South Bay Harbor Trail will connect Roxbury, the South End, and the Seaport

The city is expected to restart work next spring on the long-delayed South Bay Harbor Trail connecting Roxbury and the Seaport District via the South End.

The bike- and pedestrian-friendly trail is slated to run 3.5 miles from Fan Pier on the waterfront to the Orange Line’s Ruggles stop.

The first phase is a 0.75-mile stretch near the South End’s Albany Street, along and under the Southeast Expressway, on its way to connecting with the Harborwalk.

The final phase will be part of a larger overhaul of Roxbury’s Melnea Cass Boulevard. That project isn’t supposed to start until 2019 or later.

But the fact that the South Bay Harbor Trail is commencing at all is a minor miracle. As the Globe’s Adam Vaccaro notes, planning for the path goes back to 2001, and work commenced in 2008 before stopping shortly after.

Stay tuned for how things unfold this go-round.

• Work on South Bay bike trail finally begins, with plans to link city to water [Globe]