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Urgent Appeal: Help Protect the West Side Trail
The West Side Trail is facing an urgent challenge that requires immediate community support.
A 40-foot section of trail near Gilman Road runs alongside a stream that is actively eroding its bank. This erosion is undermining the trail, creating a serious risk of collapse as early as next spring. After careful evaluation, our engineering team has determined that there is no feasible way to permanently stabilize the stream or relocate the trail in this area.
The only viable solution is to bypass the compromised section by constructing a new 85-foot-long bridge. Building the bridge this winter will help ensure public safety and protect the long-term integrity of the trail.
Why This Project Is Complex
The estimated cost of the project is $35,000. Much of this cost is driven by challenging site conditions. The soft soils that are contributing to erosion require the use of specialized helical piers to safely support the bridge structure.
In addition, the design includes a 30-foot span over the stream channel to accommodate ongoing changes in the stream’s path. Specialized beams and structural supports are required to achieve this span. The bridge will also be six feet wide, allowing for safe two-way bicycle traffic.
How You Can Help
The West Side Trail has been built and maintained entirely by volunteers, with funding provided through grants and generous donations from community supporters. While we receive important in-kind support from the Town of Yarmouth, we do not have sufficient funds to cover unexpected expenses of this magnitude.
We are asking our community to help us meet this critical need by making a donation today.
Additional ways to give are outlined in the photo gallery below.
A Trail Built by Community
The West Side Trail exists because of the dedication of volunteers and the generosity of people who believe in accessible, safe, and beautiful outdoor spaces. Your support will help ensure that this treasured community resource remains open and safe for years to come.
Thank you for being part of the West Side Trail community.
The stream erosion is located on the blue trail a few hundred yards from the upper Gilman Road trail crossing.
It all started in the spring of 2024 when we a small crack in the trail on the far side of the bridge Cracks like this usually indicate one thing: slope failure, which is a significant concern.
We initially discovered severe erosion around the bridge supports on the left bank.
The stream is also undercutting the bank opposite the slump, indicating that stream flows have changed. It is impossible to predict when and how the stream channel will shift in the next few years.
But once we cleared the vegetation below the failure crack, we found that the bank had completely failed and slumped into the stream.
We spent the summer studying the stream, including probing the banks to characterize the soils.
We found many very weak spots where the soils had almost no strength and could fail at any time.
First straightening the supports and re-leveling the bridge deck.
The bridge deck was replaced with wider boards and new toe rails. We used hemlock which is significantly cheaper than cedar because we knew this bridge would have to be replaced within a year.
In late-October, CMP's tree contractor removed several diseased trees from our work area both to protect their transmission lines and facilitate our bridge replacement.
Over the summer we undertook sort term stabilization of the existing bridge.
Then installing pipe supports to carry the load until a permanent fix can be made.
The refurbished bridge is solid and would hold up for many years. Our problem is that we expect the bank on the far side will fail long before then.
Last week, we met with our contractor to lay out the bridge locations of four pairs of piers that will support the new 85-foot-long bridge.
This photo gives you a good idea of how much longer the new bridge will be. You can see the old 16-foot-long bridge in the distance. The new bridge is 5X longer!
We placed hay bales around each pier location to minimize frost. This is critical because they will be installing helical piles, which are literally screwed into the ground with a powerful drive head set atop a heavy duty tripod. The ground has to be soft in order to drive them to the appropriate depth
Here's the profile of the new bridge showing the 30-foot gap over the stream channel.
Bridge alignment looking south. There is about a foot and a half of elevation difference between the two ends of the bridge (but it looks like there's a lot more than that when you're standing there).