Newton's Historic Pony Truss Trail Reopens With Ribbon Cutting

NEWTON, MA — The Pony Truss Trail, an historic trail along the Riverside Greenway and the Charles River, is now open after a years-long restoration effort.

Work was finished in September last year, but because of the pandemic the ribbon cutting was only held recently.

"So many people and organizations partnered with the City and the State Department of Conservation and Recreation to help restore the historic trails," said Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in a statement following the ribbon cutting event earlier this month.

The Pony-Truss trail, named after the key trail landmark the Pony Truss Bridge, is identifiable on maps dating back to 1875, according to a coalition of trail advocates. Canoeists traveling from Boston on the trolley to Riverside Depot used to walk to boathouses at Riverside Park across the Pony-truss bridge.

The trail is almost entirely on land owned and managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The trail segment from Riverside Station and the Two Bridges Trail where box stairs were built is owned by the Mass DOT. The entire trail is under the purview of the Newton Conservation Commission.

Before restoration, the trail had gotten light use by local residents for walking, running, and off-road biking for recreation, access to parkland, and as transportation between Auburndale, Lower Falls and Riverside MBTA station. But now that it's been restored, and with the residential and commercial development set to come to the Riverside MBTA station, traffic on the trail is expected to pick up.

Between the effects of normal pedestrian wear and tear, decay of previous trail infrastructure, and the gradual downhill migration of the fill installed to create the rail line above the trail, the steep bank above the trail eroded, placing segments of the trail just upstream from the Pony-truss bridge in danger of collapsing into the river.

When Riverside MBTA station and the adjacent Riverside Center Office Park were created, large impermeable surfaces came with them and buried Runaway Brook.

The obstruction created by the concrete spillway for the Runaway Brook forced walkers to divert the path uphill.

The restoration project rerouted the path over a new footbridge that takes walkers over the spillway and also creates an outlook for hikers to watch the water from the brook cascading into the Charles.

On the Newton side of the Pony Truss Bridge, there's a second accessible sitting area with views of the river and the arched bridge that carries the commuter rail line.

To access the trail, park in the lot on Recreation Road off of 128 just after the Grove Street exit going northbound and walk over the recently restored Pony Truss Bridge.