August 2018:  The Maynard and Acton sections were officialy opened August 10, 2018. The Maynard trail parking lot on Winter street is now open.

November 2017:  Most trail construction is finished and is usable when not closed for new work. The site remains an official MassDOT construction project and is accessed by work crews. Remaining work in the spring 2018 will be lane stripping and landscaping. Two sections are unfinished and remain closed; the 400 feet behind Duncan Beemers (EPA review) and the section at the north end of the CVS parking lot (utility pole work).

July 21, 2016:   MassDOT Highway Administrator Tom Tinlin joined area officials at the ground breaking event to recognize the commencement of the construction project for the Maynard-Action section of the Assabet River Rail Trail. This Rail Trail project links the Assabet River National Wildlife refuge with the downtown Maynard business district and the South Acton Commuter Rail Station, providing an alternative transportation option. The construction schedule is 24 months and will end in July 2018.

February 23, 2016:  There were construction bids from 6 companies at the 2:00 PM deadline, ranging from $6,719,972 - $10,445,269.

September 19, 2015:  MassDOT advertised the Acton-Maynard trail project for construction. The bidding closes on February 23, 2016, with the winning bidder selected in April-May and construction starting in June-July. Once construction starts, it will take 24 months to finish.

May 18, 2015:  The 2015 Annual Maynard Town Meeting approved 4 ARRT related items. Included were ROW easements, the rezoning of the old 'Quirk' property for residential use, and a new Acton Street sidewalk for improved trail access.

April 1, 2015:  The required Maynard and Acton Conservation Commissions approval process started with public hearings on March 17th and April 1st, in each town. Each commission received an environmental presentation from the engineering firm and their consultants. UPDATE: both town's conservation boards voted to approve the conservation aspects of the trail.

October 21, 2014:  The preliminary 75% design for the Acton-Maynard section was sent by the engineering firm to MassDOT. The document is here.

March 29, 2014:  Francesca Demolition has started to remove the RR rails in Maynard. They started behind Cumberland Farms on Friday and will then move on to High Street. After Maynard is finished in a couple of weeks, they will move on to Acton.

October 1, 2013:  The Massachusetts 2014-2017 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) went into effect today. In this plan, the Acton-Maynard ARRT is scheduled to start construction in Fiscal 2015 as a 'first-tier' project. The next steps are for the engineering firm to move to the 75% design stage.

November 9, 2011:  The 25% ARRT design plans for Acton-Maynard were delivered to the MassDOT by AECOM, the engineering firm that has the engineering contract. All of the overview sheets are posted on this web site. This comes exactly a year after the design funds were restored in 2010 and AECOM resumed working on the project.

October 16, 2010:  The state released the money to finish designing the Acton & Maynard section of the trail. The Concord engineering firm AECOM (formerly EarthTech) resumed work and is tasked with bringing the design from 25% all the way to 100%.

July 23, 2009:  The MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) voted to include construction funding for the entire unbuilt ARRT (Acton, Maynard, Stow) in the 2011-15 Regional Transportation Plan. The amount they voted is $20,348,520 which includes a 4% annual inflation from the 2009 estimated construction cost. The MPO's action today satisfies Federal Highway's condition for the release of the rest of the 2005 design funds, so EarthTech's 100% design work can resume.

July 25, 2007:  The Maynard-Acton 100% Design Kick-off Meeting was held on July 25th, with the assistance of EarthTech. The design phase will last 12 months.

May 25, 2007:  The towns of Maynard and Acton have announced that the Concord based engineering firm EarthTech, will do the 100% design of the 3.45 miles in Acton & Maynard. They were the winning bidder of the 6 firms that submitted proposals on March 1st. Design work will start by mid-summer and finish in 2008.

March 1, 2007: Six engineering firms submitted bids for the Maynard-Acton trail design project on the March 1st deadline. It is expected that the contract will be awarded by the end of April.

January 25, 2007: The RFP (Request for Proposals) for the 100% design of the Maynard-Acton ARRT project was posted on the state web site. A meeting for prospective bidders was well attended and the preliminary bids are due March 1, 2007.

May 2006: 25% design is finished and submitted to MassHighway. The plans are posted here. (update: 25% design approved by MassHighway 10/26/06)

October 2005: EarthTech awarded the contract to do the 25% design phase of the 'southern' section of the trail in Maynard.

November 2004: The Town of Maynard has applied to modify an existing 2001 PWED grant, to allow some unspent funds ($580,920) to be used to design and build the section of the bike trail in downtown Maynard.

October 2004: ARRT volunteers completed a 12 month effort to clear and place woodchips on two sections of the trail, each 1000 feet in length. Assistance was provided by an Eagle scout project. The woodchips create an interim walking path, until the final bike path is built.

April 2004: Maynard has applied for a $20,000 state recreational trails grant, to design and build the southern 1/3 of the trail in Maynard. Some of the local match funds for this grant will come from a recent corporate donation.

June 26, 2003: The Town of Maynard closed on the property purchase of the Maynard Sand and Gravel property. Included in the 6+ acres of conservation land will be 3200 feet of the trail right of way, leading down to the Maynard-Stow border. A ribbon cutting event is planned for sometime in the summer and an ARRT sponsored cleanup in the fall.

April 25, 2003: The long abandoned Cocco building at the corner of Summer and Nason streets was torn down, to make way for the new MacDonald Development 22-unit apartment building. The building will be located next to the rail trail path, which is on the left side of each of the above photos. With the ARRT's approval, the town sold a small slice of the old RR right-of-way to the builder in 2002, so that they would have enough room for the required fire lane. The rail trail and the apartment building have a 175-foot long granite block wall between them, that is to be protected and preserved by the town.

January 14, 2003: At the January 14th Maynard Board of Selectmen meeting, Assabet River Rail Trail volunteers and the Intel Corporation presented a $1,000 grant to the Town of Maynard. The donation will be used for expenses related to trail right-of-way acquisitions in Maynard.

October 28, 2002: Article 5 on the Maynard Special Town Meeting warrant was passed. This was to increase the level of borrowing to allow the town to accept more state grant funds to acquire two parcels for the Assabet River Rail Trail. These parcels covered the ROW running from Rt. 117, through the woods, to White Pond Rd at the Stow border. This article was designed to allow the town to increase its borrowing over what was already authorized at Town Meeting in 1998.

September 2002: The Town of Maynard completed the acquisition of the trail right-of-way (ROW) that was privately owned by Emerald Acres Landscaping. When combined with property acquired 20 years ago, the town now owns the entire 1000 feet of trail bed from Summer Street to Concord Street.

July 11, 2000: The ARRT was incorporated as "ARRT Inc.", a Massachusetts registered non-profit organization.

June 2000: Marlborough and the other 4 commmunities issued a RFP to hire a consultant to prepare an up-to-date ARRT Master Plan. The plan would look at all the various ARRT segments, refine the proposed trail alignment, identify how all the pieces fit into the bigger picture, develop cost estimates, and detail a phasing plan from now until the completion of the entire ARRT.

May 4, 1998: Maynard Town Meeting votes to approve the warrant supporting the proposed Assabet River Rail Trail. The warrant passed by a substantial margin and authorized short-term borrowing for the reimbursable funds for acquisition of the ARRT right-of-way in Maynard and appropriation of the town’s 10% local match, as required by the federal ISTEA grant that ARRT received last fall.

April 1998: The ARRT received a grant of $3,000 from the Department of Environmental Management's Greenways and Trails Demonstration Grant program. The grant was used to conduct a natural resource inventory and assessment of the proposed ARRT route.

December 1997: The federal government approved $17 million in funding for transportation enhancements in Massachusetts, which included the grant proposal submitted by the five ARRT communities to aquire the legal rights to the ARRT route.

May 1997: The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) recommended that the Assabet River Rail Trail receive funding in fiscal year 1998 to begin acquiring portions of the ROW, and to begin design of the segment of trail in Marlborough and Hudson. In a grant proposal submitted by the five ARRT towns, the towns would receive $668,000 to acquire the legal rights for the continuous 12.5-mile right of way.