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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor CHICOPEE Rail trail and green way advocate Craig Della Penna told about 100 people gathered at Chicopee Comprehensive High School last week that the three projects currently proposed in Chicopee would provide economic development for the city, if they are completed. Della Penna, who is a nationally known advocate and developer of rail trails, was invited to speak by the city's advisory group for rail trails. Della Penna said that within a 100-mile radius of Chicopee there are about 200 projects that are converting former railroad lines into walkways. Della Penna is a former railroad executive who worked for over 20 years in that field before leaving it in 1999. He has written about the projects, as well as helped develop a number of them in the Northeast. Locally, there are rail trail projects in varying states of completion in Southwick and Westfield, Della Penna said. A rail trail in the Hill-McKnight neighborhood in Springfield is in the planning stage as well. Using a slideshow, he illustrated how abandoned railroad lines throughout New England have been converted into walkways and how these walkways have spurred economic development. The Norwottuck Trail running from Northampton through Hadley and on to Amherst has over 300,000 visitors a year. He also recounted how many communities have initially opposed rail trails because of an impression they would bring additional crime into a town or city. Della Penna lives next to a rail trail in the Florence section of Northampton, where he and his wife operate a bed and breakfast. He said there is no crime along that corridor and added he gives a free weekend accommodation to opponents of rail trails to show them what living next to one is like. He said Easthampton police officials have noted the Manhan rail trail has not contributed to any growth in crime in that community. Sometimes a rail trail takes years to develop either due to lack of funds or opposition and Della Penna noted that one project in Belchertown had been defeated a decade ago. Now, however, because a private non-profit group bought seven of nine miles of rail line, that rail trail will become a reality. He said the rail trails are more than "cute paths," but instead provide another way for people to move around a community. Chicopee has three projects pending two of which would continue a pathway along the Connecticut River from Springfield, while another would be a trail along the Chicopee River starting near City Hall and running to the Uniroyal/Facemate properties. Victor Morando, the co-chair of the advisory committee, said the Chicopee River project is the one most likely to move forward first. Morando said it is possible the city might send out a request for bids this year with a possible groundbreaking for the first part of the projects from the historic sycamore trees in downtown to Grape Street sometime this summer. |