NEXT STEPS AND FUTURE CONNECTIONS

Next Steps to Ensure the Success of the SharedUse Nature Path

This report represents a beginning for a path that will provide residents of Easthampton many benefits. A few topics remain to be considered in more depth to ensure that the proposed path fully meets the needs of its future users. In particular, questions of safety and future management have not yet been addressed in this report.

A well-used shared-use path with multiple connections to residential neighborhoods and a popular city park may not present major safety concerns. However, given that children would be one of the primary users of the path, safety is an important consideration. A well used path is generally a safer one, so the design should encourage regular use by making it easy to use, comfortable, convenient, and accessible for a range of users. One suggestion made by survey respondents is to implement a program where adults on bikes help guide children back and forth on the path in the morning and afternoon, similar to how crossing guards currently help children safely cross roads during busy commute times. Other safety measures, such as lighting, could also be considered, after a thorough discussion of the impact such measures may have on abutters and wildlife.

Ongoing Management

Management of paths can be a challenge for any municipality, especially paths that are designed to be used year-round. If porous asphalt is used in the construction of the proposed shared-use path, the faster ice and snow melting times and reduced need for clearing and salting should minimize winter management needs. Some grants can be used to help fund ongoing management. In addition, engaging community or youth volunteer groups to help with maintenance could foster a sense of stewardship of the path as well as provide education about invasive species and management of sensitive ecosystems.

About the Barnes Aquifer. Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee. bapac. pvpc.org/index.html

B

A C

D

City of Easthampton Master Plan: A Reflection of the Past, A Vision for the Future. 2008. City of Easthampton. easthamptonma.gov/government/forms-documents/ planning/plans-and-documents/605-easthampton-master-plan-final-for-web/file. html

Complete Streets Prioritization Plan. 2017. Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. easthamptonma.gov/government/forms-documents/planning/plans-anddocuments/1377-complete-streets-prioritization-plan-narrative/file.html

Fort River Trail at the Conte Refuge. Kestrel Land Trust. www.kestreltrust.org/ places/fort-river-trail

FrogWatch USA. 2020. frogwatch.fieldscope.org/v3

Fryer, Janet L. Celastrus orbiculatus. In: Fire Effects Information System, 2011. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.fed.us / database/feis/plants/vine/celorb/all.html

Gessinger, Kristen, Mary Sage Napolitan, and Mallory Rasky. Emerging Pathways: A Conceptual Multi-Use Trail Network. 2019. The Conway School.

Kruska, Nate. Wetland Boardwalk Construction: Solutions for a Fragile Ecosystem. 2017. Conte Company. www.contecompany.com/wetland-boardwalkconstruction-in-a-fragile-eco-system.

MacDonald, Stuart. Porous Asphalt Shows Advantages for Trail Surfacing. 2011. American Trails. www.americantrails.org/resources/porous-asphalt-showsadvantages-for-trail-surfacing

Massachusetts Safe Routes to School: Infrastructure Application Guidance Document. 2018. Massachusetts Department of Transportation. www.mass.gov/ doc/infrastructure-application-guidance-document/download

Future Connections

MassTrail Grants Program: Grant Guidelines and Application Information. 2020. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. www.mass.gov/doc/masstrails-grantguidelines-and-application-information/download

The path route proposed in this report could lead to future additional Open Space and Recreation Plan. 2013. City of Easthampton. easthamptonma. gov/government/forms-documents/planning/plans-and-documents/613-openpaths that would provide connections to other parts of the city. space-and-recreation-plan-2013-final/file.html Three potential connections are shown in yellow above, offering connections to the Manhan Rail Trail, downtown Easthampton, and the Native Americans before 1675. Historic Easthampton. www.historiceasthampton. neighborhoods on the east side of Nashawannuck Pond and Broad com/NativeAmericans.html Brook. These potential connections are also discussed in the winter Planning Trails with Wildlife in Mind. 1998. Trails and Wildlife Task Force, 2019 Conway report, Emerging Pathways. Colorado State Parks, and Hellmund Associates. www.americantrails.org/files/pdf/ Trails-for-Wildlife-Handbk.pdf.

A: Side paths along Plain Street and Strong Street.

B: Easthampton High School and Manhan Rail Trail.

Selbig, W.R., and Buer, Nicolas. Hydraulic, water-quality, and temperature performance of three types of permeable pavement under high sediment loading conditions. 2018. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018–5037, 44 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185037`

C: Pedestrian Bridge across Nashawannuck Pond at Boat Ramp.

D: Wetland Boardwalk across Broad Brook at Town Agricultural Land.

Spear, Tom E. A Tale of a Trail: Boardwalks for Woodinville. 2007. American Trails. www.americantrails.org/resources/a-tale-of-a-trail-boardwalks-forwoodinville

Wulkan, Hannah. MAP Multi-year Volunteer Project to Make Mud Pond Trail, off Moody Bridge Road in Hadley, Accessible to All, Nears Completion, Opening Set for October. 2014. Hampshire Gazette. www.gazettenet.com/Archives/2014/07/ trailswork-hg-073014