Neponset River Bikepath: Cleanup Resumes!

As $850,000 was spent removing lead- and arsenic-contaminated soil from the right-of-way on which the Neponset Trail will run, two regions of deeper contamination were discovered which originally were thought to cost $350,000 to clean up. After some study, that figure was reduced to $250,000, but that was still more than the Metropolitan District Commission had available. After three months of scrounging by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, their parent agency, the MDC came up with the money needed to finish cleaning up hazardous waste under the trail, and that work will begin next week.

Redesign work will also begin soon, so that the ISTEA-funded part of this project can go out to bid by early summer. That would mean that paving should start in September and be completed "before winter sets in,", according to Catherine Garnett, MDC planner and manager of the Neponset Trail project.

-Doug Mink,
Neponset River Greenway Council
MassBike/Metro Boston