Westborough ups the effort to reduce auto traffic
Westborough town officials took aggressive action to reduce the number of cars on the road during peak commuting hours when it launched shuttle service between the MBTA commuter rail station and major office parks on Route 9 last fall.
Town Planner Jim Robbins said ridership has steadily increased each month, and there’s a healthy appetite for commuting by train rather than automobile. But the Planning Department and Economic Development Committee aren’t stopping there.
Planner says tech industry a primary driver
There’s a new effort underway to repurpose sections of the defunct Boston & Worcester Trolley Line as a bike and pedestrian trail. Situated parallel to Route 9, the line closed in 1931 when the Boston & Worcester Turnpike was completed. Robbins said this will give employees in Westborough, and surrounding towns joining the effort, a viable third commuting option: biking.
“We have a lot of people in the tech industry that really see the benefits because they’re really interested in the green lifestyle,” Robbins said.
Robbins said there’s a real economic benefit to the town, too. In addition to becoming greener, Westborough stands to boost real estate values by creating a substantial biking and walking trail network, according to Robbins, because properties that abut such trails are worth more, on average.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati published data in 2011 that backed up Robbins’ assertion. They found that property values in one Ohio neighborhood increased $9 for every foot closer a home was to the entrance of a multi-purpose trail network, and for the average home, buyers were willing to pay a $9,000 premium to be located 1,000 feet closer to the trail network.
“I think it’s the wave of the future,” Robbins said. “A lot of communities, particularly the urban areas, are really jumping on non-traditional methods for commuting to work,” Robbins said.
Towns join forces
Westborough has drafted a master plan that maps out its portion of the bike and pedestrian trail network, but it doesn’t end at the borders. Robbins explained that the town is working with Southborough, Northborough, Shrewsbury and Natick to connect the roughly 20-mile network. Officials hope that, in five years, the trail will reach Lake Quinsigamond at the Shrewsbury-Worcester border.
“You could ride your bike in five years, we’re hoping, to UMass Memorial (Medical Center).
For now, the town is going through the process of obtaining easements from owners of properties that the network would pass through, which would allow bikers to ride through their properties while holding the town harmless.
Robbins said most are amenable to the idea, but if not all owners grant easements, the route will be amended slightly. A grassroots effort to clear the trails, which will be unpaved and appropriate for mountain bikes, will begin this summer.
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
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