During the January 12 meeting of the Mattapoisett Bike Path Study Committee chaired by Steve Kelleher, funding needs for aspects of Phase 2a, deemed “The Last Mile” from Railroad Avenue to North Street, was discussed.
Kelleher said that a grant application to the town’s Community Preservation Act Committee had been filed in the amount of $120,000. The breakdown of those monies, if appropriated through Town Meeting vote, includes pre-design needs such as appraisals for land takings and easement rights, wetland studies and permitting fees. He said that Representative Bill Straus was reaching out to appraisers, who would put a monetary value on private property needed to complete the trail.
Bonnie DeSousa of the Friends of the Mattapoisett Bike Path added to the discussion with more detailed financial projections after it was noted by Kelleher that Capital Planning wanted more information of prior monies allotted to the bike-path phases and projections for remaining phase(s).
DeSousa said that the FMBP was providing support to the town’s committee to help provide more definitive financial projections for future bike-path construction before and during rounds of discussion and review with the Capital Planning and Finance committees.
In DeSousa’s financial outlines, she noted that Phase 2a cost estimates include $60,000 for land acquisitions, $285,000 for design engineering, $120,000 for pre-design needs (CPA grant as previously noted), and construction costs ranging from $1,600,000 to $3,800,000.
In explaining the construction estimates, DeSousa said that an estimating tool available from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation was used. That tool used data that included the topography and environmental conditions of proposed routes. For instance, DeSousa said conditions such as woodlands versus wetlands versus railroad beds and the length of the trail were all part of the program’s algorithms used to calculate cost estimates. DeSousa said assumptions such as where MassDOT would elect to have the bike path cross Route 6 were yet to be determined.
The committee moved to partner with the FMBP to advise the town on cost estimates for remaining phase(s). The proposed last mile (Phase 2a) runs from the end of Railroad Avenue across Route 6 and onward towards North Street near the entrance to Industrial Drive. Phase 2b, proposed to run along Industrial Drive, is part of another major infrastructure project that would see federal funding used for a complete redesign of the roadway from North Street to the entrance of Bay Club on its northside. The bike path proposed to run in tandem with Industrial Drive is just over a mile, Kelleher said, and would connect Mattapoisett’s pathway with Marion’s proposed pathway also utilizing the former railroad bed.
Earlier in the meeting, Kelleher said that the stalled completion of Phase 1b was being studied and reviewed by the DOT in an ongoing attempt to resolve issues with the planking used on the marshland bridge. He said that the state was doing a small sampling of a solution that would use double-thick planks to determine if that would stop the splitting problems found midway through construction.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Bike Path Study Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, February 9, at 5:30 pm.
Mattapoisett Bike Path Study Committee
By Marilou Newell