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Date: 9/30/2020
EASTHAMPTON – On Sept. 20, the temporary bike lane on Williston Avenue was completed as part of the Shared Streets and Spacing Project. The three-part project plan is to increase the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists.
City Planner Jeffery Bagg said that it is important to note that the cones that make the bike lane will be picked up in the winter for the snow plows but they plan on reinstalling it in the spring and summer.
Bagg said the purpose of a temporary bike lane is to allow the city to see how it works and collect feedback from residents, rather than simply talking about it as an idea. He said if it becomes permanent then it will be a more involved process for the city.
The second project is a new sidewalk and crosswalk that was put on Williston Avenue along with flashing safety lights to inform others on the street that someone is crossing. The new crosswalk will get people from the pond to the parking lot safely.
The third part of this project is happening behind Easthampton High School. There will be a new walkway to get to Nonotuck Park and in the park, there will be handicap accessible ramps.
Pleasant Street also received a new upgrade to their crosswalk. It’s now an extended sidewalk with flashing safety lights. People who live in this neighborhood can now get to the bus stop and the Manhan Rail Trail safer than before.
With one project completed, the other two are set to be finished by Oct. 9. Bagg said they are almost done; there are just a few missing pieces.
These projects were made possible from funding from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Shared Street program. The city received $160,000.
Bagg said this was a coordinated effort with the planning department, Department of Public Works (DPW), parks department, and the mayor’s office. He said everyone dropped what they were doing, put together a proposal for MassDOT, and kept spending their time to situate it to have a fast turn around.
When the city first heard about the program they looked at existing plans to find projects that fit in their criteria.
The idea of a bike lane on Williston Avenue dates back to their 2008 records. Bagg said back then it was a broad goal to connect downtown to the schools and Nonotuck Park. In their open space plan from 2013, it strengthened that they should make connections from the Manhan Trail to the schools and parks. The idea of a bike lane kept coming up and the complete streets plan which was a project done in 2017, lists Williston Ave. at a high pedestrian population. Two years later the city did a project with Conway School and the idea of a two-way bike lane was mentioned.