The Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail will take place on June 2nd, 2026 at 5:00 PM at the offices of Orr & Reno, 45 S Main St, Concord, NH 03301. The meeting is open to the public.
We will report on our financial condition, elect board members, and briefly discuss active projects.
May is National Bike Month and what a start we’ve had to the month! We saw the Governor and Council approve a request from NHDOT to appropriate $600,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds as the match for the Town of Warner’s $2,352,000 CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) grant. An almost $3 million dollar project fully funded to build a critical section of trail getting us from one side of Interstate 89 to the other near Exit 8. Unbelievable!
The Bagley Bridge to Exit 8 project is poised to move forward. This project will extend the trail at Bagley up to where the project mentioned above will start. We expect you will be walking on this new trail before the 4th of July.
We are making progress on the Exit 9 project. HEB Engineers has been selected as our consultant and they are beginning to work this month on the Engineering Study phase of the project.
We are working as fast as we can in Concord to dot i’s and cross t’s so we can begin the work on the 1.25 mile completion of our Fisherville to Carter Hill section.
All our projects are seeing construction costs go up rapidly. Please help us by purchasing raffle tickets before May 19.
We also have NHCDFA Tax credits which we need to place with NH Businesses by May 17. Any leads are appreciated. Talk to your employer about NH tax credits to see if they know what they are. This is a way for a business to have a huge impact and we really need to get our remaining tax credits placed.
On May 2 we were awarded a $2,500 grant from the Granite State Wheelers Bicycle Club to purchase trail maintenance tools! We are super excited to be getting these tools which will help keep the trail looking great through the years.
As part of Bike Month we are leading a short on street ride Friday May 3rd from the State House Plaza at 5:30 PM to talk about all things bike related in Concord. Its a 4 mile ride with 3 stops. This is part of Intown Concord’s First Friday initiative. We are co-sponsoring with the Granite State Wheelers, Central NH Bicycle Coalition, Commute Smart NH.
A partnership with Central New Hampshire Bicycle Coalition, the Brain Injury Association of NH, S&W Sports and a special donation to the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail made it possible to donate balance bikes and regular bikes to the Concord School District. Kindergarteners and 1st graders will learn how to ride bikes in PE class.
We look forward to seeing these new cyclists and their families on the rail trail.
Thank you everyone who turned out! Together we kept the Exit 9 project moving forward. We expect to have an agreement with a consulting firm in place by the end of April, 2024.
A citizen petition warrant article was introduced that could stop work on the rail trail. We need Warner residents to attend town meeting and vote this petition down. Please don’t expect someone else to do this for you. If you want to have a rail trail in town its absolutely critical this petition not pass. So in exchange for the 10 years our board has put in to getting us to where we are, we are asking for one evening of your time. This is VERY important. Town Meeting is March 13th at 6:00 PM in Warner Town Hall. We look forward to seeing you there and thank you for your support.
We like to share information about the trail and do that throughout the year.
Spring Into Warner, Market Days, Kearsarge Klassic, Sierra Club Event, Pedaling for Payson, Warner Fall Foliage Festival
The weekend after Mothers Day is a busy one for us. We try to support both Spring Into Warner and the CNHBC Bike Swap at S&W Sports in Concord. This year our tent was up at Spring Into Warner.
Intown Concord puts on a fantastic event in June where Main St is closed to traffic and people from all over the region turn out to see what Concord has to offer. Come see us in 2024 at Market Days.
The Kearsarge Klassic is a gravel ride put on by GRVL.NET each August. It starts and finishes at Cafe One East in downtown Warner, NH. We look forward to staffing the rest stop at Potter Place along the Northern Rail Trail in Andover. We talk with the 300 participants about how we are working to deliver a similar great riding experience with our trail. And the grilled PB & Bacon sandwiches are a rider favorite.
In early September we co-hosted an event on the Concord section of the CLSRT. It was a chance for people to come to the trail for a short talk with Q&A followed by either a walk to the beaver deceiver or a bike ride on the rail trail.
This September event raises money for support for cancer patients at Concord Hospital. They have road courses, gravel courses and a mountain bike course. This year part of the course was on the Stevens Rail Trail section of the CLSRT. We really enjoyed talking with everyone and hope to be back next year.
Each Columbus Day weekend in October the Town of Warner holds is Fall Foliage Festival. You can find us on the front lawn of Cafe One East.
Thunderstorms are forecasted for the afternoon of July 28th so we made the decision this morning to postpone until August 11. Participants may run in Concord on Aug 11, or run in Bradford Aug 18, or run in Newbury Sept 15, or request a refund. We thank everyone for their understanding and flexibility. We hope to see you for a great event.
These railroad wheelset benches provide a very long lasting, comfortable, and striking way to show your appreciation to a loved one or to promote your business. We will work with you to find the optimal trailside location for your bench. A custom plaque will be attached.
Custom Bench cost: $1,995. Contact us at info@clsrt.org with any questions.
We are looking for volunteers to help greet people during Market Days in Concord June 23rd, 24th and 25th. This is a really fun time. Everyone loves the rail trail and wants to know where it is and what’s happening. We will give you all the answers. Click below to pick a time that works for you.
Looking ahead to July we have the Flat & Furious 5K Concord event on the 21st from 4:30 to 7:00. If you can help us with that please click below.
In Warner, park to the right of the trail gate alongside Old Warner Road in Davisville. In Hopkinton, park to the right of the Hopkinton library by the kiosk and walk/ride along the back access road to the intersection of Spring Street and Krzyzaniak Lane. Cross the road here and you will see orange trail gate. In 2024 an extension from the library to Kearsarge Ave in Contoocook village opened.
This section of trail was extended by a half a mile to the west and now brings you to another view of the Warner River.
The parking area at 25 Fisherville Rd, Concord, NH is now open. You will find parking for 7 vehicles, a bicycle fix station with pump, and a kiosk with trail information. This section of trail was built over a 6 year stretch with the first segment opening in March of 2020 just as COVID hit. The final (orange) segment constructed in the first half of 2025.