The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail entering Adams, Massachusetts In the northern Berkshires of western Massachusetts, plans are in the works to create an outdoor path to the arts—a 9.3-mile bicycling and pedestrian route with access to the Clark Art Institute , Williams College Museum of Art , Mass Moca , the Adams Theater, art galleries, hotels and other cultural and historic destinations.
“This is going to be a very different experience, unique in connectivity with the arts and cultural institutions, going through downtowns, getting to restaurants, retailers and art museums,” Laura Brennan, assistant director of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC), tells The Art Newspaper .
A $17.3m federal grant will be used for the current planning and design phase. The grant, awarded this month, is the result of a collaborative effort involving Berkshire Funding Focus (a BRPC government-funding initiative) along with three municipalities—Adams, North Adams and Williamstown—Mass Moca and Tourists hotel . BRPC will coordinate the ongoing partnership and manage the grant award over the course of the four-year process, according to a statement released earlier this month.
This stage of funding moves the overall project towards “100% design and shovel-ready status” in preparation for actual trail construction, Brennan says.
“For art lovers, this trail provides something unique: access to incredible cultural institutions while hopping on a bike or going for a walk,” says Morgan Everett, Mass Moca’s director of public initiatives and real estate. “It’s an experience not really replicated in other communities.”
The A2A Trail Project, short for “Adventure to Ashuwillticook Trail”, […]
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