$17 Million Federal Grant Paves Way for New Path Connecting Mass Art Orgs

 After decades of dreaming, a $17.3 million federal grant has been awarded to fund the planning and design of the Adventure to Ashuwillticook Trail (A2A) in northern Berkshire County. This 9.3-mile bike and pedestrian path aims to connect art museums, cultural sites, historic landmarks, and downtown areas, guiding visitors through a unified corridor with stops at institutions including The Adams Theater, Mass MoCA, the Williams CollegeMuseum of Art, and the Clark Art Institute.

“This is an example of regional thinking and how it can really be worth it,” says Laura Brennan, assistant director of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). The commission is part of an ongoing partnership with Williamstown, North Adams, and Adams, along with Mass MoCA and Tourists hotel. BRPC will coordinate and manage the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant over the next four years.

While the funding, awarded January 10, only covers the development stage, stakeholders are optimistic about the trail's future and its impact on local culture. However, in the weeks since the award was announced, the Trump administration's attempt to freeze all federal grant spending has cast a shadow on the project. Although the president has rescinded the blockade, for now, the future of the A2A funding remains uncertain. Despite this potential setback, organizers trek on.

Over the next four years BRPC is slated to coordinate and manage the US Department of Transportation funding from a program the Trump administration recently rebranded from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. That change gives Brennan a modicum of hope.

“That name change is, to me, a positive sign the program will continue,” she says. “This particular funding has been around for a long time, and we have no indication that this grant will go away.”

Keeping it Moving

The grant will provide for the design of the trail, which aims to fill the missing piece to a contiguous trail corridor connecting the existing Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in Adams to the south and the Mohican Path at Williamstown to the north. “Which will then open doors for future construction funding in a fully shovel-ready state,” says Tom Matuszko, BRPC executive director.

Even with funding in place, the success of this project requires the collaboration of the three municipalities along the route working on an agreed concept with a cohort of not-for-profit organizations, private institutions, and a BRPC government funding initiative called Berkshire Funding Focus.

“This has been a lot of work for many people,” says Olivier Meslay, director of the Clark Art Institute. “It’s really for the benefit of everyone in the long term.”

Mass MoCA’s campus will be the A2A Trail junction. “We’re really happy to be part of this collaboration,” says Morgan Everett, Mass MoCA’s director of public initiatives and real estate. “It’s incredible to see what happens when people come together to work toward a common good.”

Public art along the trail, outdoor murals, and sculptures are planned to be incorporated into the path’s design as well. “I can imagine people starting to see this trail as their canvas as well as their stage for local performing artists and visual artists,” says Yina Moore, The Adams Theater’s artistic director. “There are a lot of visual artists who moved into the area, artists who have always wanted to do large-scale installations, sculptures that can be peppered throughout the trail.”

A 1.75-mile section of the east-west trail will pass through property belonging to the Tourists hotel. Tourists owners Ben Svenson and Eric Kerns have been staunch local advocates for this project. “When we kicked off our hotel project in 2015, bike paths were progressing in neighboring communities while the North Adams sections were stalled, despite having indisputably transformative economic, community, and environmental value,” says Kerns. “This regional coalition, and the watershed funding it has enabled, is the glorious manifestation of the creative, community, and now financial capital we’ve all been working so hard to assemble.”

The existing 14 mile Ashuwillticook Trail is well traveled by visitors. In 2024, over 122,000 bicycle and pedestrian trips were recorded entering the Ashuwillticook at Route 8 in Lanesborough and Park Street in Adams, according to BRPC.

Meslay, an avid biker, says the bike racks at The Clark are used by both visitors and employees. North Adams also offers Bikes for Hikes, a free bike service for exploring the city.

Over the past two decades, community members have unsuccessfully looked for ways to create a route through the narrow Hoosic River Valley, but, according to BRPC reporting, changing personnel, a lack of financial resources, and the challenges of navigating the still-active rail lines in North Adams led to each proposal losing steam.

Preparation for actual construction of the new A2A Trail still has its challenges. Possible effects to neighborhoods, road and rail crossings adjacent to the corridor must be investigated before ground can be broken. “Not having an abandoned railway to convert has been a significant challenge in the extension of the bike trail through North Adams, from both design and fiscal perspectives,” says North Adams’ Mayor, Jennifer Macksey.

Instead of pavement, Brennan says bridges and boardwalks may be employed for short distances to continue the trail without disturbing floodplains and wetlands, costs that would have to be incorporated into construction funding. “Aspirational optimism propels our work forward,” says Everett. “We and the artists we serve share ideas that challenge and expand the view of what’s possible.”