In the map above, the red line between Williamsburg and Haydenville is the 2-mile long “Route 9 Greenway.” This is what the Mill River Greenway committee was chartered to create: “a multi-use corridor connecting the two village centers of Haydenville and Williamsburg.” Improved bicycle and pedestrian accommodation along this route would be helpful because the highway is so narrow in places that you are taking your life in your hands by riding a bike or walking along it. It’s narrow and busy: The traffic volume on Route 9 is about 12,000 vehicles per day, and the speed limit tops out at 45 mph. The South Main Street neighborhood’s objections have nothing to do with the Route 9 bike path.
At the bottom of the map, the short red line is the “South Main Connector,” ⅓ mile in length, connecting the planned Route 9 bike path with the Leeds rail trail. The upper half of this segment is where the neighborhood’s objections lie, on 700 feet between Fort Hill Road and Bridge Street. This is the area with an existing pedestrian sidewalk, where the proposed bike path runs close to the front of homes and crosses 11 driveways.
In stark contrast to Route 9, South Main Street has a traffic volume of about 800 vehicles per day, with a (proposed) speed limit of 20 mph enforced by speed humps. This is very little traffic: at peak travel times each lane sees, on average, a single car drive by every minute and a half. (See here.) There’s even less traffic than this most of the time, and the annoyance of having four speed humps on the road is expected to reduce traffic levels further still. If you ride your bike along South Main Street, you will find that even now you are not taking your life in your hands but are having a pleasant, calm ride on a tree-lined neighborhood street. We believe, and various transportation agencies agree, that safe passage on our street, for cyclists of all ages and abilities, does not require an off-road bike path. (More info here.)
People talking to Greenway proponents sometimes come away with an impression that the neighborhood’s objections are threatening the entire Greenway project — that if the shared-use path isn’t built on South Main Street, the Route 9 bike path won’t be built. This is simply not true. The Route 9 bike path is a state project being managed by MassDOT; the South Main Connector is a municipal project managed by the town, and the two projects are independent. We checked with MassDOT, and they wrote that there is no contingency between the Route 9 project and the South Main Connector: the Route 9 project will proceed regardless of what happens on South Main Street.
The current estimated cost of the Route 9 bike path is $56 million (see here, page 132). 20% of that cost will be paid by state taxpayers and 80% is supposed to come from the Federal government. The South Main Connector is being funded by an allocation from a state transportation bond (money the state is borrowing). $2.4 million of the connector’s cost will be covered by the bond, and any overage will have to be paid by the town.
In the inset map on the right above, the blue stars mark the homes of people who signed our petition objecting to the Greenway committee’s plans for our street. The town says that “some” South Main Street residents oppose the Greenway design; as you can see from the map, the overwhelming majority of residents oppose replacing our sidewalk with a bike path.
Also, you may have noticed that the South Main Connector doesn’t actually connect with the Route 9 bike path. The missing section, on South Main between Bridge Street and the Haydenville Library, was to be constructed by MassDOT as part of the project to replace the two bridges crossing the Mill River. MassDOT listened to objections from residents and has tentatively changed its plans. A bike path will be routed along Bridge Street to Route 9 and proceed towards Williamsburg from there.