The entrances to Terrace Trails.
Reminder Publishing photo by Ryan Feyre
NORTHAMPTON – With summer in full force, a recent project to improve a well-loved trail in the city is now complete.
In a post on its social media, the Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability announced that the Terrace Trails Accessible Trails project is now open to the public thanks to a Community Health Inclusion Index grant of a little over $21,300 and a partnership between Stavros Independent Living, All Out Adventures and the Office of Planning and Sustainability.
The project has added over 1,250 feet of additional unpaved, wheelchair-accessible trails to the city’s inventory, according to the post.
“One of the great things about this project is that we were able to modify a well-used and loved in-town trail to create universal accessibility in a short time span,” Planning and Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch told Reminder Publishing.
The accessible trails – which are located inside of the Terrace Trails Conservation Area – feature newly widened paths, a thick layer of traprock gravel and a fully functioning culvert, thanks to the project.
“We are not able to do this at every conservation area within the city due to underlying geographic and topographic conditions and features,” Misch said. “So, it is great when we have the opportunity to be able to accomplish this.”
Misch said that when the city has the ability to modify a trail, it usually requires extensive pre-design work before construction, but the Terrace Trails project was unique in the sense that very little pre-design work was necessary to meet accessibility standards.
The $21,300-plus grant, which covered the entire Terrace Trails project implementation, is from the state’s Department of Public Health and funneled through the Hampshire Educational Collaborative. The money needed to be expended by June.
The Terrace Trails Conservation Area entrance can be accessed through the College Church parking lot at 58 Pomeroy Terrace in downtown Northampton.
In March, when the project was in its early stages, Misch told Reminder Publishing that Terrace Trails needed these improvements because there were some barriers for people who have mobility issues.
She added that the city has maintained a long-term relationship with the surrounding Pomeroy Terrace residents and the College Church, which sits adjacent to the Terrace Trails Conservation Area. Through these relationships, Misch said there have been conversations for a while about maintaining and improving the trail at Terrace.
“For the most part, the grade is pretty close to what it needs to be but there are just some other areas that if they’re addressed then it could be fully accessible for people with mobility devices,” Misch said at the time.
The completed Terrace Trails project is part of a broader initiative by the city to make improvements to conservation areas and other recreational resources in Northampton. Misch said that the city is working on trail modifications at two other conservation areas that are currently in the design phase.
“We will continue to look for opportunities to add soft surface accessible trails to our existing network of hard surface accessible shared use paths in order to provide a variety of options for residents to experience within the city,” Misch said.
