The Town of Lynnfield is very grateful to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the additional $100,000 MassTrails grant awarded on Oct. 7 for Phase 1 of the Lynnfield Rail Trail. This grant will fund engineering services through the construction period and will enable the Town to consider additional privacy screening that has been requested by some abutters.
“This is the third significant grant contribution by Mass Trail towards the Lynnfield Rail Trail,” Town Administrator Rob Dolan said. “The continuity of these awards clearly signifies the technical strength, value, and benefit this project will provide to out community. It is another example of local and state agencies working together to benefit residents in Lynnfield. We can now consider allocating these existing construction service funds towards abutter screening needs.”
The Town and its consultants are finalizing the design and permitting details to address MassDOT’s comments on the construction plans, specifications, and estimates. The Town is also finalizing the confirmation of right-of-way access in Peabody and the terms of the MBTA lease for Phase 1. The Rail Trail has been designed to avoid physical impacts to existing abutter encroachments on the MBTA property, and the Town anticipates that the existing encroachments will be allowed to remain in-place by the MBTA.
The project schedule currently anticipates a construction bid date of July 2026 with a construction Notice to Proceed in November 2026. Construction of Phase 1 is estimated to be completed in July 2028.
The Phase 1 construction start date has been delayed by approximately one year from the estimate that was publicized in December 2024. This delay is mainly due to the multiple Conservation Commission hearings that were necessary to address public comments, resolution of the Nichols Lane (Peabody) access, and sequencing the project into the MassDOT bidding and construction schedule.
“The additional time spent during the conservation hearings was important to address abutter concerns and other questions the meetings brought forward,” Director of Public Works John Scenna said. “I feel confident that we can recover these delays in upcoming phases of pre-bid activities.”
Scenna went on to say, “Our project team is truly invested in delivering on this schedule over the upcoming months. The team of engineers, lawyers, and volunteers working on this project daily are focused and applying all possible resources needed to get us to the bidding phase and then construction later in 2026.”
For detailed information visit the Town’s rail trail website: lynnfieldma.gov/173/Rail-Trail.
