on construction of a second phase of the project and to an educational campaign on the importance of both motor vehicle and bicyclists sharing public streets.
“The first phase of Westfield’s trail is simply spectacular. One has to experience it for themselves,” Friends president Jeffrey J. LaValley said.
“We have a committee engaged in planning for a dedication or event that will mark the opening of this initial phase,” said LaValley. ‘It will be late summer or early fall,” he said.
The first phase is all but complete with the city and contractor now engaged in the ‘punch list’ mode that identifies any addition work or corrective action needed to complete the project.
Earlier this year Westfield received a $1 million grant from the state Department of Environment and Conservation to help finance the project. Overall, when all three phases are complete the Westfield phase of the bike trail that extends south to Farmington, Conn. will cost an estimated $7 million.
“We are excited the initial project is done and will officially open soon to the public,” LaValley said, noting the public is already using the trail.
The next phase of the project is expected to be the northern section of the city that includes crossing the Westfield River. The final phase, the downtown section, will connect the northern section with the southern section. Funding for the next phase has been earmarked for 2014, project manager John J. Bechard, said earlier this year.
The completed section connects the downtown, off Broad Street in the Tin Bridge and Ponders Hollow area to Southwick which completed their stretch of the trail last year.
Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail formed about three years in support of the Westfield’s trail but planning for it started many years earlier.
LaValley said the group plans to distribute literature about trail safety, including public road safety, via kiosk’s stationed along the trail. They are also planning on scheduling several workshops on motor vehicle and bicycle safety.
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., design engineers of Worcester is working with the city on the rail trail design and Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and City Engineer Mark s. Cressotti have said the plan is to proceed on an annual basis until Westfield’s trail is complete.