Somerville’s Green Line Extension Community Path proving to be a recreational oasis

Jon Metzger has been on the move ever since the highly-anticipated but long-delayed Green Line Extension Community Path opened earlier this month in Somerville.

A resident of the nearby Maxwell’s Green apartment complex, Metzger continued to take advantage of the recreational oasis by walking with Hudson, his 10-year-old goldendoodle, during a Wednesday workbreak.

“It is a huge draw,” said Metzger, who moved to Magoun Square three years ago from Assembly Row. “I think there are some improvements especially on the T, waiting 15 minutes for each stop definitely needs to be improved. But walking on this path, this is huge.”

Somerville dignitaries, gathered for a ribbon cutting, said they believe the two-mile segment, stretching the off-street, multi-use path from Lowell Street to Cambridge Crossing, has been transformational. Many pedestrians and cyclists had been getting around a fence that blocked the extension for weeks before it officially opened June 10.

The path runs parallel to the Green Line Extension’s Medford Branch, which opened for service last December, and makes connections to 26 miles of bike paths along the Charles River.

Officials and residents recounted how the Community Path, with price estimates at around $39 million, could’ve died years ago as it faced “significant cost challenges beyond available funding.” The state removed the project in 2016 following a funding revaluation before advocates saved it.

Now, advocates are focused on connecting the Community Path to others in the area, including Grand Junction, a multi-use path in Cambridge currently under design, and the Mystic River Greenway.

The Healey administration earlier this month announced $11.6 million in funding to support 68 trail improvement projects across the state.

“Now that we know the Commonwealth is finally and significantly increasing funding for multi-use paths, I hope that subsequent rail trails and paths like this shouldn’t take so long to be built as this one did,” said Alan Moore, co-president of Friends of the Community Path, a group of Somerville residents that spearheaded the project’s idea.

The city is working with an external consulting team to determine the best options for permanent lighting along the path, according to officials. Somerville is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the cyclist and pedestrian haven under a lease agreement with the MBTA.

Joel Bennett and his wife, Lynn Weissman, co-founded Friends of the Community Path more than two decades ago. The married couple Wednesday morning took down a sign that had stood in the area advertising the project with their home phone number listed.

Friends of the Community Path will be planting and painting along the path to “make it ours” and “something really, really special”.

“This isn’t about cycling,” said Bennett, who has cycled around Greater Boston for over 40 years. It’s what happens on the path: you meet people, you see children learning how to ride their bikes, you see people walking their dogs. You can’t list all of the things that happen, and this is the foundation of what’s going to happen.”