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Segment

Phase 1 NHSG
Stone Dust

An 8-mile stretch of rail trail running through Portsmouth and North Hampton, utilizing abandoned Pan Am Railways corridors. The trail features a stone dust surface approximately 12 feet wide, providing a scenic route through woods, neighborhoods, and natural areas like the Great Bog.

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Trails

The NHSH is a partly complete 14.5 mile trail stretching from Massachusetts to Maine. Once complete, it will comprise the NH section of the East Coast Greenway. The trail is being constructed in three phases, the longest of which is now complete from Portsmouth to Hampton. The other two phases are funded for construction in 2030 and 2032.

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Timeline

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

September 4, 2024

Several hundred people, including Governor Sununu, Mayor McEachern, and Commissioner Cass, turned out to celebrate the long-wished-for official opening of the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway.

Trail Nearly Complete

Spring 2024

Although the completed portion of the Rail Trail will not be officially opened until the fall, there plenty of people already walking, biking, and running on it.

Start of Construction

Spring 2023

Right-of-way Aquired

August 1, 2019

New Hampshire DOT agreed to purchase 9.6 miles of the abandoned Hampton Branch Railroad Corridor from Pan Am Railways, a successor to the Boston and Maine Corporation. The corridor will be developed into the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway, a key segment of the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway.

Negotiations Ongoing

2016

The state hired a third appraiser to resolve stalled negotiations over the purchase of the 9.6-mile abandoned railway from Hampton to Portsmouth. The state has owned the railway south of Hampton since the 1990s. Officials are optimistic the new appraisal will lead to progress.

Rail Trail Efforts Begin

2007

Volunteers and area officials began work to make the project a reality

1 mi
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