It may be years away, but the final approved version of a new hiking/biking trail on the East Shore is being hailed on all sides as proof that hard work, good will, and helpful information can bring about good public solutions about the desired result — in this case a multi-use greenway completely separated from traffic hazards.
Final plans for the portside greenway were approved by the city’s Port Authority last Thursday night after months of passionate debate and public concern over public safety.
The concern began when greenways advocate and Fair Haven Heights resident Chris Ozyck learned that, contrary to the original land use plan, the city was proposing to create a hiking/biking trail around the perimeter of the port instead of through it on East Shore Parkway. He organized about a half-dozen walks — in the worst and best weather imaginable — to show city officials, consultants and interested members of the public how the different options stacked up. (Click here and here for past stories.)
In the wake of Thursday’s vote, Ozyck said he knew some members of the port authority board opposed his alternate proposal, while others he was unsure of. It turned out that only four showed up at the meeting, and they all voted in favor.
“This is a very good solution,” he said, especially since he learned that Connecticut Avenue (a part of East Shore Parkway where the trail will go) has a 60-foot right-of-way. That will allow for at least a five-foot separation between traffic and a ten-foot wide greenway, then five feet on the other side next to the businesses.
“It’s the best of both worlds because you have a fully functional multi-use trail next to the roadway so it feels more connected to what should be the normal path through the port than being isolated to one edge.” He’s hoping, with such a wide right-of-way, that construction will include even a wider buffer than five feet.
Ozyck credits two factors for the victory. One was the need to have a separated greenway in order to minimize liability issues. The other is that, he said, “The port needs to expand, and it’s going to expand, and they need goodwill going forward or their credibility is not very strong.”
He also credits Mike Piscitelli (wearing his City Plan hat before he moved over to become the city’s transportation chief) with doing his homework and being open to new suggestions. “He brought credibility to the process. He encouraged the commissioners to go out on the walk and had the consultant extend the process. This could’ve been something that got jammed through without there being any consideration, and I think it was his good stewardship and thinking that helped make it happen.”
For his part, Piscitelli (pictured at the top of this story) said the city is pleased with the land use plan that will move forward with specific implementation steps that allow the port authority to grow and puts the greenway where trail advocates wanted it. He said there’ll be a complete re-design of Connecticut Avenue, which will take “several” years (hopefully fewer than ten). He said the time frame partially depends on sources of funding — both from the state and from the Port Authority. He declined to hazard an estimate, saying it depends how much additional work needs to be done with the road itself.
Congrate's to all that made this happen!