History of the
Merrimack River Greenway Trail:
The Merrimack River Greenway Trail has been shaped by decades of community vision, planning, and partnership. This page highlights the early history that led to the formation of the Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, which now spearheads the trail's continued development.
How a community vision became an organized effort.
1990
In a report to the non-profit Concord Conservation Trust, Woodward Planning Consultants, Inc., documents a goal of "creating, for the benefit of the general public, a trail system, throughout the greenway along the more than 14 miles of embankments of the Merrimack as it meanders through the City."
2003
As part of its response to public comments on the design of the Interstate 93 widening project, the NHDOT hires Rizzo Engineers to study the feasibility of a bike path between Concord and Salem, NH. Rizzo determines it is feasible and recommends an option that includes the reuse of several miles of abandoned railroad rights of way between the state line in Salem and the Concord/Pembroke City Line.
2004
The Friends of the Northern Rail Trail open miles of new trails on what once was a rail line connecting Boscawen and Lebanon. The plan is to build it to within about one half mile of the Concord/Boscawen City Line.
2006
A group called the New Hampshire Rail Trail Coalition forms around a major ambitious objective of building a continuous off-road trail from Salem to Lebanon. The Merrimack River Greenway Trail would be the connecting link between Pembroke and Boscawen.
2009
June 8 -- Concord Planning Board adopts the "Concord Master Plan 2030", containing several references to non-motorized trails along the Merrimack River.
2009
December 7 -- The Bicycling Subcommittee of Concord's Transportation Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC-Bike) holds a very well attended public meeting to obtain resident input for Concord's first "Bicycle Master Plan". Many participants express a desire for bike paths and trails in Concord.
2010
May 26 -- The Board of Directors of Concord 2020 votes to appropriate $18,000 to the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission (CNHRPC) to study the feasibility of building a multi-use trail along the Merrimack River.
2010
August 20 -- Fay, Spofford and Thorndike (FST) Engineers is selected as the consultant to study the feasibility of building a trail along the Merrimack River. A working group is assembled to direct the study.
2010
December -- FST delivers the final Feasibility Study to the working group.
2011
February 23 -- Following a presentation by the working group, the Concord Planning Board incorporated the MRGT into the 2030 Master Plan.
2011
March 14 -- The Concord City Council accepts the Feasibility Study and authorizes City staff to work with trail advocates to raise funds and build the trail.
2011
July 14 -- 46 volunteers, with the help of City employees and equipment, remove 30 cubic yards of trash from the east bank of the Merrimack River, south of Loudon Road, in less than two hours.
2011
October 19 -- "Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, Inc.", is registered as a nonprofit corporation under New Hampshire law.
The MRGT was on its way!
A New Phase Begins
With the formation of the Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, the project entered a new phase focused on fundraising, partnerships, and implementation.
First envisioned more than two decades earlier, the Merrimack River Greenway Trail had moved from a long-standing concept into an organized community effort focused on implementation.
The story of how the trail began ends here.
The story of how it is being developed continues.