Northern Strand Community Trail

Upon completion, the Northern Strand Community Trail will be a continuous 12-mile shared use path from the Mystic River to the Lynn seashore. Soon tens of thousands of residents in Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn will have a new way to connect with each other and with the natural beauty of their marshes, rivers, and beaches. Eight miles will be a rail trail through Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn. This rail trail ends part-way into Lynn, and will continue as a separate and safe on-road facility for four more miles through downtown Lynn to the seashore.

Background: For over a quarter century, since 1993, Bike to the Sea, a local grass roots advocacy group, has spearheaded an effort to build a rail trail on the right of way of the former Saugus Branch Railroad that ceased service in 1958. Bike to the Sea named the proposed route the Northern Strand Community Trail and worked with each municipality to piece it together over the years. In addition to being an active transportation route bypassing some of the most congested roads in the region, this path will form a key link of the 2500-mile East Coast Greenway that reaches from Florida to Maine.

The Solomon Foundation became involved in helping to advance the effort in 2016, and a year later, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EEA) stepped in to fully fund, design, and construct the entire rail trail portion of the path. In support of the overall EEA effort, the Solomon Foundation partnered with the City of Lynn to fund the Lynn Walking and Bicycling Network Plan. The results of that effort can be seen here.