{"id":67,"date":"2007-03-29T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-29T17:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/blog\/faq\/19-with-the-backlog-of-needed-road-and-bridge-repairs-how-can-the-state-consider-spending-state-and-federal-funds-on-a-rail-trail\/"},"modified":"2014-09-12T15:31:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T19:31:28","slug":"19-with-the-backlog-of-needed-road-and-bridge-repairs-how-can-the-state-consider-spending-state-and-federal-funds-on-a-rail-trail","status":"publish","type":"faq","link":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/faq\/19-with-the-backlog-of-needed-road-and-bridge-repairs-how-can-the-state-consider-spending-state-and-federal-funds-on-a-rail-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"19 &#8211; With the backlog of needed road and bridge repairs, how can the state consider spending state and federal funds on a rail trail?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The federal transportation act sets aside a certain fraction of the total transportation funds to be used only for transportation improvements that do not involve motorized transportation. A large fraction of the construction costs for rail trails has been federally funded. The Federal funding is specifically designed to encourage alternate transportation&#8211;that is, the reduction of automobile traffic.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Massachusetts has recently completed the 2007 State Bicycle Transportation Plan ( see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.massbikeplan.org\/\">http:\/\/www.massbikeplan.org\/<\/a>) describing the state&#8217;s commitment to bicycle infrastructure. As Secretary Cohen states:<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[The Plan] represents the most complete inventory ever compiled of existing on-road and off-road facilities and projects in the pipeline. Second, it develops a prioritized plan of on- and off-road bicycling improvements in order to implement a statewide bicycling network bound by a single identity. The network will serve to improve multi-modal transportation generally and bicycle transportation specifically.&#8221;<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This plan specifically identifies the east-west corridor in Sudbury (the Wayside Rail Trail) as a high priority corridor. It identifies the north-south line (the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail) south of Chelmsford as a secondary right of way. It should be noted, however, that this is only a plan. There is considerable pressure from towns along the BFRT to proceed with its development. At this time (September, 2008) Acton, Westford, Carlisle and Concord have all submitted to MassHighway 25% designs for their sections of the trail. All of these designs were begun before the 2007 Mass Bike Plan was made public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The federal transportation act sets aside a certain fraction of the total transportation funds to be used only for transportation improvements that do not involve motorized transportation. A large fraction of the construction costs for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/faq\/19-with-the-backlog-of-needed-road-and-bridge-repairs-how-can-the-state-consider-spending-state-and-federal-funds-on-a-rail-trail\/\" aria-label=\"Read full article about 19 &#8211; With the backlog of needed road and bridge repairs, how can the state consider spending state and federal funds on a rail trail?\">Read full article<span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faqs\/67"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faqs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/faq"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudbury.ma.us\/railtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}