PEABODY — The Department of Transportation is set to host a hearing Wednesday night to present plans for the proposed extension of the Independence Greenway, which would extend the existing greenway eastward beginning at the North Shore Mall and running to the Warren Street Extension/Endicott Street intersection in central Peabody.
The hearing will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and aims to “provide the public with the opportunity to become fully acquainted with the proposed Independence Greenway Extension project,” the department said in a statement.
The proposal would extend the existing 5.3-mile Greenway by 1.3-miles, or 7,000 feet, and will provide a “dedicated and protected 10-foot-wide two-way multi-use path for the full extension,” complete with a “2-foot-wide crushed stone shoulder” on either side of the new path, according to the department.
The extension will also feature extended sidewalks at some locations to accommodate the new asphalt path, as well as new granite curbing and grass at some locations.
“The project will also include: a Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon and signing for a crossing at North Shore Road to the abandoned Boston and Maine Railroad right-of-way along Proctor Brook; new concrete culverts; a new 80-foot span timber bridge and a new 540-foot timber boardwalk to minimize wetland impacts,” the department said in a statement. “New trailheads will be constructed on either end of the Proctor Brook section of the path.”
The new segment of the greenway, as well as all others, will be part of the Border to Boston trail, a 70-mile shared-use trail that links approximately 20 communities from the New Hampshire border to Boston.
The extension was first announced in September 2020, when the city received $10.1 million from the State Transportation Improvement Program to extend the greenway. That grant will fund the eastward extension that is the subject of Wednesday’s hearing, as well as a connection between two existing sections of the trail located on opposite sides of Route 1.
At the time, Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt, Jr. said extending the greenway was one of the city’s top priorities.
“The Peabody Independence Greenway has been a wonderful addition to the city of Peabody and we have tried over the past few years to focus on adding to it and see if we can make some connections,” he said.
In all, the project has received about $11 million in funding from a variety of sources — including $203,750 from the Department of Conservation and Recreation MassTrails grant program for costs associated with the design phase for the Route 1 and Lowell Street connector segment. Peabody’s City Council recently approved $455,179 from the city’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) for engineering plans for both segments of the extension project, the Item reported.