Designs ready for greenway

Preliminary designs for the Winchester portion of a 6-mile greenway trail will be presented Wednesday as a first step in a series of community meetings on the proposed trail. The Tri-Community Bikeway/Greenway, which is slated to receive state and federal funding, would wind through Winchester, Stoneham, and Woburn.

The three communities agreed in 1999 to collaborate on a trail that would connect them, but the plan was delayed, according to Winchester assistant town engineer Beth Rudolph, when Stoneham ran into some tie-ups on portions of the land. The trail is back on track, she said, with full funding for the design phase.

The preliminary design would help connect local civic sites with a handicapped-accessible path that winds through the communities. The project is slated to begin in October 2010, she said.

In Winchester, the plan calls for the trail to begin at the Wedgemere commuter train station and follow the Aberjona River through the center of town, past the Muraco School, through Davidson Park, and north on Washington Street to the Woburn line.

The public information meeting on that portion will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday. To view maps of the preliminary design, visit winchester.us.