Cataumet residents frown on preliminary Rail Trail planning, engineering

BOURNE — Phase 1 planning for the proposed Bourne Rail Trail bike path from the canal to North Falmouth was not quite a done deal when efforts turned to Phase 4, which would stretch from Scraggy Neck Road in Cataumet to a Shining Sea Bike Way hookup in North Falmouth.

The overall idea is to build Phases 1 and 4 and then tackle the more difficult stretches of Phases 2 and 3, reaching from Gray Gables to Monks Park off Shore Road in Pocasset and then through Cataumet.

Cataumet villagers on Monday night, however, told the town administrator’s advisory committee on the pedestrian/bicycling pathway project that they do not like that approach, wondering if their village would be adversely impacted by rail trail construction and then learn that the second and third phases might not be built.

The session was courteous but straightforward, candid and free-swinging at times — questions galore, and some pointed criticism. And there were mounting reservations about cost, design, engineering, state review and eventual funding.

It was the first public rail trail information session during which numerous concerns emerged. There was grist for trail critics with their dim viewpoints and the advisory panel working in its fourth year on the “challenging” project.Committee member George Slade conceded that cost and environmental obstacles in the second and third trail sections might evolve and that compromise might have to be considered; notably building a shoulder for bicyclists along winding Shore Road.

Committee Chairman David McPherson asked nearly 30 villagers about options. “Should we do nothing?” he asked in terms of the Cataumet end of the project.

Some villagers said “yes.” Others said the entire trail should be designed to an extent that citizens can be assured the project will work well and be fully understood by the public. Still, others said it makes no sense to build a bike path from Bourne to Gray Gables and from Cataumet to North Falmouth with no assurance about Phases 2 and 3.

A major question during the meeting involved parking capacity at Post Office Square in Cataumet and the need to take part of Washington Square Park for the trail project.

“I agree bicyclists should not be dumped into Post Office Square,” McPherson said. “But I also don’t think there is a significant need for more parking there. People coming to the Cape, wanting to ride to Woods Hole, will go to the North Falmouth parking lot.

“Phase 4, I believe would serve primarily the residents of Cataumet, Pocasset and Bourne (village),” he said.The Cataumet stretch is estimated to be a $6 million project. It is still in the conceptual stage. The committee seeks public support, saying concerns would also flow to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which owns the tracks. The stretch is not yet at the 25% design stage. That will be submitted to MassDOT in the spring.

Villagers, meanwhile, suggested two other points. One favors moving the railroad tracks from its shoreline path through Bourne villages to the east side of Route 28. Another supports moving the rail trail route to the east side of the highway.

There was also a third point; that is, the bike path be redesigned from the west side of the railroad tracks to the east side. But McPherson said MassCoastal, the rail operator, said an eastside trail would prompt bike riders to try and cross the tracks “and gravitate toward the water.”

Resident John York questioned project engineering that doesn’t make sense, saying there is a “disconnect going on between the committee and the public.” He said design decisions are being made, but the public doesn’t know who is making them.

Slade said the committee was formed as an advisory group, not a decision-making group.

“Our goal is not to have the village undone by people whizzing by,” he said, adding that Phase 4 construction is a long way off. “This is a long slog.”

Villagers also wanted to know who holds the authority for final project approval: the committee, the Select Board, the town administrator, town meeting voters, state transportation officials or the rail operator?

There was consternation as well about a MassCoastal demand that a black 6-foot-high chain link fence separate the tracks from the bike path. But there would be space beneath the fence to allow for wildlife movement.

And villager George Seaver reminded the committee that military commanders on Joint Base Cape Cod have gone on the record that any attempt to remove the railroad tracks could disrupt operations and cost jobs at the military installation.

Committee members, meanwhile, acknowledged that Phases 2 and 3 present more challenges. The stretch from Gray Gables through Monument Beach to Pocasset must span or avoid Back River. And the Pocasset route, with an estimated $12 million price tag, would have to cross a wide swampy marshland through the Pocasset River’s upper reaches; or put bicyclists out on Shore Road and re-engage with the bike path at the Barlows Landing Road rail crossing.

Bourne Engineering Technician Tim Lydon told villagers that the project is meant to “benefit the citizens of Bourne” and that it remains a “challenging engineering feat.”

In a wider sense, the rail trail through Bourne is the last critical piece of planning to get bicyclists generally off the roads from Woods Hole to Provincetown; even as Sandwich officials work on a key connection from the canal service road at the town marina through the village to Route 130 and then on to the Route 6 Service Road.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: The Bourne MA Rail Trail preliminary design raises ire in Cataumet