Tewksbury Town Meeting Approves Rail Trail Study Ahead of Bay State Bike Week

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation along with several other public and private entities have banded together to tell you to get out of your cars and onto your bikes this week.

May 11 to 19 is Bay State Bike Week, a week unique to Massachusetts which celebrates all things bicycle.

There are bike-based events going on around the Bay State this week, and several in the Boston area.

The Bay State Bike Week website has provided a searchable calendar to find dates, locations and times for events closest to you.

Here in Tewksbury, .

Tewksbury Rail Trails Chairman and founder Pete Miller said the funds approved will start the process of turning railroad beds abandoned for nearly a century into a valuable community resource.

"Roughly seven miles of railroad beds have lain abandoned for close to 90 years – longer than they were in use, representing an untapped resource in our community for walking, hiking, bicycling, skiing, and more,” Miller said. 

Passage of the Rail Trails article will allow the town to hire a professional engineering consultant to do the necessary research and investigation to produce a feasibility study for possible trail improvements, according to a release from Tewksbury Rail Trails. 

Prior to Town Meeting, Tewksbury Rail Trails met and received support for the project of the Finance Committee, Selectmen, Board of Health, Planning Board and Community Preservation Committee, according to the release. 

Community Preservation Committee Chair Nancy Reed said the study will start the process of connecting the town's open spaces, something residents have been calling for. 

"As part of a survey of 2,600 residents for the Tewksbury 2009 Open Space and Recreation Plan, citizens expressed that these types of trails were their number one priority for recreation in the town," Reed said in the release. 

What would a statewide bike week be without a little friendly competition? The MassCommute Bicycle Challenge will award those who log the most miles by bicycle.

Other local bike facts: Massachusetts has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as the sixth most bicycle friendly state this year, according to a Gov. Deval Patrick press statement.

Also, Massachusetts has the only department of transportation in the country that organizes a celebration of bikes.

“I applaud the bicyclists who ride to school or work regularly, and I encourage more people to give it a try,” Patrick said in the statement. "Together, we can make Massachusetts a greener, healthier and more sustainable state by decreasing traffic congestion, cleaning the air and enabling people to get some exercise in the course of their busy daily lives."