I recently rode the newly expanded Bruce Freeman Rail Trail from its north end in Chelmsford to its south end almost at the Sudbury border. I was familiar with the trail from Acton northwards; the extension south into Concord is a welcome addition. If you have never been on the trail, I hope to convince you to visit.
The rail trail is not just for bikes! Users are diverse – seniors, families with strollers and small children, bigger kids just learning to ride a bike, roller-skaters and inline-skaters, scooters and adult tricycles. A variety of bikes – new bike designs with great fat “beach buggy” tires; custom artistic bikes with years of design built on; the occasional bike gymnast spinning wheelies in place, like a break-dancer, on the back wheel. And of course the “serious” bikers, as if training for the Tour de France – sometimes solo, sometimes pairs or groups – jockeying for position, staying in the lead rider’s slipstream or breaking out to take the lead.
Given that variety of users, are there issues with safety? Generally, no; the trail can accommodate many users, and traffic tends to be sparse. Because it is a rail trail, sight lines are long; and because trains avoided hills, the trail is flat except for overpasses. Adult trail users generally follow public road customs such as keeping right except when passing. With the variety of users described, passing – that is, overtaking slower-moving traffic – is common. If you hear “on your left” this means someone is behind you, and intends to pass by “on your left.” It is not uncommon to see pedestrians with earbuds or headphones, oblivious to spoken warnings, and so one passes there as safely as possible. Acton police sometimes ride the trail, and emergency rescue vehicles can access the trail if need be.
Construction of the railroad embankment split and divided local ecologies, and for the amateur naturalist the trail offers hints of the past and shows the present stages of adaptation. Most areas have adapted beautifully, with prolific growth. Other areas are adapting, with trees too recently dead to have yet decayed, snags leaning over still water. The skunk cabbage foliage is luxuriant now in some areas; its growth pattern tells us about its favored area’s ecology. For the amateur anthropologist as well, the human-built environment can be seen adapting to the trail and its traffic, as old technology recycles into rust.
Parking areas and trail access points are reasonably well described on the following web sites:
https://brucefreemanrailtrail.org/
https://www.traillink.com/trail/bruce-freeman-rail-trail/
I hope to see you on the trail!
