FALMOUTH — The town is proposing a 20-year plan to integrate and improve its growing network of walking trails, pedestrian infrastructure and bicycling routes.
“Falmouth has made a number of great improvements on trails, sidewalks, bicycle lanes,” said Theo Holtwijk, director of long-range planning. “This plan hopes to improve on connecting these improvements to each other, so there will be a seamless network.”
The plan, prepared by the town staff and reviewed by a Town Council committee, will be presented to the council for adoption this month. The intent is for the council to use it as a guideline for future road design and capital projects. It took the staff a year to develop the plan, based largely on public input.
Falmouth launched its first bicycle and pedestrian plan in 1996, and expanded it about six years later with a second plan and a trails expansion. In the past decade, the trail network has grown from 5 miles to almost 50, Holtwijk said. At the same time, the town has developed biking lanes and expanded its sidewalk network, including a large-scale redevelopment of the Route 1 commercial corridor to accommodate wide sidewalks and create a village atmosphere.
Among the projects the town is expected to make in the short term – one to five years – are making intersections and crosswalks compliant with disability rules, creating an informal group to review the progress on the plan, linking trails to the sidewalk system, and building a bicycle and pedestrian connection between Falmouth High School and Falmouth Middle School to the community park across a Pan Am rail line. Long-term plans include a rail trail between Portland and Falmouth and new sidewalks on main thoroughfares, including Foreside, Middle and Falmouth roads.
The plan is aimed at improving recreational access, and giving commuters more options and safer travel routes, Holtwijk said. It’s also a reflection of broader lifestyle changes among people who want to focus on their health and use their cars less, he said.
“This whole interest in biking and walking in Falmouth is really a reflection of what is happening in all of our lives in all our towns and cities,” Holtwijk said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
