Walk, Bike & Hike Committee hits the ground running

As the Canton Walk, Bike & Hike Advisory Committee talked about creating a town hiking map during the group’s first meeting last week, member Jan Shub shared an interesting experience with the group. She related that she had gone on a wonderful hike with the town’s conservation agent and that the two had walked through Canton Town Forest. The rest of the committee, according to Chairperson Debby Stein Sharpe, had just one question: Where’s the Town Forest in Canton?

Creating a map of the hiking sites in town that the public can use is one of three goals that the newly formed committee chose to focus on as they set their initial objectives. Former Town Planner Tim Richard suggested the idea of the map during his tenure and the committee is hoping to make it a reality. The forest is located at the end of Wardwell Road, off Pleasant Street.

“We have lots and lots of trails in town,” Sharpe said, “some of which not many people know about. That’s a great example of an area more people would like to know about.”

In addition to trails on town property, she mentioned trails on land owned and maintained by nonprofit organizations but open to the public, including Mass Audubon, the Blue Hills Reservation, and the Trustees of Reservations.

Sharpe summed up the committee’s charter succinctly. “The purpose is to coordinate with many other parties to advocate for walkers, cyclists and hikers,” she said, “and to enhance the infrastructure and awareness to support walkers, cyclists and hikers.”

There are seven people on the committee, four of whom are appointed by the Board of Selectmen and the other three by the Planning Board. To date, the committee has six members: Sharpe, Shub, Vice Chairman Darren Shaffer, Secretary Phil Barrows, Dave Biggers, and Rich Allen.

Sharpe said that the committee also decided to take on the task of advocating with the state for pedestrians, cyclists and Canton commuters on the Route 128 interchange project, where routes 95 north and 93 north merge. The state plans to limit access to the University Avenue/Route 128 train station from Canton to Dedham Street and University Avenue from the south and Royall Street north of 128

“The current plan eliminates the Green Lodge extension,” Sharpe said. “Pedestrian access will be cut off completely.” She went on to say that the state plan calls for a tunnel or covered structure to be built under Route 128 for pedestrian and cyclist access to the station.

“There should somehow be pedestrian access from Elm Street and Green Lodge,” Sharpe said. “People could at least drive that far and drop someone off. We’re hoping we can work with the state to create pedestrian and cyclist access to the east side of the station. The Ponkapoag neighborhood is particularly concerned. People buy their homes because of the location.”

The committee is also going to focus on access to the Canton Junction commuter rail station. “Our goal is to start work on enhancement of the connections from downtown Canton to Canton Junction, via Neponset and Jackson (streets) and Sherman and Revere,” Sharpe said. “There’s a lot of pedestrian use and a far amount of cyclist use.”

She described an old rail siding on the Plymouth Rubber property that was used to deliver rail cars or products to the factory. The siding goes all the way to Canton Junction. A number of commuters use the siding as a short cut when they walk from Canton Center to Canton Junction. “It delivers them to the middle rail,” she said.

Sharpe has cycled on that route to see what it was like and discovered that pedestrians are walking on muddy gravel. When the Plymouth Rubber property is transformed into the Paul Revere Heritage Site, the gravelly area will be redesigned as a pedestrian path. “It will be awesome,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe also mentioned the intersection of Walpole and Neponset streets at the Canton Viaduct as one that presents challenges for pedestrians trying to cross the street or in a car trying to merge into traffic. “That intersection is awful,” she said. “It’s really awful for pedestrians. There’s no sidewalk, no signal, no crosswalk. I’m told it’s really dark. We’d like to see lights and a crosswalk there.”

She said that the committee plans to assess any challenges that commuters may encounter on Revere and Sherman streets. “We think this is a wonderful opportunity to be looking at this,” Sharpe said. “We want to make sure we are advocating for pedestrians in the area.”

Sharpe acknowledged that the Canton Walk, Bike & Hike Advisory Committee has a full plate, given the three goals they have. “It’s not going to happen in one year,” she said. “We will learn a lot and get started.”

Sharpe is also hoping to see the seventh seat on the committee filled. Interested parties may obtain an application by calling Canton Town Hall or emailing Sharpe at debbysteinsharpe@gmail.com.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Mar 24 2016. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.