'Once in a lifetime.' $20M Bourne Rail Trail funds pending but with September deadline

A bike trail using old railroad lines to span the length of the entire Cape — connecting the Cape Cod Canal to Woods Hole and Provincetown — has long been a vision for many regional stakeholders, part-timers, year-round residents and government officials alike.

Certain sections have been filled in, but some critical gaps remain: Wellfleet to Provincetown, a section through Barnstable, and perhaps most notably, a gap stretching through Bourne connecting the canal to North Falmouth along the Falmouth Secondary rail line, what would be known as the Bourne Rail Trail.

Thomas Cahir, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority administrator, said the project aims for a “rail-to-trail” option, removing the Falmouth Secondary railroad tracks and building a bike path in its place. The proposal is pending authorization from Gov. Maura Healey’s office, Cahir said, with $20 million of federal funding made available through the regional transit authority.

“We identified $20 million to offer up if we could be assured that we could get it done in a timely fashion — five to six years, as opposed to 50 years — and that we take the tracks out,” said Cahir, a long-time supporter of train and rail initiatives. “Because you can’t do ‘rail-with-trail.’”

Future of the 'rail-to-trail' plan

Despite support from Bourne officials and residents, opposition to the proposal from Mashpee, Falmouth and stakeholders of the Falmouth Secondary Line, as well as an expiration date on the federal funds, have put the future of the project in a precarious position.

“I just firmly believe, which is completely uncharacteristic of my life — in terms of rail — that the benefits (of the Bourne Rail Trail) are just a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Cahir said. “And if it doesn’t happen now, it never will.”

What are the costs?

The money was made available to the regional transit authority through the American Rescue Plan Act via a formula that factored in road miles and route miles from the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, said transit authority Chief Financial Officer Henry Swiniarski.

“Funding is based upon reporting to the National Transit Database by incorporating the Steamship Authority reporting, both a combination of their ridership and really what they call direct route miles,” Swiniarski said.

Cahir said they have until September 2024 to commit the money to the “rail-to-trail” Bourne Rail Trail proposal.

Ken Cheitlin, president of the Friends of the Bourne Rail Trail, said the alternative option of building a bike path alongside the rail line — the so-called “rail-with-trail” option — would be more expensive, time consuming and would require taking private land to accommodate the extra space needed to fit a path beside the track.

“The estimate on rail-with-trail show, based on design work to date, so far is north of $80 million, whereas we can build the rail-to-trail for $20 million,” Cheitlin said. The rail-with-trail option means 11 new bridges would need to be built requiring environmental permits that would take years to obtain, he said.

No design money spent on rail-to-trail

Cheitlin said no money has been spent on the rail-to-trail project as of now — including design — because advocates have yet to receive approval to remove the tracks. But he said once approval comes through the project will move quickly.

“We haven't lit fires because the plan is, as soon as we get the green light for removal of the track, we will immediately start ‘rail-to-trail’ design work,” Cheitlin said. “We will have the money to whatever extent we need money quickly. There's a high degree of confidence in our ability to fundraise once it's a ‘rail-to-trail’ project.”

The proposed 6 1/2-mile bike path would run north and south parallel to the Buzzards Bay coastline, and is part of a Cape Cod Commission project called Vision 88 — an initiative that aims to connect a network of 88 miles of multi-use paths and bike trails spanning the entire Cape, from Woods Hole to Provincetown.

“That connectivity of that rail line would be such an economic boon, for not only the Upper Cape, but for the entire Cape,” said Cahir.

In order to remove the tracks, which are owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the state would first be required to abandon the rail line, Cahir said. Once the tracks are abandoned and state approval has been granted, he said the project could move forward.

Rail-with-trail and railroad stakeholders

The Falmouth Secondary Line terminates at a waste disposal site at the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station. The site is within Joint Base Cape Cod and is leased and operated by Cavossa Disposal Corporation.

The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, a rail network of nearly 60 miles from Fall River to Hyannis, operates on the track hauling construction and demolition waste from the Upper Cape Transfer Station to a site off-Cape about once or twice a week.

Carl Cavossa, owner of Cavossa Disposal, said the track serves as a vital link for his business. He said removing the tracks would hurt his ability to transport waste off-Cape and interrupt his plans to build his own transfer station on property he owns.

“If you owned a piece of property where you operate your business and I came to you and I said, ‘Hey, I'm gonna rip up the road that goes to your piece of land.’ Wouldn't you put up a fight?” Cavossa said. “This is my business, this is my livelihood.”

Walker Armstrong reports on all things Cape and Islands, primarily focusing on courts, transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at WArmstrong@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter:@jd__walker.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: $20M Bourne Rail Trail money at risk, no-track advocates say