BERLIN – A state grant is expected to allow Berlin to explore the possibility of a bike trail along the railroad tracks through town.
The Maryland Department of Transportation has awarded the town a $30,000 Bikeways Program grant. According to Dave Engelhart, the town’s planning director, the grant will allow the town to study the feasibility of a bike trail along the railroad tracks and come up with a design for it. He says everyone he’s talked to is excited about the project’s potential.
“A lot of places you have them in old rail beds that aren’t being used anymore,” Engelhart said. “Rails to trails they call it. This would be rails and trails.”
The town applied for the Bikeways grant this spring. Officials said they were interested in creating a bike trail within the railroad easement. The easement, Engelhart explained, extends 33 feet from the center of the track to each side. The potential bike trail would be about 10 feet wide and would need roughly two feet of clearance on each side. Ideally it would run along the east side of the railroad tracks from Route 50 to the opposite end of the town’s limits near Worcester Preparatory School.
Now that the grant has been received, Engelhart is in the process of getting the approval of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company. Though the company has expressed interest in the initiative, the town is expected to have to pay a licensing fee to use the easement. Engelhart said he expected to hear from railroad officials after the company’s quarterly meeting.
“We’ll meet with them and start a negotiation for an access agreement,” he said.
In the meantime, he’s working on finding a company to handle the feasibility and design of the trail. That will involve exploring potential lighting needs, necessary earth work and options for surfacing, Engelhart said. While the town has two years to spend the grant money, Engelhart does not expect the process to take that long.
He says once this phase is done, the town will be able to apply for another Bikeways grant to help fund construction of the trail. State officials, he said, have expressed interest in the project and he’s optimistic about the town’s chances on getting another grant.
“Everybody likes the concept,” he said.
Mayor Gee Williams praised Engelhart for working to get the grant application in at the last minute this spring. He said the funding made the effort worthwhile.
“It’s going to make a huge difference,” he said.
