City moves forward with conceptual design of North Mill Pond Trail

After a public meeting at the end of 2018, followed by a February 2019 work session with the Conservation Commission, the City of Portsmouth is finalizing the conceptual design developed for the North Mill Pond Trail.

The purpose of this project is to design a linear greenway and community park along the North Mill Pond. The greenway will include a multi-use path for use by bicycles and pedestrians extending from Bartlett Street to Market Street with a brief on-road portion along Maplewood Avenue.

Halverson Design Partnership was hired by the City to develop the design for this project and took part in the public input process. With the exception of a one-acre community park, all of the land in the proposed linear greenway is currently owned by private entities and will require land easements or acquisition by the City. For this reason, the construction of this greenway and park is anticipated to be done as a public/private partnership.

City staff have met with property owners along the proposed trail alignment and, to continue momentum on the planning process, have begun coordination with the representatives from the railroad. It is the City’s hope to begin to fully design the first phase of this trail in the Raynes Avenue area later this year and begin construction on a portion of the trail in 2020.