Do you exercise, walk with friends or ride your bicycle during the winter? Would you use the rail trail if it was plowed and maintained regularly after winter storms? In Northampton the majority of the trail network is maintained during the winter by the city's DPW. As a result, it allows walkers, bikers, strollers, and other trail users to take advantage of the trail immediately after a storm. That's not the situation for the stretch of the Norwottuck trail maintained by the Mass. Division of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) from the railroad tunnel on King St, across the Connecticut River and through Hadley and Amherst which is left unplowed all year long.
If you feel that this section of the trail should be maintained in the winter please sign our petition. We need to let our legislators, Mass DOT, Mass DCR and the towns of Hadley and Amherst know that an accessible, safe rail trail is critical to our communities ... maintained 12 months of the year .. and not by volunteers as pictured here.
