Historical Archive
Bikeways
The Fall River Herald News South Coast Bikeway aims to connect Swansea, Wareham March 24, 2013 FALL RIVER - Supporters of the plan to create the South Coast Bikeway from the Rhode Island border to Cape Cod to serve cyclists and walkers continue their momentum to make the project a reality. “We’ve got to get this country moving again. Whether we’re talking about commuting to work or recreation, we are really talking about quality of life,” said Pauline Hamel, the coordinator for Mass in Motion New Bedford and a member of the South Coast Bikeway Committee spearheading the effort. One of the many advantages of creating a 40-mile biking trail is the health benefit to local residents as the region and nation face a public health crisis that includes obesity, diabetes and cancer, Hamel said. Since 2011, the South Coast Bikeway Committee has been working on plans to build the bikeway that will feature both on- and off-road trails and link the cities and towns of Swansea, Somerset, Fall River, Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Wareham, and could include routes to the campuses of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Bristol Community College. Completed portions of the bikeway already exist within six miles in Mattapoisett, Fairhaven and Fall River. Two more miles in Fall River and Mattapoisett are in the design stage, and a plan for a 12-mile section will link Wareham and Bourne. The bikeway committee met with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Secretary Richard Davey in support of the his new policy to see a 30 percent mode share shift, said Mass in Motion Fall River’s coordinator, Julie Kelly. “That’s moving more toward using bicycles, pedestrians walking and using bus transportation, basically shifting away from the idea everyone has to have an automobile to transport themselves around,” Kelly said. Susan Jennings, director of UMass Dartmouth’s Sustainability Office, said her organization has been one of the partners in the South Coast Bikeway. She said there is a lot of interest from staff and students to develop a bike path on campus that will connect the university with surrounding communities. “And a way for a community to connect with us,” Jennings said. The project to connect bikeways from Swansea to Bourne has the support of the nonprofit East Coast Greenway, whose members met with South Coast Bikeway Committee and voted to support the region’s bike trail plan, said Kelly As of December 2012, cost estimates predict the main bikeway project will cost $25.3 million in construction costs and $4 million in design costs, according Adam Recchia, principal transportation planner and Bicycle Coordinator for the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. Add in alternative segments at UMass Dartmouth and Chase Road in Dartmouth to the New Bedford Hurricane barrier, and tack on an additional $6.2 million. How the completed project will be funded is still a relative unknown. “Unfortunately, the way the funding works for a project like this, construction is mile by mile and town by town,” Recchia said. In January, Gov. Deval Patrick proposed an ambitious 10-year transportation funding plan. His proposal would infuse $430 million dedicated to constructing and improving bicycle and pedestrian facilities managed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The governor’s plan is now in the hands of the Legislature, which has vowed to scale down his plan. In Rhode Island, which boasts nearly 60 miles of off-road trails and 120 miles of on-road bikeways, bike path construction began in the 1980s, first with the East Bay Bike Way, said Rhode Island Department of Transportation spokesperson Charles St. Martin. Since then, RIDOT has completed the 11-mile Blackstone River Bikeway constructed along the Providence and Worcester Railroad line. St. Martin said funding for the projects was paid for with a combination of federal and state money, with a split of about 80 percent to 20 percent respectively. On March 28, the group will sponsor its third annual South Coast Bikeway Summit at the University of Massachusetts Law School that will focus on the economic development advantages. The bikeway planners say that, aside from the health and social benefits of bicycling and walking, bike paths in communities drive economic development — a fact that the SouthCoast is missing out on, unlike other regions in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Years ago, when the Rhode Island Department of Transportation proposed the East Bay Bike Way, the residents protested the project, said Brian Pearson, chairman of the Fall River Bicycle Committee. “Now they use it as a selling point particularly in home sales,” Pearson said. St. Martin agrees the Rhode Island bike paths have created an economic advantage for communities. “They are positive assets for towns that help provide a quality of life,” St. Martin said.
By Jo C. Goode, Herald News Staff Reporter
That organization is developing a bicycle trail system that will span 3,000 miles, winding between Canada and Key West, Fla., and linking all major cities along the eastern seaboard, Kelly said.
“The East Coast Greenway organizers approved a measure that would make the South Coast Bikeway a spur as part of their overall plan,” Kelly said.
Strong transportation in Fall River a prescription for good
FOCUS: New track for South Coast Bikeway funding
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