Rethinking The Rail Trail Rhetoric - Editorial
Some recent musings from Bourne columnist Wes Ewell have been ringing in our head for a few weeks now. The comments wound up not getting published—the fault of no one but the rapid news cycle itself—but they’ve imprinted on our brain in a significant enough way for us to now share them here.
As the battle over the construction of the proposed Bourne Rail Trail and fate of the Falmouth Secondary rail line rages on, it might be high time for a change in the surface-level rhetoric to better align the project’s framing with what the new rail trail could—and would—actually be used for.
For most of the last two years this editor has spent in Bourne, the framing of the project has been as a bike path or trail. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this characterization. Bicyclists would certainly use the path, as they use the Shining Sea Bikeway (which is essentially the blueprint for the rail trail’s overall vision). But dig a bit deeper, and—as in any region as rife with avid cyclists as ours—we’re sure you’ll find some dissent about the whole idea just because many suffer the not-so-uncommonly felt irritation toward bicyclists that simmers just below the surface of many Cape Cod neighborhoods. You only need to look so far as the Facebook comments section of local town-centric groups to get the picture. (Sorry, bicyclists. Don’t shoot the messenger.)
To be fair, bicyclists on the Cape don’t have it easy, with all the narrow and winding roads with no sidewalks that sprawl throughout the Upper Cape. Unless there is a dedicated bicycle lane or path that leads directly to the main recreation trail, as neighborhoods along Falmouth’s Shining Sea Bikeway enjoy, then it is nearly impossible for a cyclist (sans car with a bike rack) to avoid biking on roadways to make it to said recreation trails.
But we wonder: what if we changed the framing of the rail trail from being a “bike path” to something less specific and more all encompassing, like a “recreation trail?” Our Falmouth office offers great views of the Shining Sea Bikeway from our newsroom, so we can testify firsthand that although bicycles are a big part of its use, there are plenty still who use the path for other types of recreation.
We’ve observed groups of walkers of all ages—sometimes it’s schoolchildren, other times we see groups of seniors out for a stroll. Countless Enterprise employees take advantage of our proximity to the path by taking regular walks, and the path has long served as the daily commute for our publisher emeritus. To our delight, we see loads of dogs being walked. We walk our own dog there—it’s peaceful, gorgeously wooded, and perfect for taking in everything that draws people from around the globe to Cape Cod each year. We also see people pushing strollers, runners sprinting by, skateboarders, roller bladers—all types of recreation are happening on this path daily, regardless of the season.
The suggestion is surface level, but the impact may be more profound than one might expect. The disdain that some hold toward bicyclists, for whatever reason, is too broad a problem to be reasoned with for our purposes, and would be a poor use of time anyway. What might help, though, is a more expansive definition of what the Bourne Rail Trail can and would be, if and when it comes to fruition.
The appeal of a bike path only goes so far; not everyone is a cyclist. But, in emphasizing the point that the rail trail, however constructed, will be utilized for much more than just cycling, that concept can appeal to a broader population and sway public opinion on the bike path—which could perhaps use a boost after last year’s campaign against it by the company operating the tracks that are on the hypothetical chopping block. We’d wager that a lot more people can sign on to the concept of an open space, conducive to transportation, as well as all types of recreation—wheels not required.