The Edgartown Select Board Monday approved a plan to renovate a section of Peases Point Way and Church street in an attempt to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
The plan, developed by Boston-based Halvorson-Tighe & Bond Studio, will slightly move the intersection between Church and Winter streets to improve the flow of trafffic onto Peases Point Way. It will also include a bike parking area, a pedestrian walkway and a place where pedestrians can sit.
The project is funded by a grant of $200,000 from the state’s Shared Streets and Spaces Program, which aims to improve public safety. Contractors are scheduled to break ground after Labor Day.
The area currently has a dirt and gravel sidewalk that periodically floods when it rains, and pedestrians are often pushed onto the road.
At the request of the town’s historic district commission, standard wooden benches modeled after the traditional seats found around central Edgartown will be added to the sitting area along Peases Point Way. There will be cement bollards between the benches and sidewalk to provide a barrier in the event that a car runs off the road.
The bike parking area will remain along the fence on Peases Point Way, but with new single-sided racks resting over a stone dust surface. The sidewalk will extend where the racks are placed to ensure parked bikes don’t push pedestrians into the stret.
To help with flooding at the end of Mill street, the highway department will add six new drainage structures. The pond at the intersection of Church street and Peases Point Way will remain along with the existing cement wall and fence.
The Edgartown select board expressed enthusiasm for the project, saying the area has been a tough spot for bike traffic, pedestrian safety and flooding.
“It can’t get any worse down there,” James Hagerty, the Edgartown town administrator said.
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