This morning there were surveyors with plans for the Beach Road shared use path that is going in at a cost of over $10 million and after years of contention and with a very unhappy result.

I spoke with the surveyors and asked a lot of questions. They do this all over Massachusetts and these particular gentlemen were assigned to District 5. What they told me is this. This is the only bike lane that is done this way in the state. Massachusetts has standardized bike lanes and sidewalks now and everywhere else what they do is a five-foot sidewalk on each side. Then there is a six-inch curb and then there are two standard five-foot wide bike lanes on each side and the travel lanes are 11 feet.

All this was done wrong. And now we have to live with it and it was the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the votes of two selectmen — Tristan Israel and Melinda Loberg. All the other selectmen are opposed to this and wanted the symmetrical road. That was the right decision.

Frank Brunelle

Vineyard Haven