Scituate sidewalk subcommittee proposes 38 new sidewalk projects
SCITUATE — The sidewalk subcommittee recently presented a list of sidewalk construction projects to the Select Board, urging the town to address the projects they designated as the highest priority. Each construction project is scored based on its potential impact on safety, accessibility and connectivity.
Town administrator James Boudreau said that the fiscal year 2027 budget will appropriate $400,000 in capital planning money for sidewalk projects and estimated that the town could lay 800 feet of new sidewalks with that money.
At the Feb. 3 Select Board meeting, the subcommittee identified 38 streets that it believed needed new sidewalks and ranked them each in order of importance based on a points system that assigned weight to different speed limits, traffic volumes, connection to other sidewalks and proximity to public services.
“We tried to be as quantitative and as objective as we possibly could,” said subcommittee member Mark Curran.
Donna Hamel, another member of the subcommittee, said that the scoring system created a repeatable and consistent process for prioritizing sidewalk investments, which “reduces future ad hoc decision-making, improves public transparency and positions the town to compete more effectively for state and federal grants.”
The subcommittee said their list of projects should be a living document that is updated at least annually, since completed new sidewalk projects can impact the connectivity and ranking of other streets.
The subcommittee did not take cost into account when scoring the projects.
“This allowed us to make recommendations based solely on each street's physical characteristics, the accuracy and completeness of the scoring system and the total points and relative ranking each street earned,” said Sue DiPesa, a member of the subcommittee.
The subcommittee included in its ranking projects proposed by members of the public, projects identified in a 2007 study, and projects self-identified by the subcommittee. 20 projects were proposed by the public.
The three highest-ranking projects in the subcommittee’s list would construct sidewalks between Satuit Trail and Greenbush Field, between Booth Hill Road and Cohasset Town Line, and between Doctor’s Hill Drive and First Parish Road.
Boudreau said that the planning board also has money set aside for sidewalks and that the town can apply for grants to fund construction, but that grant applications are long processes.
The Select Board and subcommittee agreed that the town should compile the subcommittee’s data into an interactive map of Scituate that subcommittee members said they intended to share online.
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