Lebanon aims to complete Air Line Trail

The town hopes to complete efforts to convert old railroad into a multipurpose trail by next year after receiving enough funding from the state.

Selectman, during their Oct. 6 meeting, approved accepting a roughly $132,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the Rails to Trails project.

The town also agreed to a 20 percent match for the grant, which will cost the town about $26,000.

The Rails to Trails project, overseen in town by the rails to trails committee, is an effort to convert the old Air Line Rail, an old express rail line from Boston to New York, into a multipurpose trail for hiking, biking, cross-country skiers and horseback riding.

The trail also runs through neighboring towns like Windham/Willimantic, Hebron, Columbia and Colchester, and connects to the East Coat Greenway, a nearly 3,000-mile system of trails from the Maine-Canadian border to Key West, Fla.

Rails to trails committee Chairman Donna Koening said the funding from the DEP should be enough to finish the seven-phase project, with most of the development, so far, south of Route 207.

The remaining phases of the trail are open to the public, but have not yet been fully developed to increase safety for users.

Koening said the money will allow the town to widen the trails base and level the ground, then cover the trail with stone dust.

“It’s been a long project and we’re really looking forward to (finishing it),” she said.

The DEP will handle the development of one portion of the trail due to the level of work, but Koening said the town will handle the work near the border with Willimantic.

“We can ride right over into Willimantic,” she said about the completion of the trail.

She also said the town hopes to begin work next spring, with a goal of finishing shortly thereafter.

“Basically, it’s not as extensive as the other areas we have done,” she said.
The remaining sections need drainage work and the committee wants to expand the base and ensure the surface is level.

But Koening did say some of the completed portions of the trail have been damaged by people using motorized vehicles like dirt bikes and ATVS, which are not allowed on the trail.

She said the vehicles “take a lot of years” off of the work done in the past.