Another Gap’s Gone On the Northern Strand Trail In Everett

Work on a long-delayed segment of the Northern Strand Trail is finally nearing completion in Everett this summer, opening up a car-free pathway from the Mystic River to Malden, Saugus, and Lynn.

Since the Northern Strand Trail first opened in 2021, there's been a short gap in the pathway at the Revere Beach Parkway (see map below).

The City of Everett had hoped to complete the trail through that gap in 2021. But workers ran into unforeseen issues with the abutments on the Revere Beach Parkway bridge.

That work is still ongoing, as seen in the photos below. But fences on either end of the worksite are gone, and trail users are free to pass through on a newly-paved trail under two highway bridges.

The new trail segment passes under two highway underpasses and runs alongside an MBTA railroad maintenance yard.

The southerly underpass, pictured above, carries the six-lane Revere Beach Parkway.

A smaller bridge to the north (pictured below) carries a two-lane frontage road and a two-way protected bikeway between Sweetser and Santilli Circles.

In between the two highways, the trail passes through a garbage-strewn no-man's land that is technically Department of Conservation and Recreation parkland.

As we reported earlier this summer, the state is planning another extension of the Northern Strand over the Mystic River. In 2024, construction will begin on a bridge to carry the trail over the river into Somerville.