Rockingham Recreation Trail Tunnel Fundraiser
How often do you ride in southern NH? Have you ever ridden through the corrugated pipe tunnel in Raymond near Onway Lake Rd? Not a good situation! Southern NH Trailblazers is mobilizxing an effort to get this fixed the right way, but we need your help!
Borrowed from the GoFundMe page, within the section of rail trail from Epping to Candia there is an old round corrugated culvert pipe tunnel in Raymond NH, (Onway Lake Road). As you can see in the image below, over the course of the winter the tunnel fills with ice and snow considerably decreasing the height needed to safely ride through. There have been several incidents of riders hitting their helmets on the top of the culvert.
We did close the tunnel once and were granted a temporary bypass through the abutting landowners property, but that was a onetime use only. This culvert needs to be replaced not only for the safety reasons but as it is, the groomer must go down the road and through a special trail to get to the other side. Going around the culvert and backing up to each end adds 60 minutes each way while grooming. That’s two hours of wasted time not grooming the actual trail.
Replacing this culvert with a concrete box tunnel like the one shown below will not only make winter activities on this trail safer it will also allow bicyclists and equestrians to safely utilize this rail trail year round. Because this is a state owned recreation trail it will always be there for everyone and this new tunnel will keep this scenic rail trail open for many more generations to enjoy.
The total cost of this project is estimated to be around $250,000 and will only take one week to complete. Unfortunately, the States Bureau of Trails has limited funds to work with so we. as a snowmobiling, hiking, bicycling, and horse riding community, need to band together and donate whatever we can to help make this new tunnel a reality and keep this trail open for future generations to enjoy.
Please consider sharing this with everyone you know. Visit the GoFundMe page and SNHT Facebook page (you’ll find the link to share as the first post on our site), and donate and share.
Thank you for whatever help you can provide!
