NORTHAMPTON — Construction of the Rocky Hill Greenway Multi-Use Trail is set to begin this month, marking the next phase of work coming from the years of planning and design for the area.
The 0.6-mile trail will be constructed to link the New Haven and Northampton Canal and Manhan Rail Trail at Easthampton Road, to Rocky Hill Road near Ice Pond Drive. Once complete, the trail will offer a safer, more direct route for bicyclists and pedestrians to access residential neighborhoods along Route 66, with minimal interaction with vehicle traffic.
“We’re really excited about this project because it creates a cross-country connection,” said Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch. “It’ll go for a segment — one block on Rocky Hill Road and then there will be pedestrian crossing to Ice Pond Drive, and at the back end of Ice Pond Drive is a connector already up to the co-housing properties that come out on Florence Road. It’s a piece of the puzzle for connecting the bicycle network to those neighborhoods.”
Winding through wooded areas and overlooking protected farmland, the new trail will also serve as a scenic recreational option. A small parking area at the trail’s northern end will provide convenient access for users.
“This is sort of what we’re referring to as Phase 1. Phase 2, we hope to start design soon that will go from Florence Road and connect, we don’t know exactly how yet, but connect to the shared use path that was finished between Stone Ridge Drive and Burts Pit Road, and that’s through the woods there too,” Misch said. “So, this is sort of us trying to march along and make those little segment connections where we can.”
Design for the project was funded through the city’s Community Preservation Act, and the construction is being supported by federal funding in partnership with MassDOT. The work is expected to be completed in early 2026.
“The contractor has just mobilized and it’s not a terribly long project so I’m hoping a lot of it will be completed by the end of the fall and then in the spring it will sort of just be the final last bits and pieces to finish,” Misch said.
For more details about the trail design and to stay up to date on construction progress, visit the Office of Planning and Sustainability’s website.
“This has been a long time coming. We first started the design process in 2015-2016, so it’s just one of those things that for unexplained reasons just took such a long time to get to this point, so it’s a relief,” Misch said.
