ATHOL – Representatives of Howard Stein Hudson Engineering met with Athol’s Open Space and Recreation Commission last week to go over what will be in the designs of the Rabbit Run Rail Trail’s first phase.

This phase calls for about a mile of trail development between the Bidwell Farm and Route 2. Once all four phases of the trail are completed, it will run for 6.2 miles from the New Salem town line to downtown Athol.

Most of the trail will run along the abandoned rail bed that once made up the northern end of the Athol-Enfield Railroad Company. The railroad, which ran from Springfield to Athol, was discontinued in 1935 to make way for construction of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Sarah Heneghan of Howard Stein Hudson told the commission at its Sept. 24 meeting, “The town went for grant funding through MassTrails to fund a study of what it would take to make this an accessible trail. We looked at 6.2 miles of the abandoned rail bed. We drafted up some conceptual alternatives. We looked at constructability and segmentation of the trail. And we also looked at property and environmental impacts.”

Once the initial study was completed, said Heneghan, the town applied for another MassTrails grant to fund the design of phase one. In June of this year, the state announced that Athol would receive $275,000 to help pay for the design work, with another $69,000 provided by the town.

The first phase will run south from the Bidwell Farm and then cross South Athol Road, Heneghan said, “then follow the road and continue to about Thrower Road.”

Plans call for about 20 parking spaces to be available on the Bidwell property. Heneghan said there will also be parking available in the Thrower Road area “so that there can be parking at both ends” of phase one. She added that efforts will be made to increase visibility of the parking area near Bidwell in order to improve traffic safety. Flashing crosswalk signs may also be added to improve pedestrian safety.

“We’re looking to do a 10-foot-wide trails,” Heneghan continued, “and the clear area of the rail bed today already accommodates that width.”

Much of the rail bed in phase one has already been improved to some degree, so all that is needed is minor grading and clearing, according to Heneghan. The trail will consist of a stabilized aggregate surface and will not be paved.

“As we move ahead on the design we’ll start looking at environmental impacts more closely,” she said. “Our design will minimize impact to the environment in accordance with the Wetland Protection Act, the Clean Water Act and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.”

Preliminary designs will begin in October. Once that is done, a finalized set of plans for a preliminary design should be ready by the end of the year. When the design is done, Heneghan said they will move on to permitting at the beginning of the new year. Final designs should be done by summer 2025.

While the design work for phase one is now underway, outreach continues to property owners and abutters who may be impacted during this phase of the trail’s development. That includes securing rights of way that may be necessary for the project to move forward.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.