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Randolph Greenway >> Higashi Connector
Randolph Greenway:
Higashi Connector
Powers Farm Extension
The Town of Randolph recently was gifted a 6.3-acre parcel called "Rear Niles Road." This project proposes to provide pedestrian access to the newly-gifted parcel, including a boardwalk and access to streets north of Powers Farm. The adjacent Higashi School property could provide "overflow parking" for Powers Farm events. Connections north and south could connect to the "Randolph Greenway".
Proposed 2023 project:
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Proposal is to construct a footpath/boardwalk through swampy area in new Rear Niles Road parcel ID #38-A-57, and the adjacent Town-owned parcel ID #29-E-17.17
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Over the property line is the Higashi School parking lot, which could be used for overflow parking at Powers Farm events. Current overflow parking is on North Main Street. This would require two more bridge/boardwalk segments.
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If Higashi School approves, additional footpath could connect northward to Randolph Greenway. If not, parcel #29-E-17.17 can connect northward too.
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Goal is to increase public access and public usage of Powers Farm, and public access and public usage of the footpaths leading to the park. This would increase the "passive recreational" use of the park and its surroundings, especially pedestrian walk-throughs and bicycle ride-throughs due to the increased public awareness of alternative routes.
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The "big picture goal" is to establish the heart of the "Randolph Greenway" which could extend the entire length of Randolph. This project and our other proposed projects would provide our part of a mostly off-road greenway all the way from Boston to Brockton, and east-west all the way from Braintree to Canton.
Powers Farm is extremely popular for residents and non-residents alike. The existing asset of the park would be more utilized, by increasing multiple recreation use such as more pedestrian and bicycle access. The existing public users of the footpaths are typically nearby residents "in the know" about the secondary entrances, who use the footpaths for a daily exercise route on foot or on bike. The proposed project would expand usage to many more users of the Powers Farm, by making our central park the heart of the "Randolph Greenway." That would open up the park to more local users from the new entrances, and would also open up the park as a through route on greenways from Boston to Brockton.
The idea of a "Greenway" is that there are stretches of walk-through parks, with a few blocks walking on a road in between, connecting them all to each other. With Powers Farm as its heart, we can make the Randolph Greenway all the way from the Blue Hills in Milton to DW Field in Avon. From here south, the Greenway goes through the new Jablonski property and Bear Swamp, to the Lokitis Conservation Area, and then through the Avon Industrial Park to DW Field and into Brockton.
Northward from Powers Farm, the Randolph Greenway continues through Randolph, and then beyond Randolph to the Boston border:
- A few blocks to the foot entrance to the Randolph Community Middle School
- From the north exit from RCMS, proceed 7 blocks down High Street to the Blue Hills entrance at the baseball field (signage funded by CPC last year)
- Alternatively, from RCMS, go west 5 blocks on Canton Street to the Donovan School entrance to the Blue Hills (signage also funded by CPC there)
- Through the Blue Hills are foot/bike trails all the way to Mattapan Square, and into Boston’s Emerald Necklace via the Neponset Greenway Trail
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