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On Tuesday the Sudbury Select Board voted to submit a letter of support to get the next phase of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail on the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for the 2025-2029 cycle with the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).
The letter from the Select Board notes:
This project represents the final section of trail in the Town of Sudbury and completes 20 miles of the 25-mile rail trail envisioned many years ago by Representative Bruce Freeman of Chelmsford. With submittal of the 25% design plans anticipated in June 2024, and funding for the remaining engineering/design expected to be approved in May 2024, the Town anticipates having final Plans, Specifications and Estimates ready in time.
Letter from Sudbury Select Board (Page 62)
This section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail runs from the intersection with the Mass Central Rail Trail in Sudbury into Framingham, where Framingham is working to build their section of the trail.
The MPO actually reached out to the Town inviting a submission for the project.
Hearing that the Town of Sudbury will have 25% design plans completed by June 2024, MPO/CTPS (Metropolitan Planning Organization/Central Transportation Planning Staff) reached out to the Sudbury Planning & Community Development Office to discuss providing additional information for consideration of construction funding and scheduling in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) by the MPO.
February 15 Town Update on BFRT
The basic arrangement is that the Town pays for the design and the TIP covers most of the construction costs. At Annual Town Meeting in May, the town will vote on a Community Preservation Committee article that would provide $600,000 to complete the design of this section of the trail. The town has also submitted a grant application for the Mass Trails Grant for $500,000. If they get that grant and the community preservation funds, they would be able to return some of the community preservation funds to the town for other projects.
During the Tuesday Select Board meeting, the Town’s lead for the project, Marcia Rasmussen, walked the board through a comprehensive update on the project.
Rasmussen was enthusiastic in her comments about the recent developments. She indicated that, if Sudbury completes all plans by the summer of 2026, it could theorhetically be awarded in the fall of 2026 and construction could begin in 2027. Rasmussen estimated that construction could be completed in a year to a year and a half. That is a best-case scenario, but it is likely welcome news for rail trail advocates who waited far longer for the first phase in Sudbury to come to fruition.
