Neponset River Bikepath: Bad News and Good News

Environmental testing of the rail right-of-way has turned up hazardous amounts of arsenic, lead, and PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the top 6 inches of the soil under the ballast. This seemingling bad news, which led the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to suggest fencing off the entire trail, has turned into good news with the proposal that the contaminated soil be removed and buried in the cap at the site of the former Hallet Street Landfill which is becoming Pope John Paul II park on the estuary of the Neponset, conveniently adjacent to the trail.

The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which is building both the park and the trail, has "Clean State" money which is for just such a cleanup, and the removal of the soil is proceeding on a fast track. The DEP has approved the plan, but the Boston and Milton Conservation Commissions must concur before removal can begin. The plan will be presented for approval at their mid-September meetings.

The silver lining is that money spent on the cleanup can count as the state match for the federal ISTEA money allocated to construction of this trail, at least if the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) approves the MDC as project manager for the project before the cleanup money is spent. Thus NO state Transportation Bond money needs to be spent on this project, and the Neponset Trail should be immune to the Big Dig's effect on the availability of state bond money for bicycle projects.

The best news is that the cleanup process, which will leave a crushed stone surface on the trail from Central Ave. in Milton to Port Norfolk in Dorchester, should be complete by December 1. The paving of the trail, funded *entirely* by federal money filtered through the MHD, should then occur in the spring of 2000.

-Doug Mink, dmink@massbike.org
Neponset River Greenway Council
MassBike/Metro Boston