Small But Crucial Section Of Rail Trail Between MA, RI On Track For 2024 Finish

BLACKSTONE, MA — A very short but crucial section of a central Massachusetts rail trail is on track to be completed in 2024, with construction well underway.

The $11.3 million project will extend a section of the Blackstone River Greenway over the Rhode Island border. From there it will link with another completed section of the trail in Rhode Island to Cold Spring Park in Woonsocket.

That short section is crucial because it will link two sections of the trail between the two states, giving walkers, joggers, bikers and anyone else from Massachusetts access to the longer 11-mile section between Woonsocket and Cumberland.

This week, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor nonprofit said construction crews are in the process of building granite walls along the new section, with the project still expected to be done by late autumn.

The 3.7-mile section of the greenway between Uxbridge and Blackstone is also part of the much longer Southern New England Trunkline Trail, which runs 22 miles from Franklin to Douglas (with a section broken by Route 146), where trail users can continue into Connecticut along the Air Line Trail. The Connecticut trail continues for almost 60 more miles to Portland, although it's in multiple separate sections.

The Blackstone River Greenway itself is part of a larger vision for a trail that runs from Worcester to Providence. There's a 2-1/2 mile section complete between McKeon Road in Worcester to Millbury. There's a significant gap between Uxbridge and Millbury,