After years of flooding threatened to destroy an important link in Barnstable's trail network, local bicyclists stepped up this summer to rebuild it themselves.
In June, volunteers with the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) hauled supplies deep into the woods off Route 6A near Barnstable Village. The Barnstable Land Trust covered part of the construction cost, and NEMBA members built a boardwalk along Trayser Trail. Today a 185-foot-long planked span snakes through the preserved land behind the Old Jail and the Coast Guard Heritage Museum.
The group has also built trails around Cape Cod Community College. But Trayser Trail was a special case given its vulnerability every time it rained, said Lev Malakhoff, Mid-Cape vice president of NEMBA's Cape Cod chapter.
"There were some high-water years, where the trail was flooded almost up to your knees," said Malakhoff, a former transportation planner for the Cape Cod Commission.
"NEMBA is really invested in providing safe and sustainable access to trail networks throughout New England."
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