AMHERST — A street that connects the University of Massachusetts campus to the Cushman section of Amherst has long been popular with joggers, walkers and bicyclists, even though it has no sidewalks to keep pedestrians safe from vehicular traffic.
Four years after residents appealed to town officials to begin the process of getting new sidewalks built on East Pleasant Street, worried about children using the street where cars regularly go 40 to 50 mph, Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the town will hire a company to begin a 12-week survey to examine whether sidewalks are possible.
But he cautioned that having a sidewalk along East Pleasant from Olympia Drive to Pine Street will be a challenge.
“Putting sidewalks in the area is pretty complicated,” Bockelman said.
In a memo to the Town Council, Bockelman wrote that “the survey and research will help establish the scope of a construction project and impact on neighboring properties. We hope to obtain costs estimates, as well.”
East Pleasant Street’s sidewalks currently begin at Olympia Drive, which was connected to the town’s sidewalk system a few years ago. From there, the sidewalk extends south, on the east side of the street, past the entrance to Village Park Apartments, then going by the water towers at the Orchard Hill section of the UMass campus.
At the intersection of Clark Hill Road and Strong Street, the sidewalk shifts to the west side of the road, and then at Chestnut Street sidewalks are on both sides of East Pleasant until it merges with North Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst.
That means the road lacks sidewalks in front of the UMass Police station and the North Fire Station, the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Renaissance Studies and the numerous neighborhoods off East Pleasant.
In 2018, the Joint Capital Planning Committee citizen request was first made by North Amherst residents, Toni Cunningham and William Kaizen, who asked for $50,000.
In their appeal, Kaizen and Cunningham wrote, “Most families will not allow their children to walk or bike along this stretch of East Pleasant Street even though it provides a direct route to schools and downtown heading south, and Cushman Market, Puffer’s Pond and Mill River Recreation Area heading north. There have been numerous instances of property damage and injurious crashes along this route, and many residents fear a fatal accident is likely.”
The following year the Department of Public Works agreed to incorporate that into a transportation plan, the Transportation Advisory Committee supported the request, and the committee approved the appropriation as part of the capital plan.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.