Tell us about yourself! Who are you and what is your mission?
Newfound Pathways is an all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization formed in 2008. Most of our members are full or part-time residents of Bridgewater, Bristol, Hebron, and Alexandria. Our mission is to actively work for safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists around the Newfound Lake area.
What have you accomplished in our community?
Newfound Pathways works with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation on projects that make our roads safer. For example, walking, running, and cycling around the lake was really dangerous, as much of the route had little or no road shoulders, and the road edges were crumling. So a few years ago, when a major road repaving project was scheduled, we worked with the NHDOT to create a low-cost plan to widen the road shoulders around the lake. Our goal was accomplished by re-paving the road out to its orginial width and reducing the travel lane widths by repainting the shoulder lines closer to the center line. A stone dust/asphalt mix was applied to the road edges, which served to protect the edges from crumbling and had a side-benefit of adding extra space for walkers/joggers. We the npainted bicyclist stencils on the shoulders and added pedestrian/cyclist road signage. We continue to work with the NHDOT and local road crews to make sure that the shoulder lines are repainted every couple of years, maintaining the wider shoulder width.
In recent years we worked with the towns of Bridgewater and Hebron to lower the speed limit seasonally along Route 3A from 50 MPH to 40 MPH.
Bill Dowey, our hard-working Newfound Pathways member, has helped Bristol secure grants and accomplish great things, including creating the new Bristol Falls park, Safe Routes for Schools, and improvements and plans for a Pemi River Trail. He is also working with the town of Bristol to improve cycling routes through the town.
Over the years, Newfound Pathways has held “Bike Rodeos” at the local elementary schools in the area as well as a regional bike rodeo. The rodeos teach kids how to ride safely on a sample course and learn the rules of the road. Police officers attend and speak to the kids about road safety. We give away free helmets and used bikes. Newfound Pathways also hosts bike rides, walks, and hikes for the community during the summer.
Newfound Pathways partners with other organizations such as NANA, the NLRA, NH Audubon, the Tapply-Thompson Community Center, BWANH, the local summer camps, and all of the Newfound Lake communities on projects that promote safe non-motorized recreation for residents and visitors. A few years back we received permission from the NH Audubon along with help from NH’s Youth Conservation Corps to construct a trail on property NH Audubon’s Paradise Point parking lot in Hebron north and west, up the big hill, joining North Shore Road at the hill’s summit.
What do you want to accomplish next?
We want to complete construction of our first multi-use off-road trail, which parallels Route 3A in Hebron just north of Camp Pasquaney. The trail will be about .3 miles when completed. We need to apply for grants and do additional fundraising to raise the dollars to complete this project. We are also working with landowners in our communities to create new off-road trails, especially those that parallel the around-the lake road loop. This coming year we are going to expand our website to include information on local outdoor recreation places and opportunities. We also want to lead walks, hikes, and bicycle rides over the summer (if safe to do so), and include volunteer opportunities such as trail maintenance and local events staffing on our online calendar. And we want to ramp up work with our partners and towns!
How can people be involved?
Newfound Pathways is an all-volunteer organization. All of our activities and plans take a lot of time and effort. We encourage and welcome all volunteers to help us with writing, fundraising, website enhancements, trail maintenance, and events.
Visit NewfoundPathways.org to learn more!