From The Republican

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Work on bike path welcomed

By DAVID BERGENGREN
Staff writer

06/20/2003

EASTHAMPTON - After nearly nine years and a lot of bumps along the road, organizers said yesterday they were thrilled work has finally begun on all but one portion of the 5.2-mile bike path.He's opting for the fast.

Lane Construction Corp. of Meriden, Conn., which won the project last year with a bid of $1,208,497, has graded a pathway from South Street nearly to Ferry Street. Clearing has been done on the stretch from Pleasant Street, out along Ferry, to Route 5.

The city, with funding help from the state, bought the 5.2-mile railroad right of way in 1998 from Pinsly Railroad Co. of Westfield for $650,000.

Plans call for completing all but about 1 mile of the bikeway by this fall.

The 1-mile stretch from South Street to Coleman Road in Southampton has been delayed by asbestos-contaminated soil along the former rail bed near Wemelco Way, where W.R. Grace & Co. once manufactured Zonolite insulation.

W.R. Grace had promised to clean up the soil, but any such effort was postponed after the company declared bankruptcy in 2001.

The city hopes to find out today whether it will receive a $200,000 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to do the clean-up work, City Planner Stuart B. Beckley said.

" It's pretty exciting to see people actually working on (the bike path)," Beckley said. Construction began last week, he said.

" We're really thrilled that there's finally something to see from the fruits of our labor," said Wendy E. Hammerle, who has served on the local bike path committee since it was formed in August 1994.

" It was an exercise in patience, let me tell you. And it was a learning experience," Hammerle said of the nine years organizers have worked on the project.

" I think it's wonderful. ... I think that it will add a lot of vitality to their downtown," said Timothy J. Gaudet, who once spearheaded an effort by Southampton biking enthusiasts to extend the Easthampton bikeway into their town.

After Southampton opponents of the project convinced town meeting voters there to block the acquisition of land for the project, organizers there eventually threw in the towel in the mid-1990s.

David Bergengren can be reached at dbergengren@repub.com
© 2003 THE REPUBLICAN.