Lenox and Stockbridge — The September 17 open house brought Stockbridge and Lenox residents together, curious to see what benefit a greater connectivity between the towns and local cultural institutions might bring to the area.
The project, overseen by Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) representatives, aims to make those linking pathways more friendly for non-vehicular traffic, bicycles, and pedestrians, with everything from shared-use bike paths to walking routes.
For Lenox Planning Board member Daniel Bross, who attended the afternoon open house, the project is “really important.” “It’s all about public access and increasing walking and biking and people being able to enjoy the great outdoors and the town and the community and getting out of cars,” he said.
With improvements stretching to Tanglewood, Kripalu, and Gould Meadows, Bross foresees some of those infuriating long traffic lines possibly subsiding, encouraging people to walk or bike to those programs. “It’s a plus for the quality of life; it’s a plus for the environment,” he said. “It helps address this area’s commitment to environmental sustainability.”
Presented by BETA Group Inc. Project Manager Jeff Maxtutis and Transportation Planner Anna Sangree, both consultants for BRPC, the open house sought to address closing existing gaps and barriers for walkers and cyclists within key roadways that join the Lenox Center, The Curtis senior housing, Tanglewood Institute, Shakespeare & Company, Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, Morris Elementary School, Tanglewood, Gould Meadows, Kripalu, Berkshire Country Day School, Stockbridge boat ramp, Elm Court Estate, and White Pines Condominiums. Those routes encompass West and Hawthorne streets as well as Old Stockbridge, West Hawthorne, and Interlaken roads.
The process began when a group of stakeholders from the two towns approached BRPC earlier this year, sharing their interest in improving the bicycling and pedestrian connectivity in the Tanglewood area, with an eye toward the agency managing a study that could possibly result in a project. BRPC monies tallying about $30,000 were used to fund the endeavor that included BETA Group Inc.’s assistance in its analysis and cost estimate development.
The project started in April and included site visits to routes, stakeholder interviews, and the open house, with a final report due later this month.
Recommendations to achieve the project goals include reconstructing about 1.5 miles of the West Street south sidewalk; building new sidewalks or side paths on the south side of West Street/Interlaken Road; and constructing a 10-foot stone dust pathway through Gould Meadows to the Stockbridge public boat launch on Interlaken Road, together with relevant crosswalks. A shared-use path, sidewalk, and/or retaining walls are proposed along Hawthorne Road within Gould Meadows to Hawthorne Street, with connections leading to Tanglewood and White Pines. Boardwalks, sidewalks, or paths are anticipated to connect Tanglewood Drive and Frelinghuysen Driveway, with walking connections added west of the Frelinghuysen site to Old Stockbridge Road. According to the proposal, Old Stockbridge Road will be reconstructed on its west sidewalk from West Street to Hawthorne Street, continuing to Elm Court.
The draft study can be found here. A copy of the presentation can be found here.
The project is proposed to be constructed in phases rather than all at once, Maxtutis said, and many options, including adding benches along pathways, are being considered. “Nothing’s off the table now,” he said. “None of the details have been addressed yet.”
Cyclist Ruth Wheeler, who lives in Lenox, was interested in seeing what connections were proposed “where you can get off the road, away from cars or where you feel a little more protected.” “It makes all the difference in the world to a cyclist to have just a little bit of width from the cars,” she said.
However, not everyone attending was on board with the project. Longtime Stockbridge citizen Kate Fletcher, a resident of Hawthorne Street, voiced concern that the program would add noise and change the character of her area with a loss of privacy for its inhabitants. She noted the possible negative impact on wildlife in the corridor from the program and said she was “really disappointed” that stakeholders who were interviewed did not include folks living in its path. “In terms of the benefits of this project, they look to me to fall largely to Lenox and to those who live off the road who will not experience these impacts to their properties with the enormous cost to taxpayers,” Fletcher said.
Maxtutis responded that his group is not proposing anything to change the neighborhood’s natural character. “We’re not proposing anything other than a feasibility study right now,” he said.
Stockbridge Town Administrator Michael Canales commented on the feedback the team received at the event. “We had a lot of people express interest in this project,” he said. “They’re curious about how it’s going to work out.”
In its feasibility stage, the program will incorporate input from the open house into possible future steps. The project will go back to the Stockbridge and Lenox select boards to determine whether and how to move forward.
Grants are possible to assist in the design, with both communities serving as candidates for the state-sanctioned Complete Streets Grant Program that provides funds for safe and accessible modes of travel, Canales said. Infrastructure and planning grants are also possible, he said.
“This is a very first step,” Canales said of the open house. “The next step, if we decide to go, would be digging into [the] details.”
