EASTHAMPTON — With school starting this week, two new “bog bridges” will make it easier for students and families to traverse the trail from Mountain View School to Nonotuck Park.

The project is an interim step in enhancing the trail while the city works toward a more expansive ADA-compliant path connecting the high school to the elementary school.

“We heard a lot of complaints like it was too muddy, it was getting hard to traverse,” City Planner Jeffrey Bagg said. “This is a way to make sure this is passable for people while the planning department and others try to explore a much bigger project in the future.”

The first bridge, at 60 feet long, addresses the muddy stretch of trail between the Nonotuck Access Road and an existing footbridge, which has faced soil erosion and vegetation loss since the school’s opening brought increased foot traffic.

The second 60-foot bridge will be constructed closer to the school over an area with heavy tree roots. That bridge serves as an alternative to cutting tree roots, though the project does include the removal of several “hazard trees” that are already dead or in danger of failing.

The $10,000 project is being constructed by Conservation Works, a Hatfield conservation consulting firm.

“Right now it’s not a sustainable trail,” said Andrew Vecchio, a worker with Conservation Works, pointing toward the run-down pathway that the bog bridge will replace, along with another smaller trail winding around the side of the main path. “One of the problems when you get a big mud pit like this, not only does it do damage to the mud, but it encourages people to make their own side path and expands the problem.”

“So what we do is we put in this boardwalk, also called bog bridging, and that allows users just to cross the area without impacting it.”

According to Bagg, when the city was organizing its annual “Walk, Bike and Roll to School” event last spring, kids couldn’t use the path because it was too muddy.

“It was really one of the main impetus for it,” said Bagg.

Larger project in the works

In the long-term, another project, estimated at $1.5 million, is being considered that could include a new Wetland Protection Act-compliant bridge and 10-foot-wide ADA-compliant path connecting the high school and Mountain View.

The high school’s athletic fields are located at Mountain View, so high school athletes typically drive over to the fields, rather than walking or biking, despite their close proximity.

“I think the city needs to try to upgrade this so that a high school kid could easily walk to the athletic fields,” said Bagg.

And while the bog bridges are a step in the right direction, a more expansive project is needed to create a more universally accessible and bike-friendly path for all students and families, according to Bagg.

“The biggest challenge is that where the little bridge is now would have to become elevated on posts, would have handrails, and would have to meet up with the road,” said Bagg. “That’s where it all of a sudden jumps to an over a million dollar project.”

The city will likely apply for a Massachusetts Safe Routes to School grant, which recently expanded its scope to include funding for high school projects, in addition to elementary and middle school projects.

“This minor bog bridge project enhances the existing route. And then within the next year or two, I think we’d be applying for over a million dollars to make this [trail] ADA-accessible, wider, potentially paved,” said Bagg. “But the timeline for those grants is usually five years… which is why we wanted to do this now.”

Connecting to Manhan

In the meantime, another pedestrian improvement project is underway to upgrade the main sidewalk to the school and connect it directly to the Manhan Rail Trail.

The “Park Street Safe Routes to School” project was granted $1.8 million in 2021, and is currently in design stages with construction slated for 2025.

The project includes a 400-foot-long accessible path from the Manhan Rail Trail up to Park Street; a 3,600-foot-long path along Park Street to the entrance of Mountain View School; and new ADA ramps and crosswalks at Ward Avenue, Garfield Avenue, Bryan Avenue and Taft Avenue.

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