Upper Charles Trail
In 2012, the Town of Hopkinton established the
Upper
Charles Trail Committee (UCTC) and charged it with developing
Hopkinton's portion of the Upper Charles Trail, a proposed recreational path to link five
towns - Hopkinton, Milford, Holliston, Sherborn,
Ashland. Hopkinton's portion will connect to the sections in Milford
(completed) and Ashland (design underway).
The Committee released their proposed route for the Hopkinton
portion
of the trail in August 2021. The Trails Club had concerns about aspects
of the proposal and developed an
alternative proposal for a portion of the route. Links to the UCTC's
proposal and the Trails Club's suggested alternative are below:
We urge the public to remain involved in following this project and
providing feedback. The UCTC meets regularly - usually the 1st &
3rd Wednesday of each month. Visit the
Hopkinton town website
and
scroll down to the Events Calendar for meeting details. Click the
"more details" link for the remote link and agenda (may not be
available until close to the meeting date). HCAM streams the UCTC meetings on their channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 30) and on
YouTube, and
recordings of the meetings are also available through HCAM.
The Hopkinton Independent usually provides summaries of the meetings as well.
An important note...
The Trails Club fully supports the development of Hopkinton’s
portion of the Upper Charles Trail. On its own it will be a wonderful
addition to the Town’s trail network, and if/when the entire five
town trail is completed, it will be an amazing recreational resource.
We recognize that the Upper Charles Trail Committee (UCTC) has a very
difficult task identifying a route in Hopkinton, and we applaud them
for their efforts to date. While the Trails Club has raised some
concerns with portions and aspects of the current proposal from the
UCTC, our intent is to assist, not oppose the Committee. We have a
wealth of experience within the Club with trails, as users and
developers, and we have used that knowledge to develop detailed
alternatives to address our concerns. We look forward to continuing to
help create the best possible trail for our community.
News & Updates:
12 March 2024:
The Selectboard voted unanimously to reinstate the Upper
Charles Trail Committee (again) and charged it with creating a new
committee charge (again). No time frame was specified for either
objective.
23 December 2023:
The Upper Charles Trail Committee has not met since being reinstated.
2 August 2023:
The Select Board voted unanimously to reinstate the Upper
Charles Trail Committee and keep it separate from the Trail
Coordination and Management Committee, but with both committees
modifying their structures and charges.
Hopkinton Independent article
HopNews article
10 July 2023:
The results from the Select Board's survey have been published,
and the Board will be holding a joint meeting with the TCMC and the
UCTC on July 11 to review the results and discuss the next steps.
29 May 2023:
Both citizen petitions passed at Town Meeting. The Select Board
discussed the votes at their next meeting, but did not take any action
at that time. The UCTC then met and re-elected their leadership team.
Subsequently, the Select Board voted to suspend the UCTC's activities
until at least July 11.
The Select Board also formed a subcommittee to develop a survey to gather input on the UCTC's future.
19 February 2023:
Two citizen petitions have been submitted for Town Meeting articles.
One would prohibit spending any public funds for Section 7 (along
Hayden Rowe St.). The other calls for the Upper Charles Trail Committee
to be disbanded, and reformed as a subcommittee under the Trails
Coordination & Management Committee (which would be renamed the
Trails Committee). If approved by the Town Council, the community will
have an opportunity to vote on the proposals at Town Meeting (May 1-3).
In other news, the committee charged with replacing the Elmwood School has recommended a new school be built on
the town property adjacent to the Marathon School.
The UCTC's current route goes through that property. The School
Committee had declined to support that route because of the possibility
the property might be selected for a new school.
18 November 2022:
Though no updates have been posted for quite a while, work on
this project has continued. The UCTC is continuing to pursue funding
and designs for Segment 6, around Marathon School, while also working
on Segment 1 (Hopkinton State Park to East Main Street). A survey of
Hayden Rowe Street confirmed that the proposed route down that road
would be problematic. Subcommittees have been looking at various
aspects of the trail, including the proposed western alternative route.
The committee has said they were working on improving information
sharing, but the most recent updates on their pages on the Town's
website are from March. There have been no public meetings since the
April 13 workshop.
HCAM continues to broadcast (and record) the UCTC
meetings, and
The Independent publishes summaries of those meetings.
13 April 2022:
The Upper Charles Trail Committee has voted to drop their request at Town Meeting for funding of segments 5 & 6.
Read the details in The Hopkinton Independent's article.
27 March 2022:
eHop has published parts 2 & 3 of their series of articles about the Upper Charles Trail project
25 March 2022:
The Upper Charles Trail Committee (UCTC) will be conducting a workshop on April 13 at 5PM at the Hopkinton Senior Center.
The goal of the workshop is to provide residents an opportunity to view
and provide feedback on the proposed trail alignments evaluated by or
presented to the UCTC to date. The workshop will be hosted by town
staff, and individual stations will be set up for residents to ask
questions of Town staff and shared-use path design professionals.
Members of the Upper Charles Trail Committee will also be in
attendance. A Google Meeting Room will also be provided for those
residents who may not be able to attend in person. A host will be
provided by the town to answer any questions in the remote meeting
room. The link will be posted on the web meeting calendar, which can be
found on the town's website homepage.
18 March 2022:
The UCTC has established a project page to share information
with the community. They've also published an FAQ document (#1, with
more to come). Presumably the FAQ document will be linked to the project page at some point.
2 March 2022:
UCTC meeting
27 February 2022:
eHop article (part 1) providing a history and overview of the project
16 February 2022:
UCTC meeting. The proposed route might require a realignment of Hayden Rowe Street?
19 January 2022:
The UCTC invited the Trails Club to attend their meeting
and discuss the alternative western route. This
meeting was broadcast on HCAM-TV.
A
recording of the meeting can be viewed on HCAM's YouTube channel.
No public comments were allowed during the meeting, but the Committee
Chair encouraged the public to
send emails
with their input.
Presentation materials are below:
