In West Tisbury, ‘A Path Beside the Roadways'

By CHRIS BURRELL

A sidewalk may seem like the most hum-drum of amenities, but in West
Tisbury they refer to their walkways with great deference, calling them
"paths beside the roadways."

Until last year, this up-Island town with nearly 15 miles of paved
streets enjoyed only the barest scrap of sidewalk, about 200 feet from
Alley's General Store up around the corner of Music street to the
side entrance of the First Congregational Church.

It was something of a problem: Anyone stepping out the front door
for a stroll invariably ended up in the street.

"The Island has accumulated more people and walking along the
side of the roads with no sidewalk is getting to be very
unpleasant," said West Tisbury resident Ruth Kirchmeier. "I
walk all over the place, quite often in ditches and places where you
have to paste yourself up against an embankment because there's no
sidewalk."

A few years ago, William (Billy) Haynes decided it was time to bring
West Tisbury into a new age where walkers could tread without fear of
traffic. He started up a paths committee, and they started walking the
roads of West Tisbury, scouting the best, and most needed, places for a
sidewalk.

"We've walked every road in town or at least a part of
it," said Mr. Haynes. "All of us do kind of like to walk a
little bit."

Ms. Kirchmeier joined the committee and confirmed this is a board
with a definite slant. "We're all walkers," she said
flatly.

As volunteering goes, she added, this task really didn't seem
like work. "We've had a good time walking every road in West
Tisbury," she said.

Eventually, they settled on the North Tisbury business district
along State Road as the most logical starting point for the town's
newest sidewalk. Their goal was to design a path from the Martha's
Vineyard Public Charter School all the way to Island Farms Road.

Across the street, an additional pathway would link the shopping
areas between Conroy's Apothecary and Biga Bakery and the post
office.

Sounds simple enough, but the 3,000 feet of sidewalk they envisioned
and then handed over to county engineer Steve Berlucchi to design are no
ordinary strip of pedestrian pavement. First off, it's macadam,
and it curves its way around trees and over small humps in the
landscape.

Mr. Haynes recalled discussions from more than a decade ago about
bike paths. Residents resisted the idea for aesthetic reasons.
"People didn't want to see a scar beside the road," he
said.

So the approach was different from the start. "Taking that
information, we came at this very minimally and wanted to make it scenic
and nice."

The result is truly a path, one that is not all that noticeable from
the road.

And the path is about to celebrate its first anniversary. "We
finished it last Memorial Day," said Mr. Haynes, a little pride
sneaking into his voice.

By most accounts, the path is a success, particularly for some of
the 103 people who live in the 60 houses in the Island Farms
subdivision.

Just ask Mary McDonough, who lives on Oak Knoll Road with her
husband and three children. "We can walk to the grocery store and
to Conroy's," she said. "We used to walk to our
dentist, until we changed dentists."

Ms. McDonough said she can make it over to Up-Island Cronig's by
foot as fast as she can drive there. She expects her children, who are
all 10 and under, will soon graduate to using the new path to walk to
the charter school.

The school is one of the main beneficiaries of the sidewalk.
"It was a strategic move," said Paul Karasik, development
director of the school. "They reached out to us and asked if we
would join the discussion, knowing we needed a safe pathway for our
students."

For the high school students, an open campus policy means they are
free to walk over to Cronig's and Biga for snacks and lunch. Other
students can now use the pathways when they go to the Wellness Center
for dance classes or yoga.

Christina Napolitan, the school's lunch chef and the parent of
a student, said the advent of sidewalks in the neighborhood has made a
huge difference. "Walking to the grocery store, you were taking
your life in your hands," she said. "It was very
dangerous."

Ms. Napolitan, who lives in Island Farms, said her daughter can now
walk to school without worrying about the car traffic or the dirt and
mud along the roadside.

"Tons of people are using the sidewalk," she said.
"It encourages people to park in one spot and walk to the post
office or the bank."

By sometime next fall, residents could be taking advantage of even
more sidewalks. Voters approved a measure to extend the network from
Island Farms all the way to Humphreys Bakery near the intersection with
North Road.

Mr. Haynes said his committee will keep walking and coming up with
more prospects for paths.

"Lambert's Cove, there really should be a path there,
between Seth's and Lambert's Cove Beach," he said.
"But the layout is terrible - stone walls, massive trees,
banks, gullies. It's an engineering nightmare.

"But we'll get a couple under our belt and keep trying
to do this until the town says no," he added.

One more proof of the success of sidewalks in West Tisbury: a little
envy from neighbors to the west. "A selectman from Chilmark called
me," said Mr. Haynes, "and asked, ‘How'd you do
that?' "