LYNNFIELD — Stantec Consultants, Inc., the contractor working on the town’s portion of the Wakefield-Lynnfield Rail Trail project, recently submitted the 75 percent Phase 1 engineering documents to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The rail trail will connect both Lynnfield and Wakefield via the abandoned MBTA rail bed. The Lynnfield section of the rail trail will consist of a 2.8-mile multiuse path and boardwalk that will extend from Fosters Lane in Wakefield, go through Lynnfield and will end at Nichols Lane in Peabody. The Wakefield section will extend an additional 1.6 miles from Fosters Lane to the Galvin Middle School. A portion of the rail trail will go through Reedy Meadow via an elevated boardwalk.
DPW Director John Scenna wrote on the town’s website that Lynnfield is still proceeding with the rail trail in two phases. He stated that the Phase 1 submittal that Stantec provided to MassDOT includes 75 percent rail trail design drawings, right-of-way plans, encroachment plans, construction specifications, an updated construction cost estimate and an updated project schedule among several other technical documents.
“The town and its consultants are aggressively advancing additional ‘readiness’ tasks that include negotiation of the MBTA lease, acquisition of the necessary insurance coverage, confirmation of right-of-way ownership, negotiation of easements and coordination with the School Committee for connections to the middle school and high school,” Scenna wrote. “The project team plans to present the proposed connections to the School Committee this September for discussion and approval.”
Scenna wrote that, “Submission of the 75 percent documents to MassDOT accomplishes a significant milestone in the town’s efforts to acquire MassDOT TIP funding for Phase 1 in fiscal year 2026.”
“MassDOT has a 90-day review period after which comments will be resolved and the design team will proceed to 100 percent engineering documents,” Scenna wrote. “If forthcoming, MassDOT’s FY26 TIP funding will support a Phase 1 construction contract award in February 2026.”
In parallel with the progress on Phase 1, Scenna stated that Stantec is advancing an “alternative boardwalk design for Phase 2 that will reduce the length of boardwalk construction over Reedy Meadow.”
“It is anticipated that the alternative design will significantly reduce the cost of constructing Phase 2 in response to financial concerns that were expressed by MassDOT in March 2024,” Scenna stated.
Scenna said the town’s rail trail team intends to provide a formal update on the status of the project to the Select Board at its Sept. 23, 2024 meeting.
The town was recently awarded a $200,000 MassTrails grant to provide support for the Wakefield-Lynnfield Rail Trail Project. The grant funds will be used for continuing the 2.8-mile rail trail’s design.
