Bedford Minuteman
Wednesday, September 29, 2004

New road to open up complete Battle Road Trail

By Brian Kelly/ Staff Writer

If further delays can be avoided, visitors to Minute Man National
Historical Park will soon be able to safely complete the Battle Road Trail
thanks to a 148-foot tunnel that will link the east and west ends of the
pathway.

For years, the thought of jaunting across Route 2A near Hanscom Drive
has been a frightening one for pedestrians, and park officials have
discouraged visitors from doing so. However, many have risked crossing the
well-traveled road because it was the only way to see the entire Battle Road
Trail, which starts at Meriam's Corner in Concord and ends near the park's
visitor center in Lexington.

In an effort to accommodate the wants of visitors while at the same
time ensuring their safety, the park proposed the construction of a
pedestrian underpass at the intersection, and funding for the $600,000
project was approved by the state early last year. Work began in July 2003
and was expected to be completed this past spring, but problems - mostly
with the moving of utility lines - pushed the completion date back.

Bill Murphy, a resident engineer with MassHighway, said most of the
issues have been solved at this point, and his expectation is that the
underpass will be finished this November.

"Sometime in November the tunnel should be fully activated," Murphy
said of the 148-foot underpass that will be 11-feet-wide and 10-feet-high.
"Right now we're finishing up the construction. We're installing curbing,
doing roadway paving and striping, finishing the headwalls and doing some
landscaping. The job is nearly complete."

According to Murphy, the delays were caused because wiring for
utilities to Hanscom Air Force Base needed to be moved from below ground to
above ground. In June, two utility poles were installed and that work was
completed.

"We had a water line delay and we had conduit problems, but the major
brunt of it was utility delays," explained Murphy. "NStar and Verizon had to
relocate major fiber optics that lead to the air force base, and that work
all had to be done at night. That was finished in June and now we're working
on completing the project."

Melissa Saalfield, the public affairs officer at Minute Man National
Historical Park said park officials have been "very frustrated" that it's
taken so long to get the tunnel built, but when the underpass is finished,
it will be "a real plus" for visitors.

"We never wanted people to cross that busy intersection and we didn't
encourage anyone to do so," stated Saalfield, adding that many people did
anyway. "[The underpass] will really benefit those who use the trail because
it's been a big safety issue."

Saalfield said to her knowledge, there are no current plans to name the
tunnel, but it's something that has been discussed among park officials and
could be taken up again as the work on the underpass comes closer to
completion.

"This is really the final piece to the trail," Saalfield said of the
tunnel. The park's public affairs officer added she was pleased the
underpass will be spacious enough to allow access for emergency vehicles in
addition to pedestrians. "We won't be worried like we are now about walkers
and bicyclists trying to get across, and the tunnel will be wide enough and
high enough so that emergency vehicles can get in and out if they are
needed."

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