A conceptual design of future trail under Route 33. (City of Portsmouth, N.H. rendering)
A section of the long-planned New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway from North Hampton to Barberry Lane in Portsmouth is expected to be completed by the summer of 2024, the Portsmouth Herald reported Nov. 10.
"That is just based on what we've heard directly," said Portsmouth Public Works Director Peter Rice about conversations city officials have had with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT), which is in charge of the rail trail project. "But given the progress they've made, it's in good shape.
"It's going to be a great asset for the city and the entire seacoast," he told the Herald.
When finished, the greenway will encompass a 17-mi. network of rail trails and bikeways connecting the communities of Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Hampton, North Hampton, Rye, Greenland and Portsmouth. It is a small part of the larger, 3,000-mi. East Coast Greenway project, intended to connect off-road trails from Maine to the Florida Keys.
The local portion of the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway project is being built on former rail lines that NHDOT bought from Pan Am Railways, according to information previously provided to the Herald by David Allen, a Seacoast Greenway Alliance board member and former Portsmouth deputy city manager.
The Rockingham Planning Commission has been helping to coordinate the regional effort to bring the rail trail project to fruition, according to the Portsmouth daily news source.
The 3.6.-mi. section of the greenway in Portsmouth "will be a community asset offering a safe place for children, seniors and all members of the community to exercise, learn to ride a bike, enjoy nature or simply get where they need to go without a car," according to commission officials.
City engineer Eric Eby said its construction is ongoing.
"They've got the base down, but the finished course will not be installed until next year," he said during a recent meeting of Portsmouth's Parking, Traffic and Safety Committee. "It's kind of tough to bike on right now, [but] it's [currently] a good walking path."
He added, though, that the path is still "officially closed."
Pathways Create Access to Largely Unknown Parts of Town
As NHDOT's work on the greenway is continuing, construction on Portsmouth's Borthwick Avenue multi-use path also is moving closer to being finished, Rice said.
That trail, along with the city's other pathways — all of which are either completed, being finished or proposed — will connect to one another and to the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway, allowing people to walk or bike off-road all over Portsmouth, and, in time, the entire region, he explained.
"You'll eventually be able to get from Massachusetts to Market Street in Portsmouth, all off-road except for minor crossings," Rice told the Herald. "From an infrastructure standpoint, it's very exciting. The long-term vision is to also have spur paths that will connect to neighborhoods throughout the city."
Once the greenway is officially open, it will allow people "to see some parts of the city that are really beautiful that they might not know exist," Rice said.
He added that he is excited for people to get to experience those locations, including the Great Bog, a 700-acre conserved area in Portsmouth featuring trails through its woods, wetlands, fields and hills.
Eby pointed out the Borthwick Avenue multi-use path will connect "to the existing multi-use path along Eileen Dondero Foley Avenue, which will connect to the rail trail."
During the Rockingham Planning Commission meeting, he explained, "When all the projects are done by next fall, you'll have a complete multi-use path going along the rail trail, Eileen Dondero Foley Avenue, [and] Borthwick Avenue up to the bypass, where there's an existing crossing, and [a] multi-use path along Hodgdon Way."
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