Schell Memorial Bridge

In the southwest corner of New Hampshire, the southeast corner of Vermont and across the northern tier of Massachusetts below those states, lies over 200 miles of interconnected unused former railroad corridors and low-volume country roads.

A network of trails  would stretch from Londonderry Vermont to Brattleboro, across the CT River to Keene, NH, over to Peterborough, down to the Winchendon/Gardner area of Massachusetts and west to the Greenfield/Montague area including Northfield.  In a ten-mile stretch of the Connecticut River there will be four, former highway and rail bridges across the river that will be upgraded to be used purely by bicyclists, pedestrians, fishermen, bird-watchers and other passive recreationalists.

This represents a golden opportunity to create an off-road and low-volume road network that would be a resource for all the residents of the region. The effort to create this network is called the Tri-State Trail Initiative.

TRI-STATE TRAIL INITIATIVE is a cooperative and voluntary effort which envisions a system of on/off road multi-use trails which benefits the region and the region’s communities by enhancing:

•          Linkages across state lines.

•       Transportation and Recreational Opportunities.

•          Tourism Opportunities.

•          Economic and Community Vitality.

•          Access to Natural Areas.

•          Public/Private Involvement.

•          Reuse of under-utilized resources.

In the spring of 2001, this idea of a Tri-State Trail network was first broached by Craig Della Penna--then of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy--before a group of regional planners and recreational and transportation officials from the tri-state area.

There was enough interest in the idea to layout the before mentioned set of prinicipals and to cast out the idea at the New Hamphire DOT's annual bicycle-pedestrian conference that year. A good and favorable response to the idea was gathered at the conference.

In the past three years, the regional idea has been percolating, but now with the near completion of New Hampshire's State Trail Plan and the recent move to construct the begining stages of the Franklin County Bikeway and more miles of completed trail in Vermont, it seemed to be a good time for an update as to where all the various projects stand--and where all the challenges lie.

On March 19, 2005, the Friends of Schell Bridge invited speakers from around the region to give an update as what was happening on their section of the Tri-state trail. Over 50 interested parties came to network, to learn and to hear key note speaker, Congressman John Olver. Later there was a tour of the Schell Bridge's approaches.