Upper Charles Trail To Get Upgrades After MassTrails Grant

MILFORD, MA — State officials on Friday took a celebratory bike ride along the Upper Charles Trail before announcing $12 million in grants to dozens of trail projects across the state.

As part of that pot of grants, $53,500 will go to the Holliston Trails Committee to fix flooding issues along the trail in that town and to widen the path. The flood-prone section is in the vicinity of the Phipps Tunnel northeast of where the trail connects to Milford.

The Upper Charles Trail spans almost 14 miles from Whitney Street in Sherborn to near the Hopkinton line along Route 85 in Milford.

But the Upper Charles Trail is not complete. The state last week also gave Ashland $300,000 to acquire two pieces of land west of Route 126 to continue the trail going toward downtown Ashland. Plans call for the trail to continue through Ashland all the way to Hopkinton State Park.

The MassTrails grant program is a collaboration between MassDOT, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Recreational Trails Advisory Board.