Walden Passage Feasibility Study

Walden Passage Feasibility Study December 2007 Study Team Members: John R. Mullin, Co-Project Leader, Director, Center for Economic Development, Dean, UMass Graduate School and Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Jack Ahern, Co-Project Leader, UMass Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Paige Warren, Lead Scientist on Wildlife Issues, Department of Natural Resources Conservation Ethan Carr, Cultural Landscape Architecture Research, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Sergio Breña, Crossing Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Scott Civjan, Crossing Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Zenia Kotval, Adjunct Faculty, UMass Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Scott Jackson, Advisor on Wildlife Crossings, Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Program, UMass Extension Noah Charney, Beth Fenstermacher, Lee Jennings, Jinglan Wang, Graduate Research Assistants Prepared for: Metropolitan Area Planning Council Funded by: Federal Highway Administration Prepared by: University of Massachusetts - Center for Economic Development Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning 109 Hills North, Amherst, Massachusetts Table of Contents Executive Summary i 1. Introduction 1 2. Literature Reviews 4 A.Wildlife and Combined Wildlife-Recreational Crossings 4 1. Wildlife Passage Structures as Solutions to Road Impacts 5 2. Human-Wildlife Interactions 10 B. The Cultural Landscape of Concord and Lincoln 15 3. Existing Conditions 23 A. Planning and Economic Development 23 B. Zoning, Land Use, Trails and Open Space 29 1. Concord 29 2. Lincoln 34 3. State Route 2 36 4. Railroad 37 5. Conclusion 37 C. Cultural Landscape Context 38 D. Wildlife Issues at Multiple Scales 41 1. Existing Connectivity 42 2. Biological Scale Evaluation 42 3. Results of Monitoring Data 43 E. Route 2 50 4. Alternative Combined Wildlife-Recreational Crossing Locations and Design 53 A. Crossing Engineering Design and Structural Principals 53 B. Process/Criteria to Identify and Evaluate Alternatives 58 C. Crossing Alternative Location 1: Sudbury River 59 D. Crossing Alternative Location 2 : Fitchburg Railroad Underpass 61 E. Crossing Alternative Location 3 : Goose Pond 64 F. No-Build Alternative 67 5. Evaluation of Alternatives 68 Maps (Following page 71) References 72 Appendices 80 A. Walden Passage Feasibility Study Advisory Board Members 81 B. University of Massachusetts Amherst Project Staff 82 C. Project Schedule 83 D. Minutes of Advisory Board Meetings 84 E. Minutes of Public Workshops 98 List of Tables, Boxes, Figures and Maps Tables page # Table 1: Cases of Known Passage Structure Usage by Species 8 Table 2: Characteristics of Existing Overpasses for Wildlife by Location 13 Table 3: Occupation 25 Table 4: Employment by Industry 25 Table 5: Educational Attainment 25 Table 6: Housing Value (per unit) 26 Table 7: Open Space 26 Table 8: Population Distribution by Age (Concord) 30 Table 9: Population Distribution by Age (Lincoln) 34 Table 10: Relevant Scales of Analysis for Mammal Species 41 Table 11: Connectivity Objectives and Recommended Solutions 42 Table 12a: Amphibian and Reptile Species Detected in the Study Area 44 Table 12b: Mammal Species Detected in the Study Area (2002-2007) 47 Table 13: Details of Accident Reports from 2002 to 2005 51 Table 14: Evaluation Matrix 70,71 Boxes Box 1: Design Considerations for Wildlife Passages 7 Box 2: Considerations for Combined Human-Wildlife Crossing Structures 13 Figures Figure 1: Map of Walden Woods 15 Figure 2: Great Meadows Pasture 16 Figure 3: Concord’s Battle Ground 17 Figure 4: Fitchburg Railroad, ca. 1890s 18 Figure 5: Map of Concord 19 Figure 6: L. May Alcott’s 1869 Sketch of Thoreau’s Cabin 19 Figure 7: Walden Pond from Emerson’s Cliff 20 Figure 8: Walden Pond Excursion Park 21 Figure 9: Walter Gropius House, Lincoln, MA 22 Figure 10: Regional Context Map 23 Figure 11: Hanscom Field 27 Figure 12: Fitchburg Railroad Underpass in the Study Area 37 Figure 13: Walden Pond from Emerson Cliff 39 Figure 14: Leaning Hemlocks on Concord River 39 Figure 15: Goose Pond 40 Figure 16: Minimum Crossing Rates of Species Based on Track Bed and Camera Data 45 Figure 17: Animals Detected by Cameras in Existing Wildlife Crossing Culverts 46 Figure 18: Examples of Divided and Undivided Highway in the Study Area 50 Figure 19: Location of Reported Accidents from 2002 to 2005 51 Figure 20: Design Objectives 53 Figure 21: Existing Stone Arch Bridge, Sudbury River Crossing of Rt. 2 in the Study Area 59 Figure 22: Schematic Illustration of Bridge Cross Section over Sudbury River 60 Figure 23: Conceptual Illustration of a New Sudbury River Bridge with Wildlife Crossings Incorporated Underneath 61 Figure 24: The Fitchburg Railroad Underpass Beneath Route 2 62 Figure 25: Conceptual Design Alternative for the Fitchburg Railroad Underpass Crossing Beneath Route 2 62 Figure 26: Conceptual Design for the Fitchburg Railroad Underpass Crossing 63 Figure 27: Route 2 at the Goose Pond Crossing Site 64 Figure 28: Proposed Solution for Goose Pond Overpass Crossing 65 Figure 29: The Current Route of the Bay Circuit Trail 66 Figure 30: Conceptual Cross-Section of the Goose Pond Crossing 66 Figure 31: Conceptual Elevation of the Goose Pond Overpass with Side and Overhead Plantings 67 Maps (following page 71) Map 1: Walden Passage: Feasibility Study Area Map 2: Walden Passage: Study Area Trails Map 3: Walden Passage: Study Area Zoning Map 4: Walden Passage: Study Area Open Space and Conservation Map 5: Walden Passage: Study Area Land Use (1999) Map 6: Concord/ Lincoln Land Use (1999) The faculty and research assistants who assembled this report gratefully acknowledge the time and assistance generously given to them by the many residents of Concord and Lincoln, the Advisory Board, Richard T.T. Forman of Concord and Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the staff of the towns of Lincoln and Concord. Executive Summary In 2004, the Federal Highway Administration division and separation created by the road corridor (FHWA) awarded a Transportation, Community has a negative effect on the perception of the larger and System Preservation Program (TCSP) grant to cultural landscape for residents of the area and for fund this feasibility study. This grant is a result of a the thousands of tourists who come from all over proposal for a wildlife/pedestrian overpass in historic the world to appreciate it, as well as for resident and Walden Woods initiated and advocated by the Walden migratory wildlife. Woods Project. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the Regional Planning Council for The study area is also part of a larger cultural landscape the Boston metropolitan region, is administering the of great significance. Hundreds of thousands of feasibility study. In 2006, the MAPC contracted with people visit the area annually to see and learn about the University of Massachusetts Center for Economic the American Revolution at the Minute Man National Development who asssembled an interdisciplinary Historic Park, to learn about Henry David Thoreau, team from the University of Massachusetts to examine Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Transcendalists and the feasibility of establishing a combined crossing Walden Woods, and to visit the historic town centers for wildlife and recreational users along a predefined of Concord and Lincoln. Others experience the area study area, a 2.5-mile section of Route 2 in Concord by hiking the historic Bay Circuit Trail and many and Lincoln, Massachusetts--bounded by the Sudbury recreational trails in Concord and Lincoln. River on the west and Crosby’s Corner to the east (Map 1). This study for a wildlife and recreational crossing analyzed wildlife distribution in the study area using Land use in the study area is mixed, including protected Massachusetts Natural Heritage data and data from forests, single-family homes, condominiums, wetlands the Wildlife Passages Task Force, a subcommittee of and agricultural land. The study area also borders the Concord Natural Resources Commission. Wildlife the Walden Pond State Reservation, Brister’s Hill tracking and monitoring was conducted in the study Conservation Area, Goose Pond, the former Concord area, and included monitoring of the four wildlife Landfill, Concord Carlisle Regional High School, and crossing culverts. The wildlife analysis determined the Sudbury River floodplain. Four wildlife crossing that there are no known endangered or state-listed culverts and associated retaining walls were installed species in the study area that would make use of an in the study area in 2004 to allow wildlife to safely additional wildlife crossing. Furthermore, the existing cross beneath Route 2. These improvements were wildlife crossing culverts under Route 2 are being included as part of a Route 2 improvement project by used successfully by a majority of species that might Mass Highways to reduce vehicle-animal conflicts. be served by an additional crossing. However, an additional crossing could serve as a demonstration Route 2, built in the 1930s, is recognized by citizens project for a crossing structure for arboreal species. and officials of Concord and Lincoln as a significant Such crossings have not yet been implemented in barrier to humans as well as wildlife. The road North America but are being used in Australia. corridor bisects the historic Walden Woods area and separates Concord center from Walden Pond. The Public participation was

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