New Grant Looks to Aid Cyclists and Walkers in Easton

Easton planners are looking to make the town more bike and pedestrian friendly, using the latest round of state assistance through the South Coast Rail corridor plan.

The technical assistance, worth $10,000, will go towards planning to make three areas in town better suited to cyclists and walkers who are taking public transportation.  The assistance comes from the Old Colony Planning Council, which has assisted in other train-related projects as well. 

This particular project focuses on the Roche Brothers Plaza, North Easton village, and the intersection of 123 and 138, which is now called the Queset Commercial District.  They are considered to be “priority development areas,” which are slated for planned development near the proposed rail. 

Easton Planning Director Bradford Washburn he and the town’s land use agent, Stephanie Danielson, applied for this assistance because it is difficult for walkers and cyclists to travel back and forth in these areas, especially on Route 138.    

“This grant will allow us to look at those areas, and see how we’re going to provide bike and pedestrian connections in those built up areas,” he said.

The most challenging part of the work involves making the roads safer for cyclists, Washburn said.   Because most of the land in the areas has private property bordering the roads, it’s difficult to build separate bike lines.  Instead, planners will be looking at turning breakdown lanes into bike lanes by adding signs and painting lines.  They will be looking at other towns and cities to get ideas, including Milton and Canton, which already have joint bike and breakdown lanes on Route 138.

Small sections of Route 138 may require separate bike lanes, however, because the breakdown lanes are non-existent.  This includes the Queset Commercial District, where the town may build an off-road bike lane.

“It’s not as easy as it seems, and we really need to put our thinking caps on, so this grant will help us look at a variety of things we can do,” he said.

For walkers, the town will be looking at improving current sidewalks and building a new sidewalk on the south side of Belmont Street, which is an extension of the Queset commercial district.  The town will also plan to improve crosswalks and intersections.

Besides physical changes, the town needs to make drivers more aware of cyclists and pedestrians in this area, Washburn said.  That part of planning would involve an awareness campaign. The town will be looking at other programs, which have helped areas become more bike and pedestrian friendly, including the cities of Boston.

The assistance is the fourth round of aid given to communities that will be serviced by the South Coast Rail, which is due to provide train service from Boston to Fall River and New Bedford.  Although final approval has yet to be given, state officials have said they are favoring the “Stoughton Alternative” route, which will extend rail from Stoughton through Easton, Raynham and Taunton, before it branches off into the south coast cities.

Along with the rail, the state is working on a corridor plan which focuses on smart growth around the train lines, and has awarded assistance worth approximately $300,000 each year to the communities that are affected.   

The most recent grants were awarded last week at a Commuter South Coast Rail Task Force meeting.  At that meeting, the rail project’s new manager Jean Fox said the project still has no funding, and is slated to cost between $1.4 and $1.8 billion.  She said however the project remains a priority with the state.

Washburn said that even if the South Coast rail is never built, the town will be able to use the planning assistance that the state has donated to the town, as part of a regional growth plan.  The town has also gotten assistance with a traffic study for North Easton village, and zoning and development assistance for the Roche Brothers Plaza (slated to be a train station) and the Queset Commercial District, which is the site of a proposed affordable housing complex.