Closing the ‘big gap’: Senate to vote on rail trail connector bill – New Hampshire Bulletin

The Senate is about to approve a invoice Thursday that will make it simpler to attach segments of the state’s rail path by defending railroad property house owners from legal responsibility when outside recreation is allowed on the land. 

With out Home Invoice 1579, “We will’t shut what we name the massive hole,” Jason Soukup informed Senate lawmakers throughout a public listening to for the invoice this month. Soukup works for Manchester Strikes, a nonprofit that has constructed trails in and round Manchester.

The “massive hole” separates the northern portion of the Granite State Rail Path, a 58-mile path stretching from Boscawen to Lebanon, from the southern portion of the path, which runs from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport to Salem, in accordance with Soukup. “The place we’re caught is the place there’s nonetheless a railroad for some purpose or one other,” he stated.

The invoice would clarify that railroad house owners are protected against legal responsibility when individuals utilizing the paths undergo accidents or produce other accidents. Soukup stated it will permit Manchester Strikes to shut the “massive hole,” including 30 miles of path to attach Manchester to Harmony.

The Division of Pure and Cultural Sources additionally helps the invoice. The Bureau of Trails, situated inside that division, manages round 300 miles of state-owned rail trails, along with 1,000 miles of OHRV trails and seven,000 miles of snowmobile trails. A lot of the path system is on privately owned land, in accordance with Trails Bureau Chief Craig Rennie.

“One of many main causes landowners wish to help public entry on their properties is due to the legal responsibility protections landowners have,” he informed lawmakers. Safety towards legal responsibility already exists for landowners who permit public entry to their land for outside recreation. The invoice would add railroad properties and rights-of-way to the lands whose house owners are eligible for defense towards legal responsibility.