Concord River Greenway Park

Construction Update – 2021

Phase 3B has been designed and is fully funded.  The City is hoping for construction to begin in 2024 – stay tuned!

Construction Update – 2021

Much of Phase 3A is complete with the installation of the bridges 2 and 2B.  Bridge 2B was installed on 8/19/21 and Bridge 2 was installed on 10/20/21.  Enjoy this “before” video (including drone footage) about Phase 3 and the bridges.

Construction Update – 2020

The City of Lowell has put out to bid the following sections (see image at left): Phase 2B bridge, Bridge 2, and Phase 3A.  MAS, the same company that did the construction on the new Lawrence Street bridge, won the bid and has begun working with the city.  Construction of this section, including the bridges, will be done by summer 2021.

Construction Update – 2019

The City of Lowell’s Conservation Commission approved the Concord River Greenway’s final stages of construction at its November 2018 meeting, allowing the city to move forward to the next permitting stage and then putting the project out to bid. Phases 2 and 3A will be the sections constructed, which include a bridge over the Concord River Greenway.

Construction Update – 2017

(click on map at left to see detail)

The City of Lowell, the design team at Brown, Richardson and Rowe, and the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust are coordinating efforts to get the remaining sections of the Greenway out to bid in 2017. The design at left shows yellow sections, already constructed and orange sections that are in final design now.  The two orange sections include Phase 3 (most of which is through National Grid property on Perry Street) and Phase 3A which completes the gap between Centennial Island Housing and the end of the Lawrence Street section. Phase 3A will include two new pedestrian bridges and a section on Centennial Island.  Construction will include the installation of three new wayside signs, as well as three new Wopo Holup-designed public art pieces with quotes from authors that have written about the Concord River.

Construction Update – 2015

During 2015 the section of the Greenway between Jollene Dubner Park and the Centennial Island Apartments was built.  This involved extensive clean-up of debris on the river bank and the building of a coffer dam.  City Manager Kevin Murphy and City Councilor Ed Kennedy hosted a ribbon cutting in September 2015 (see photo in Gallery above).

Construction Update – 2010

During the fall of 2009, two sections of the Greenway were completed, including the Davidson and Lawrence Street sections.  This was celebrated during a RiverFest ribbon-cutting celebration on June 12, 2010 (photo at left).

With the completion of these two sections, there have been 2,700 linear feet of path constructed as part of the Greenway so far.  As part of this construction, 53,300 square feet of green space has been created or refurbished.  This includes areas of lawn, rain gardens, and shrub and tree plantings, as well as mulched perennial beds.

• Landscape Design for the Davidson Lot (PDF)

What are the interesting plants and wildlife that can you see along the Concord River?

Although Lowell has been shaped by centuries of urban land use, the Lowell reach of the Concord River represents a slice of nature in the city.  Highlights include:

• Extensive stands of river birch (Betula nigra) on small floodplain patches – river birch is a watch list species in Massachusetts;

• A diversity of pollinator plant species.

• Regular sightings of Great blue heron in the river along Centennial Island;

• Several red-tailed hawks around powerlines;

• A migrating wood duck in the riffles near Centennial Island (see Greenway check-list of birds);

• Very active dragonflies and damselflies under powerlines;

• Narrow band of silver maple, white ash, box elder, American elm, and black willow along the river;

• Very attractive views onto rapids north of Rogers Street – native trees and shrubs, and impressive rock outcrops;

• Barn swallows, northern rough-winged swallows, and chimney swifts regularly flying above open sections of water below falls – chimney swifts are on the Partners In Flight National Watch List of birds which are in danger of becoming threatened; and

• River otter activity around Wamesit Falls at Centennial Island.

An observant visitor can find all of this and more on a short stroll up the Concord River.

Public Art on the Concord River Greenway

The Greenway’s public art has been intentionally built into the infrastructure of the Greenway.  You’ll find elements built in for safety (bollards) and fencing that have public art built into them.  During the process of designing the Greenway, we worked with artists Mags Harries and Lajos Heder to develop a conceptual plan for the art, and then conducted a national call for artists to design art for the Greenway that would follow the conceptual plan.  Wopo Holup is the artist for the final design.  Several fabricators have supported the installation of her work, including local artist Jay Hungate.

While you’re out enjoying the scenic vistas over the Concord at the Davidson section (across from the Lowell Memorial Auditorium), you’ll notice two public art pieces, designed by artist Wopo Holup.

• As you enter the Greenway, you’ll notice four “bird bollards,” three with cast iron native birds sitting on top (see photo gallery above).

• The long ornamental “text” fence ahead of you includes a 397-character quote by Henry David Thoreau.

When you visit the Lawrence Street end of the Greenway you will find:

• At the entrance to the parking area, there is a granite stack with a Paul Tsongas quote, and at the top of the recycled granite stack is a carving of swallows, by sculptor Jay Hungate.

• An additional public art element (Wopo Holup/Jay Hungate carving) will be installed at the foot of a pedestrian bridge (now in design) over the Concord River.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lowell Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Additional Resources/Information

Land protection to create the Greenway: LP&CT staff have presented at several national conferences about the complexities of creating the Concord River Greenway, due to its urban location. This article from the River Network‘s River Voices details the challenges of this long-term project, including the various land protection mechanisms used.

• Article: River Voices: Protecting Open Spaces: Challenges & Opportunities in Urban Watersheds (PDF)

Creating multi-lingual signage: Lowell is a diverse, immigrant community.  In creating the Greenway’s signage we chose to translate the signs into three languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer), based on the neighborhood of the Greenway corridor, as well as the larger community. Volunteers offered translations so that the Portuguese can be read by both Azorean Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.  The Khmer translation required addressing different challenges in working with long words and a unique font.

• Presentation: Creating the Greenway’s Multi-lingual Signage (PDF)

• Greenway sign images: Images of each of the Greenway’s six historic wayside signs (PDF)

Concord River eco-inventory: To provide a foundation for the design of the Greenway, as well as the integration of the public art and signage, we partnered with Mass Audubon’s Ecological Extension Service to conduct an eco-inventory to understand the natural resources within the Lowell reach of the Concord River.

• Eco-inventory: Mass Audubon eco-inventory (PDF)

• Greenway Checklist of Birds (PDF)

• Concord River Greenway pollinators brochure (youth-led project/photography)

• Website: The Greenway as an Outdoor Classroom – Science section

Land-use History of the Concord River in Lowell:  In addition to conducting the eco-inventory, we also worked with historians to research the history of the Concord River neighborhood. The research project included a series of interviews and oral histories as well as archival research. This provided additional information for the wayside signage and was also condensed to create the following brochure. Additional content and images from this research are included in the history section of “The Greenway as an Outdoor Classroom” website, below.

• Concord River History Brochure

• Website: The Greenway as an Outdoor Classroom – History section