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River Walk Talk Keeps Riverfront in Springfield Redevelopment Picture

by Bill Dusty

These days, activists supporting the upkeep and further development of the Springfield segment of the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway can’t help but be encouraged by the commitment shown by local city officials in seeing their vision of a vibrant riverfront come true.

From the Parks Department to the City’s Planning and Economic Development Office, officials have not only been listening to the thoughts and ideas of activists, but also have been participating in the various meetings and walking surveys of the often-overlooked River Walk.

The River Walk activists, led by city resident Sheila McElwaine, are determined to keep the Springfield riverfront on the minds of local leaders. In a recent Business West feature article on John Judge, Springfield’s new chief development officer, Judge brought up the riverfront as being an important piece in the revitalization of downtown Springfield. From the Business West article:

“When I’m working out at LA Fitness, I can look out and see people sculling on the river or using the bike path,” he said. “There’s enormous potential there, and we’re simply not taking advantage of a resource that any city would die for.”

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A section of the River Walk along the North End in Springfield.

River Walk activist Sheila McElwaine (front, right) leads a tour along the walkway.

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Judge cites Providence, RI, and Lowell, MA, as examples of cities that have integrated their waterfronts with the rest of the city. But another great example of a waterfront-downtown connection is our neighbor to the south, Hartford, CT. That city used park land and a private non-profit to coordinate redevelopment and management of its own riverfront parks and facilities. The non-profit, Riverfront Recapture, has spent the past twenty-five years recreating a formerly moribund Hartford riverfront into a beautiful attraction easily accessible from the downtown district. (Riverfront Recapture actually manages four parks along the Connecticut River: Riverfront Park, located along the city’s north riverfront; Charter Oak Landing, set to the city’s south riverfront; Mortensen Plaza, which connects the downtown to the riverfront; and Great River park, which is located across the CT River in East Hartford.)

Hartford’s Riverwalk.

Marc Nicol, the director of Planning and Park Development for Riverfront Recapture, visited Springfield last month to take a tour of the city’s River Walk, which stretches from the Julia Buxton (South End) Bridge to the Chicopee city line. He was joined by McElwaine, among other activists, who passed along this list ideas that came from the tour:

Suggestions for Riverwalk improvements included:

• Expanding the Rivers Landing condominium association which controls the city-owned BBHoF, LA Fitness, VIC, etc. development to include a board of directors and staff charged with overseeing and coordinating Riverwalk development and maintenance.
• Springfield rowing enthusiasts consulting with operators of the rowing program at Riverfront Recapture on how to develop something similar here.
• Expansion of the Riverwalk via side trails looping into riverside wooded areas in the Riverwalk’s center section.
• Development of a switchback trail from the Riverwalk to Memorial Bridge.
• Safety improvements (automated gates, lights, bells) at the Riverfront Park grade crossing.
• Riverwalk facilities and programming (restoration of overlook seating, exercise classes) for residents of Riverview Towers and other Brightwood residents.
• Establishing linkages with Baystate Medical Center.
• Construction of a barrier separating the Clinton Street roadway from the Riverwalk.
• Consideration of the pros and cons of winter programming: not plowing to promote snow shoeing and cross-county skiing vs. or plowing for year round joggers.

Naysayers of Springfield’s riverfront initiatives have been harping for months on Masslive’s Springfield Forums that crime and homelessness are too rampant in that area to allow for any redevelopment. (“You’re wasting money, no one will go there,” “Don’t go there, you will be shot,” are some of the more profound sentiments.) In their minds, once a part of the city falls into neglect, it naturally can never be rehabilitated. But Hartford, among many other cities across the nation, has already proven that belief to be false.

The Springfield River Walk is routinely used by downtown workers on their lunch breaks as well as runners from LA Fitness, and the city is actively working to improve both the River Walk and the connecting Riverfront Park.

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A view looking north from the skywalk at LA Fitness in Springfield.

Afternoon strollers along the River walk in Springfield.

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Two of the last remaining hurdles to overcome have been managing the River Walk and creating better access routes to and from it. A tangle of interests have made coordinating development difficult in the past, as there are several entities that actually own or abut the River Walk, which is city-owned land but not currently designated as park land. Railroad tracks run along most of the River Walk’s route, blocking access at all but three points running from downtown to the South End. (The route to the South End is actually a dead end, with the last access point being located at the skywalk by LA Fitness.) Activists are working to place the River Walk and Riverfront Park under a single managing entity, similar to the Riverfront Recapture system. They are also working to have an access point to the River Walk via the Julia Buxton Bridge.

The Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway is an incomplete circuit that runs from Agawam and up through Holyoke. To date, much if its path remains under development, with only the Agawam and Springfield segments being complete. Chicopee is concentrating on its Chicopee River development, while Holyoke is focusing on redeveloping its canal system as park space. The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is looking to have both of the latter projects eventually incorporated into an overall Connecticut River Walk system that could conceivably run all the way to Northampton.

For more information on the CT River Walk and Bikeway, check out the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s 2005 survey or the City of Springfield’s Web site, here and here.

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Posted by Bill Dusty on Sep 1st, 2009 and filed under Feature Stories, Latest Posts, Parks & Nature, Springfield. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.