The Tisbury department of public works last week unveiled an ambitious plan to build a public walkway along a both sides of a section of Beach Road spanning the town harbor and the Lagoon Pond.
At a joint meeting with the planning board and the DPW, architect James Weisman of Terrain Associates Architects, presented a conceptual draft for a harbor walk.
Smooth sailing has all but disappeared underneath the Lagoon Pond
drawbridge these days.
Three weeks ago, bridgetender Robert Maciel detected some shaking as
cars passed over the 70-year-old bridge.
"I've been the bridgetender for 26 years, and it's
worse now than I've ever seen it," he said late yesterday
morning from his home in West Tisbury, a time of day he typically spends
at the bridge.
It is 9:20 a.m., low tide, and a mild breeze is blowing across the
Lagoon Pond drawbridge. Light from the eastern sky skips across the pond
until it reaches the bridge's shadow, which darkens the outer
harbor. The hum of the drawspan, which vibrates with traffic, has
stopped. There is only the water below, lapping against the timber
spiles.
At a public hearing on Monday, MassHighway officials told
Islanders to expect the temporary drawbridge across Lagoon Pond to
stay in place for six years.
Stunned at the prospect, Islanders immediately urged the
project engineers to finalize a design for the new drawbridge before
beginning construction on a temporary replacement.
The Lagoon Pond drawbridge will be closed for repairs from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. all next week while MassHighway workers replace some of the
bridge's structural steel. Traffic along Beach Road will be
diverted to the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road during those hours.
"This is part of the ongoing effort to make interim repairs as
we work toward installing the temporary bridge and eventually the
replacement," MassHighway spokesman Jon Carlisle said yesterday.
MassHighway officials say they will put plans for a temporary
replacement for the Lagoon Pond drawbridge on hold until Island
residents decide whether to nurse the existing bridge along until a new
permanent structure is built.
The state agency also says it will involve the Island in the design
of a new permanent bridge at the outset of the planning process -
a departure from previous department policy of consulting residents only
after plans have been drafted.
Over the objections of the county engineer, the Lagoon Pond
Drawbridge Committee on Wednesday recommended that Vineyard Haven and
Oak Bluffs fund an $11,700 study of what, if anything, can be done to
prolong the use of the existing drawbridge.
Growing deeply dissatisfied with the state's proposed two-bridge solution to the ailing Lagoon Pond drawbridge, Vineyard representatives are now planning to go straight to the top and seek a meeting with the newly named state transportation secretary to see if an alternative can be found.
The decision to make direct contact with Secretary John Cogliano, who has Island ties, came at Wednesday's meeting of the Lagoon Pond drawbridge committee.
Against a backdrop of increasing doubt, state highway officials this week promised to complete temporary repairs to the Lagoon Pond drawbridge in time for summer boat traffic.
Plans are under way to fix the hardware that opens and closes the highly-trafficked drawbridge that connects Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven, but at least one selectman and the bridge's own caretaker reacted this week with skepticism.
Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel said Tuesday night at the board's weekly meeting that he harbors serious doubts that the bridge can be repaired in time.
