Trahan, New Balance officials tout Lawrence trail extension

by Allison Corneau 

LAWRENCE — Groundwork Lawrence kicked off its Earth Day celebration a bit early Monday with Congresswoman Lori Trahan, D-Westford, at an event to celebrate the upcoming extension of the rail trail adjacent to New Balance’s distribution center in the Lawrence industrial park set to stretch all the way to downtown.

Following a feasibility study in 1998 that indicated residents and local stakeholders sought a more walkable greenway, Groundwork Lawrence set out to create just that along the Merrimack River. According to Groundwork Deputy Director Lesly Melendez, landowner approval made it a challenge to connect portions of the trail, which will include the downtown, Arlington neighborhood and the urban mill district areas of Lawrence.

Through the partnership with New Balance touted Monday, however, locals will have equitable riverfront access to enjoy for years to come. 

“The private-public partnership will provide a healthy, climate-safe (way for) residents and students to walk to work, walk home and walk to school, for shopping and for recreation,” Melendez explained. “The mighty Merrimack continues to be an asset and we celebrate this opportunity to make it more accessible.”

Amy Dow, the director of public relations and government affairs at New Balance, said New Balance and the New Balance Foundation have provided $1.4 million in funding since 2006 for Groundwork Lawrence’s efforts, which now includes the trail extension. Dow said the sneaker company’s employees look forward to not only using the trail to stay active, but plan to volunteer to keep the trail clean for all to enjoy.

Trahan, too, sees the value in getting residents outdoors and onto places like the new Lawrence trail.

“What’s exciting about this is connecting Lawrence to the urban mill district and Andover. At the end of the day, so many people have to explored the outdoors during COVID and we want that to endure — especially kids in communities like Lawrence and Haverhill,” Trahan said. “We want folks to be able to walk and potentially bike these trails. It’ll be such an improvement.”

According to Trahan, New Balance was a “model partner” during the process of getting the easement legal language worked out for the trail. 

 At Monday’s event state Rep. Christina Minicucci applauded the efforts of Groundwork Lawrence for keeping the focus on making Lawrence cleaner and greener for all to enjoy.

“Groundwork has been working nonstop doing amazing work through COVID to help with immediate needs, but they haven’t lost sight of the bigger picture, which is making sure we have more pedestrian walkways, that we take care of nature and have more opportunities for residents,” Minicucci said.

 Echoed Trahan: “This is the culmination of hard work and activism.”