The Glastonbury Town Council heard a presentation at a recent meeting that could lead to mountain biking trails being added to the town’s official bike trails.
Mark McCall, a Glastonbury resident, but also a member of Bike Walk Glastonbury and the New England Mountain Biking Association , said he visited the Kingdom Trails in Vermont, including a kids trail, and said he instantly thought it would be a good fit in Glastonbury. NEMBA also recently helped construct mountain bike trails in Rocky Hill and Cromwell.
There are “unofficial” trails, which branch off of the paved multi-use trail that leads from Smith Middle School to Bell Street.
“Off the side of that trail, over the last few years, has become a small trail network, built by we don’t know who,” McCall said. “It’s fun to ride, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re well-designed, or approved by the town.”
McCall said the unsanctioned trails have been difficult for parks and recreation officials to clean and manage. A map was created of the existing trails, to build a plan that is more maintainable and safe.
By sectioning the area into several zones, McCall said proposals are for no trails in the wetlands area near the school’s baseball field, nor in the adjacent area, where there are established hiking trails.
Recommendations from the town, stemming from a walkthrough, include not having the trails cross the multi-use path, the addition of kiosks with mapping details, removal of large ramps or “stunts” created by unknown users, and retaining all existing trees.
“These are all things that NEMBA is well-able to take care of,” McCall said.
The proposal would include incorporating some trails, rerouting some them, and adding marking and signage. It would also including adding an area for smaller kids on smaller bikes.
Glenn Vernes, president of the Central CT Chapter of NEMBA, said the organization’s specialty is building sustainable trails that minimize erosion.
“Erosion is obviously a problem when trails aren’t properly built,” Vernes said. “We have experience training volunteers to do trail work, we have hundreds of trail work days throughout the year, throughout New England.”
Vernes said the organization’s goal is to educate builders and maintainers of trails, as well as trail users. It would also allocate a budget for repair and maintenance of the trail.
“We will use social media to encourage people to act responsibility,” Vernes said.
At the recent meeting, council member Jennifer Wang asked if NEMBA would use some sort of outreach to address potential conflicts between different types of trail users.
“NEMBA has a lot of experience mitigating conflicts between users,” Vernes said. “That’s really why the organization was formed 35 years ago. It can be things like the way the trails are designed… good sight lines, and good signage. The best way to keep bikers off of hiking trails is to have good biking trails for them to ride on.”
Council member John Cavanna asked whether the areas where the trails will be located would preclude pedestrians.
“This is a multi-use trail, a shared trail,” McCall said. “Everyone’s welcome to use the trails.”
For more information, visit www.glastonbury-ct.gov.
