Chilmark selectmen put the brakes on a preliminary plan to build a shared-use bike path on North Road, amid a sea of criticism from town residents Tuesday.
Meeting at the Tabernacle, voters strongly backed an ambitious climate change initiative and agreed to take the first steps toward a bike path along Old County Road.
The bill authorizing the Department of Public Works to construct a bicycle path between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown has received approval in both the house and the senate, Rep. Gregory Mayhew announced Wednesday. But, the authorization carries little weight because no money has been provided for the project.
The state has doled out some $7.2 million in federal and state aid for pedestrian and bicycle paths between Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven, as part of a transportation grant package announced last month.
A new sidewalk and fresh paint are in store for Skiff avenue in Tisbury as town officials attempt to make the road safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars. On Tuesday night the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, on behalf of the Tisbury department of public works and planning board, held a public meeting at the Tisbury Senior Center to present shared-user path options for two areas: Skiff avenue and a section of Beach Road from Wind’s Up Watersports to Saltwater Restaurant.
A new report released this week by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission lays out an ambitious plan to fill in the gaps in the network of bike paths that runs through the three up-Island towns to create a continuous loop with better access to downtown areas while avoiding dangerous intersections like Five Corners in Vineyard Haven.
There are deepening divisions on Chappaquiddick over whether a bike path should be built on the tiny rural island that lies off the extreme eastern end of Edgartown. Indeed, the debate over the Chappy bike path has continued for more than thirty years, but the discussion has taken on more urgency in recent months and weeks and landed in front of the Edgartown selectmen again.
I write in response to the editorial in the August 11 issue of the Vineyard Gazette as well the two follow-up letters that were printed in the August 14 edition.
