Norwottuck South Narrative
Narrative
This section of the Norwottuck Rail Trail will extend from the existing bicycle trail at Bridge Street in Northampton approximately 2,150 meters to the Florence Street crossing. Initially
the proposed rail trail is within Look Memorial Park then runs along a former railroad corridor heading northward to Florence Street. The right-of-way is under the control of the City
of Northampton.
MassHighway is proposing to construct this project (MHD file #602885). This project involves a section of the bike path extension along an existing abandoned railroad bed (formerly
Mass Electric Right-of-Way) starting from its link with Look Park (Sta. 8+00), and ending north of Florence Street (Station 22+00) in Northampton, MA. This section of bike trail includes
one (1) new bicycle/pedestrian bridge superstructure (#N-19-073) at an entranceway to Look Memorial Park and minor maintenance of existing masonry arch bridges at Arch Street.
The bike path will be 3.0 meters wide with 0.6 meter graded grass shoulders on each side with 0.3 meter to 0.6 meter offsets to bike rails at select locations where slopes warrant the
bicycle railing for safety purposes. In other select areas the graded shoulder is eliminated on one side at a time to reduce impacts on adjacent wetlands.
The trail will cross at-grade at Florence Street as well as within Look Memorial Park in Northampton.
The project includes the rehabilitation/reconstruction of one existing railroad bridge superstructure (#N-19-073) and repointing of the stone masonry substructures.
The existing railroad bridge is a single span bridge with masonry abutments that will be repointed and the superstructure will be constructed using a timber deck and timber pedestrian
safety rails.
The existing stone arch bridge will be reused as bicycle/pedestrian bridges to cross Arch Street. The rehabilitation of this bridge is limited to repointing (repairing the joints) of
the existing masonry of the parapet walls, abutments and wing walls, installing timber bicycle railing.
The project will include excavation, trail construction and paving with hot mix asphalt, bridge work, installation of safety railings, traffic signs and markings, installation of steel
bollards, seeding unpaved graded areas, installation of erosion controls, and other appurtenances and incidental items as set forth in the proposal and required to complete the work.
The project involves work within the 100’ Wetland Buffer Zone, which will consist of approximately 51,050 square feet of work.
The work in the 100’ Buffer Zone includes the construction of the 3.0 Meter wide paved bicycle trail and the associated clearing and grubbing, site grading, paving and loam and seeding.
In order to mitigate any silt and erosion, hay bales and silt fence are being placed along the down slope side of the fill slopes. Additionally, calcium chloride and water will be
applied as necessary to the exposed surfaces during the grading operations (prior to paving) to reduce the effects of wind erosion. The detail for the construction of the hay bales
and silt fence erosion protection is shown on the plan. All disturbed areas adjacent to the paved trail will receive a 100mm layer of loam and be seeded.