Plainville Greenway Alliance

By any measure, this event was a great success. 700 participants from bike shops to bike trails and to bike friendly communities sharing their accomplishments and their disappointments. We were agog over Google's neat new map application that allows a cyclist to choose routes best for cycling. Try it at the link included below. We were treated to some great presentations, and some not so great. We met with our Congressional Delegation from CT (well, with one face to face; the other meetings were with aides), but Congressman Chris Murphy (D, CT 5th) said he had never received such a large group of constituents to advocate for one issue. For me a great highlight was seeing all these folks walking between and through the Capitol and the various Senate and House office buildings wearing these lapel pins. Various staff members admired them and recognized them as being part of the Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) effort to make the entire country more bike friendly, starting with Co...

It did not look like this as we biked the short distance (4.5 mi from Renaissance Cyclery) to New Britain Museum of American Art. We had a leisurely snack and chatted in the cafe before viewing this Maxfield Parrish painting among the other treasures on display at this jewel of a museum. There is a great exhibition about the Shakers, and a must see painting in memory of the events at the WTC of 11 SEP 2001. We wish you could have joined us, but keep looking for other rides and events as we post them here on the blog. And, please, feel free to add your own posts.

PLAINVILLE, CT MULTI-USE TRAIL DESIGN STUDY - REPORT SUMMARY - JANUARY 2010 In November 2009, a Preliminary Design Study for the Multi Use trail through Plainville was completed by the trail design/engineering firm of Milone & MacBroom. Initially they explored various routes suggested by local bicycle advocates and the Regional Planning Agency, including the ideal of the trail alongside active rail for almost the entire length of the town (3 miles). The conclusion from this exploration was that the existing railroad right-of-way was unsuitable for a rail-with-trail from the town Center south due to many encroachment and drainage problems. They examined other proposed routes, suggesting a few of their own after soliciting input from town residents at several public forums. What emerged as the most likely route has some very interesting components. The North and South Sections are envisioned as a combination of off-road trails and on-road routes utilizing low-volume, lo...

Steve, Kathy and Jim have just completed six half-hour shows about cycling to be broadcast on Nutmeg TV (see the poster above). Watch them and give us your feedback. Our biggest concern is that they were all shot in the studio and we would really like to include some live on-trail and on-road footage. So, one of our members is completing training at Nutmeg as a Producer and we will soon be planning the next batch of shows. In the meantime, let us know what you think by adding a post here. The shows may be seen weekly on Nutmeg TV (Comcast Channel 5 in Avon, Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, Canton, Farmington, New Britain and Plainville, and via AT&T Uverse in the rest of the state beginning WED 15 JUL at 7PM, and then repeat for six more weeks after that at the same day and time.  Enjoy the summer weather and be smart about your fun cycling. Happy trails.

Rail-with-Trail? Do these really exist? Yes they do and here are photos of two of them. The first is in Cumberland, MD and the other is in Maine. Both of these "rails" are occasional and moderate speed tourist trains and neither has any barrier to separate the trail from the rail. We have members who have ridden alongside rails with frequent, fast-moving freight traffic, and even faster passenger trains, all safely separated from the rails. There are more than 150 such rails-with- trails nationwide. So, what's the secret for getting them built? Actually there are two: first, effective barriers that make both cyclist and rail employees feel safer and, second, there exists legislation limiting liability for accidents along the shared right-of-way. Maybe a third one would be a railroad with strong community-oriented goals willing to work with a trail building organization like ours. We will need all these secrets in our bag as we get busy creating our rail-with-trail ...

Check out the photos of the new bridge over Salmon Brook in East Granby . This is the one that went through several iterations of design and bid, each time rising in cost, and for which funding was finally approved following generous support from trail supporters and the Farmington Valley Trail Council. Hope to see you there when the weather clears. We are getting closer to completing this vital trail from New Haven, CT to Northampton, MA.

Some good news! Word reached the Plainville Town Manager this week that the town has been awarded a $45,000 grant for a design study of the proposed trail. This was accomplished with the strong support of the Town Council, and the hard work of the Town Manager and State Representative Betty Boukus. Just to be certain he wasn't dreaming, Robert Lee called the State Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to confirm that the money was really there, and it is. The Town will need to review the requirements of the grant to be certain that all its terms are acceptable. The next step after that will likely be preparation of a Request for Proposals (RFP) and a list of potential design firms with experience in trail design. We are not sure of any more details yet, but this is truly good news.