Assabet River Rail Trail

No current plans exist for paving the 4.0-mile (6.4 km) gap in Stow and Hudson between the two trail ends.

[1] In 1851 transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, who lived in Concord, wrote in his famous journal about a trek to Boon's Pond—today known as Lake Boon—which on the return included a walk along the railroad tracks now replaced by the trail.

[3] Plans to convert the Marlborough Branch tracks into a rail trail date back to at least 1992.

[8][9] In 2005 the south end of the trail, measuring 5.1 miles (8.2 km), was completed from Marlborough to a parking lot on Wilkins Street in northeast Hudson.

[15] A separate April 1997 feasibility study conducted by the Massachusetts Central Transportation Planning Staff proposed a Central Massachusetts Rail Trail extending continuously from the town of Berlin to Alewife station and Minuteman Bikeway in Cambridge.

[16] In 2010 the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation proposed the 23 miles (37 km) Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside (MCRT—Wayside) project from Waltham to Berlin, connecting to the ARRT in Hudson.

[17]: A-33  In October 2022, 7.6 miles (12.2 km) of the MCRT—Wayside in Sudbury and Hudson began construction, which will create this connection to the ARRT at Wilkins Street when completed, which is estimated in 2025.

This is a cost saving measure as an alternative to new construction of the MCRT—Wayside over the nearby, former Central Mass Branch ROW.