The state Department of Transportation has finalized a $5.2 million renovation plan for the coastal roadway that runs along the Vineyard Haven waterfront.
Tisbury selectmen Tuesday set dates for the scallop season; family scalloping begins Saturday, Oct. 15, outside the Lagoon and Tashmoo. The commercial season opens Oct. 17.
The wrangling is finally over and the much-debated Beach Road improvement plan is ready for the next step as town leaders presumably send the plan along to state highway officials for action.
No matter what the Tisbury selectmen decide when they meet Tuesday night on the Beach Road project, it is now unlikely the project will be included in the 2017 funding cycle, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation told the Gazette Monday.
During the summer season about 14,000 cars travel Beach Road each day. Tisbury selectmen will address plans to make the area safer and more user friendly for bicyclists and pedestrians at their meeting Tuesday.
The devil is in the details, the Tisbury planning board heard last week, as an improvement project for Beach Road in Vineyard Haven continues to be the subject of intense discussion. Talks continue this Wednesday in the town hall annex at 6 p.m.
Narrowing the road, adding sidewalks and building a shared-use path are all part of an emerging plan to re-engineer a portion of Beach Road that runs along the waterfront in Vineyard Haven.
As you can see from this photograph, despite all the badmouthing about Beach Road, it does have its charms. And those charms lay mainly in the trees that provide shade and greenery and enhance the experience of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
A formidable Islandwide transportation planning project and a slew
of fresh development proposals are expected to keep the newly configured
Martha's Vineyard Commission busy in the months ahead.
There are no ripples or wake anymore, but the impact of no Schamonchi and no fast ferry from New London, Conn., has hit some businesses in Tisbury hard, especially along Beach Road where the ferries used to dock and disgorge tourists by the hundreds.
