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The Salem Bike-Ped Corridor is a 4.95-mile trail in Salem. The trail is paved between its northern end at intersection of Broadway & Range Street and Main Street. South of Main Street, the trail is currently unpaved and better suited for walking and mountain biking.
About the Route
From its northern end at intersection of Broadway & Range Street, the tree-covered trail heads south to Main Street. The trail runs behind the popular Tuscan Kitchen restaurant on Main Street in Salem. In fact, the restaurant's owner generously paid for construction of this segment, and has made the eatery's outdoor patio available for trail users—be sure to stop in for a bite to eat to show your appreciation!
On Main Street, visit the Salem Depot Transportation Museum, housed in a restored Boston and Maine Railroad station. The museum happily offers restrooms and water to trail users.
Continuing south as an unpaved path, the trail parallels S Broadway Street to Hampshire Road, where it connects to the Methuen Rail Trail.
Connections
At its northern end, the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor connects to the Windham Rail Trail.
When complete, the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor will run for more than 5 paved miles on a former Boston and Maine Railroad corridor from connections with the Windham Rail Trail (north) and Methuen Rail Trail (south) in their respective towns. The completion of this crucial stretch of trail will allow for an uninterrupted trek from the northern edge of Lawrence, Massachusetts, to downtown Derry, New Hampshire.
These three trails, as well as several others farther north, are also components of the in-progress Granite State Rail Trail, which will eventually span the length of New Hampshire.
The Salem Bike-Ped Corridor runs between N Broadway & Range St (Salem) and Hampshire Rd (Salem), where parking is available.
Visit the TrailLink map for all parking options and detailed directions.
Trail connects seamlessly to Windham RT and Methuen RT and these two trails have connections to Derry RT and Spicket River Greenway for a total of 18.75 miles of connected trail.
The northern part of trail is like Windham (excellent), but southern part of trail (1-mile) runs along highway 28 and is not good hardpack (a black dirt gravel). The trail is wide and protected from vehicles but there are lots of stops to let cars depart from stores along the route (lots of button pushing at traffic lights).
Just did this trail today from Range Road in Windham to Derry. This is a great trail and was surprisingly not that busy for July 3rd. One tiny observation, we attempted to start at the Willow St. parking area in Salem across from Dodge Grain. Things have changed there since the Rail Trail map was done, there is no parking anywhere there now. Some company has signs saying non-company business parkers will be towed. Thus we went north. However, it looks like there is an empty lot at the Main St. - Central St. intersection across from the Depot Museum in Salem. It looks to be safe to park there and the rail trail is a few steps away.
It was a wonderful first rail trail ride -all asphalt and no bumps. Plenty of places to pull over and rest and read signs along the way. We had a great time.
Road from Methuen to Salem, NH
First, only paved in Methuen. Once you get to Salem, no pavement and the trail is a mix of everything.
Second, SAFETY!!
With most rail trail paths that intersect with cat traffic there is warning signs to stop or traffic lights to assist with safe crossing. Not on this route.
Pretty sure at the 3 major meetings with car traffic that we encountered, they had no idea that a riding path even existed. Treacherous crossings, had to stop at the intersection just before Tuscan Village.
Please don’t call this the Rail Trail
Rented ebikes from Pedigo nearby trailhead and Rachel and Ed were so nice. The trail was cold and shaded a good part of the ride so bring layers. We brought a picnic, plenty of places to stop and eat. The trail is somewhat confusing at the end so we just decided to turn around and head back. Great day all and all!
The paved and complete section is 2.0 miles long from the Windham Rail Trail to the Salem Main Street Depot. The next 1.3 miles are under development with CMAQ grants helping. The remaining distance to Methuen is not complete or funded but passable on a regrind surface. This 5.2 mile Salem corridor is the south link of the Granite State Rail Trail. (Submitted by Dave Topham, FSBPC Co-Chair & Treasurer)
Nice trail, well maintained. Seamless connection to Windham and Derry trails
The Salem Bike- Ped is now paved and open to Tuscan Kitchen!
My family has been biking this trail for a couple of years now. It's very pleasant due to not having many road crossings between Salem and Derry.
We came to the southern end of the Windham rail trail and to our delight found the Salem Ped Rail Trail was freshly paved and had opened on Oct 21, 2016. So we were able to bike about another 2 miles south. Beyond this, the trail is unpaved and we chose not to go further. This makes the paved portion trail about a total 8.3 miles, running from Derry NH trail head thru part of Salem. We have enjoyed biking the Derry Rail Trail which connects to the Whindham Rail Trail for several years, and now look forward to the possibility someday that you could bike all the way to Lawrence Massachusetts.
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