Haverhill plans a paved trail along the Merrimack River connecting its Riverside Park with the new Groveland Community Trail and will also make path fixes at Winnekenni Park using a total of $556,000 from the state MassTrails Grant Program.
The Riverside Park funding includes $500,00 to build a 2,100-foot-long, 10-foot-wide paved trail along the Merrimack River behind River’s Edge Plaza. It will link to the Congressman William H. Bates Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Groveland Community Trail by creating a nature trail behind the plaza along the bend in the river.
“This is all part of our long-running commitment to improving all our parks, playgrounds and recreational areas, and making Haverhill a more walkable community,” Mayor James J. Fiorentini said in a Friday statement.
Under program guidelines, the city must come up with matches of $340,319 for Riverside and $18,240 for Winnekenni. Both amounts are said to be included in the recently passed city spending plan for the year that begins July 1.
The city recently obtained public easements for the redevelopment of the former Building 19 retail space that helped make the project possible. Officials said the trail helps address pedestrian safety issues in the area by linking Riverside Park with the Groveland Bridge. It also expands a pedestrian and bike network along both banks of the river from the Pfc. Ralph T. Basiliere Bridge at the entrance to downtown to the Bates Bridge.
The city also was awarded $56,000 to improve trails at Winnekenni Park that link that park to the Plug Pond recreational and swimming area. The project includes installing signs, fixing potholes and washouts in low lying areas, stabilizing the river bank and making other improvement along the trail.
The money comes from a $11.6 million announced this week by the Healey-Driscoll Administration through the MassTrails Grant Program to support 68 trail improvement projects across Massachusetts. The state funding seeks to “expand and connect the state’s network of off-road, shared-use pathways and trails for recreation, exercise, and environmentally friendly commuting,” according to a press release.
Fiorentini credited the city’s new grants manager Kerry Fitzgerald, a former Haverhill School Committee member, for her work obtaining the state money.