Berlin's New ATV Trail Through Town

Berlin, New Hampshire, used to be the third largest city in the state, with twenty-five thousand residents.

Today 10 thousand people call Berlin home.

The city’s pulp mill is gone and more than 100 buildings stand vacant.

But Mayor David Bertrand says after years of decline, the city is looking to the future.

"Now that the pulp mill is gone and we realize there is an opportunity here for mixed use economic development it just opens up a whole new world."

The city wants people to think of Berlin when they consider any outdoor recreation, from skiing to rock climbing to kayaking.

Their first step is to go after ATVers and snowmobilers, something Berlin has a long history with.

"You can see it already. You can see trailer-loads of ATVs coming up for the weekend. It's already having an impact."

That's Tim Cayer, city councilor and local business owner.

He’s been working with the local ATV club, the police department, the city and the state to route an ATV trail through the middle of the city.

It links a state ATV park on the east side of the city with trails to the west.

Cayer says it will create almost one hundred miles for continuous riding.

"The real impact is going to be in the businesses, in how it's going to impact this community and maybe set the stage for bigger things and better things down the road in terms of being a recreation destination, which this city has never ever even come close to considering being."

Cayer and others hope visitors will notice this new face on the old mill town.

They want to promote the city as a place where the air and water are clean….and where you can find a four bedroom house with spectacular views for under a hundred thousand dollars.

Randy Cicchetto opened Jericho Motorsports next to the state ATV park three years ago.

"There's a lot of opportunity here. Not just for myself but for the whole city of Berlin."

Cichetto says his business is expanding, and he expects to be hiring soon.

"I look forward to winter, again going to the snowmobile season. And then again when snowmobile season finishes I can't wait until the trails open back up on May 23rd because it brings good business to us."

Organizers say the new trail the will only increase traffic through the city.

It uses a combination of city streets and off-road trails to get from one side of Berlin to the other.

SFX — Metal scraping on pavement, shaking a can of spraypaint and painting.

The Androscoggin Valley ATV Club is working with the city to get the trail marked and signs up in time for the opening on November 7th.

"If we have a good week this week it'll be all down. We can get most of this down today, get these down today. I think I'll have it all signed by then without any problem."

Erik Anderson is a trail master with the club.

He's painting eighteen inch green diamonds on the pavement to mark where ATVs are allowed to go.

This is the first time the club has done anything like this, he says.

"This is a challenge. This is all new to us. Completely new."

The same is true for Berlin.

For NHPR News, I'm Erik Eisele.

SFX — Spraypaint.