The long-planned Merrimack River Greenway Trail will finally see life next spring along with an improved dog park, both part of efforts to improve Terrill Park. But a much-discussed turf field will have to wait.
“It’s been neglected over the years,” is how Parks Director David Gill described Terrill Park, tucked on the east bank of the Merrimack River at Exit 13. “Doing this site improvement will greatly improve the access and its usability.”
Earlier this month the city council approved spending $348,000 for upgrades, half of it from the city and rest coming in the form of a $100,000 grant from the state Land and Water Conservation Fund and $69,000 donated by the Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail.
It will involve building 1,800 feet of paved path usable by hikers, bikers, wheelchairs – “even somebody on a skateboard,” Gill noted. “It’s a discussion we’ve been having: How do we create something that more people can use who have different mobility.”
The path should be part of an eventual Greenway Trail running along the river’s less-developed eastern side for a dozen miles from Pembroke to Boscawen. Plans for such a trail have been circulating in Concord for many years but the project has always stumbled over cost.
The work, designed to start next spring and be finished by the end of summer, will also include a new upper parking lot and an improved dog park, with separate areas for large and small dogs. Future improvements are being considered by the Pope Memorial SPCA of Concord, Gill said.
The project does not, however, include another high-profile item on local wish lists: a turf field. Eventual plans for the park include a field as large as 360 feet by 260 feet, to handle soccer and lacrosse.
The expense of this field, which makes a big chunk of the $4 million price tag for overall upgrades to the park, explains why it isn’t yet in the works.
“We want to make some improvements without having to wrestle with the larger cost of the turf field. We will continue to work on that – do it at a later time,” Gill said.
Having a section of the Greenway Trail at the park could start a long-held vision to have hiking/biking loops accessible to downtown.
“The park advisory board and Recreation Department staff have always liked the vision of having the Greenway Trail start at the Manchester Street bridge and go up to Loudon Road. That’s a whole area that’s not developed with great views and access to the river,” he said.
If that was completed, Gill said, people could leave downtown and cross either bridge, travel along the trail and cross back over the other bridge, returning to downtown. “It could be something you’d do at lunchtime,” Gill suggested.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
