Bike Trail Project Making Progress

Back during a mid-August selectmen's meeting, town officials discussed the .

At the time, the town had recently received a $500,000 state grant for the trail's design and negotiations were underway with engineers as well as neighboring Wakefield. The meeting also featured a new proposal from Town Administrator William Gusts for surplus railroad cars to be used to keep the trail above the most watery parts of Reedy Meadow.

This week, Gustus told Lynnfield Patch that the town is indeed close to a contract with engineers for the trail design, although the plan also requires approval from the state department of transportation. The town may be ready to sign the contract by early January. The proposed trail could eventually link up to trails in neighboring Peabody and Wakefield and beyond.

The first engineering task will be to survey and assess the railbed through Reedy Meadow and to determine the integrity of the railbed for the planned rail cars. Test borings are also expected to be conducted in the sprinigtime.

The town has also reportedly begun the process of locating the surplus railroad cars, which would be brought in along the railbed and joined together, providing as much as four feet of clearance depending on water levels. The lowest part of the railbed is right near 128, an area that in the springtime can be from six to twelve inches underwater.