Fall River Receives $229,256 Grant to Improve Bike and Pedestrian
Infrastructure
(Fall River, MA- April 7th 2021)- On April 5, 2021, the Massachusetts Department of
Transportation (MassDOT) announced Fall River as the recipient of a $229,256.55 grant
in the fifth round of funding from the Baker-Polito Administration’s Shared Winter
Streets and Spaces program.
The program, which was launched on November 10, 2020,
provides technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts cities and towns
conceive, design, and implement tactical changes to curbs, streets, and parking areas in
support of public health, safe mobility, and renewed commerce, with a special focus on
the challenges of winter.
As a result of the grant award, the city will create bike lanes along portions of
Water Street, Milliken Boulevard, and Rodman Street.
The project will also make
improvements (ADA-compliant ramps and safety flashing beacons) to pedestrian
crossings at three locations: Pleasant Street at 8th Street, Pleasant Street at Quequechan
Street, and South Main Street at Anawan Street. New wayfinding signs, directed at
bicyclists, will create better connections to both the East Coast Greenway, a developing
3,000-mile traffic-separated bicycling and walking path connecting communities from
Maine to Florida, and Fall River’s existing Quequechan River Rail Trail.
“This grant provides an excellent opportunity for Fall River to become a safer and
more enjoyable community for bikers and pedestrians alike,” remarked Mayor Paul
Coogan. “These infrastructure improvements will have remarkable benefits for residents
of all ages and will make it easier to access some of Fall River’s greatest amenitiesincluding
our waterfront, our growing downtown and the beautiful Quequechan Rail
Trail.”
The goal of Fall River’s Reimagined Streets Pedestrian and Bicyclist Project,
which will begin this spring, is to increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility,
improve connections between neighborhoods, commercial corridors and public spaces,
while encouraging outdoor exploration and active transportation around the project area.
The project concepts and plans were designed by Kittelson and Associates – a
MassDOT technical assistance provider. Sarah Labossiere, Coordinator for Mass in
Motion-Fall River, who was also instrumental in the project’s design, said "With these
improvements, it is our hope that Fall River folks who walk, bike and roll through this
project area will find safer and more inviting connections to their destinations. In turn, we
hope that this will increase active transportation/recreation in the city and highlight the
many natural, cultural and commercial resources along the route."
