Engelgrafik t1_jbc5vqy wrote
Wow, I had no idea they'd already paved a ton of that abandoned rail between Wayland and Waltham. I used to ride my bike out there all the time and loved the terrain. Kinda sad... but at the same time nice that one will be able to ride down to Waltham, catch a bite and a brew, and ride back. So cool. Only thing is crossing that bridge (unless it's paved yet) is a hazard. I would always have to cross the live tracks. And those are some series tracks with difficult rocks to traverse. The trains come through fast there.
PS: I just remembered that I used to help out clearing the rail intown in Waltham. I think it was through some trust. Lots of students and professors were involved. It was fun and actually quicker work than I thought it would be. I suppose that stuff will link up at some point.
rocketwidget t1_jbcivn4 wrote
I'd love to see old photos or whatever of that!
The plan is to fix up the Waltham bridge (and the Weston rail bridge), unfortunately no funding has been identified yet. There's more details here: https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/09/19/planning-underway-for-mass-central-rail-trail-link-over-i-95-in-waltham-weston/
No risk of trains anymore, but crossing the bridges is still technically not allowed until the new trail is built.
ratbas t1_jbe60y9 wrote
Here's video from last year starting near the Market Basket in Waltham.
Engelgrafik t1_jbeb9rg wrote
Oh cool, so you can walk / ride across that bridge now. NICE!
Also, that first area in the video... I think that's the area I helped clear many years ago. :)
ratbas t1_jben5vv wrote
The bridge over 128? Yup.
The bridge over the tracks? More often than not, but every now and then somebody fixes the fence.
Engelgrafik t1_jbfblfz wrote
Tracks. I didn't even know you could cross 128 there. Was that recently opened? I mean, that's the trail we were clearing but I don't recall the bridge was crossable. I used to always park my car at that big office complex and then walk my bridge across the train tracks. I tried walking the RR bridge once but it was way too scary.
From your video it looks like it still ends in Wayland. I would try continuing through the overgrown upraised RR but I would get a thorn in my tire every single time, no joke. I gave up after the 3rd time.
If you can stand riding on 20, you'll eventually hit more bike able areas... a little on the left and then a lot on the right which go north through Great Meadows areas.
I used to bike a lot of this all the way up to Billerica where I worked.
ratbas t1_jbh5irx wrote
The 128 part is accessible and shows no signs of ever being blocked off, but at the same time it still looks and feels very much like just an old rail bridge.
I haven't been out there since last spring when this was recorded. Once it warms up I'll head out again and shoot the update.
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