Discussion On Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Sudbury Extension Begins

SUDBURY, MA — An addition to the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail through Sudbury is on the table. The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday was set to discuss a possible purchase of 1.4 miles of unused railway south of the Boston Post Road.

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (BFRT) is an approximately 25-mile multipurpose pathway that stretches from Lowell to Concord — and when complete would go all the way to Route 9 in Framingham.

The 1.4-mile section up for discussion on Tuesday begins at just north of Route 20 at Station Road and stretches south to near the Framingham line at Garden in the Woods. The railway has been closed for about 20 years, but the land is still owned by CSX Transportation.

The most recent phase of the BFRT to be completed was a 2.8-mile stretch in Concord from Commonwealth Avenue south to Powder Mill Road near the Sudbury border. That section opened in September. Phase 3 includes the portion from Powder Mill Road to Framingham Center.

Much of the railway was handed over to the state in the 1980s, except the nearly 5-mile section from Framingham to Route 20 in Sudbury owned by CSX.

Sudbury Board of Selectman Chair Daniel Carty said that the Tuesday discussion is just the beginning of negotiations on the purchase, and likely no votes will be taken this week. There are also two warrants scheduled for the 2020 Town Meeting revolving around the purchase of the 1.4-mile Sudbury section.

The BFRT was named for the for state representative who died of cancer in the mid-1980s. Before his death, he began work on planning the rail trail along the former Penn Central line.