Bike Paths, Pedestrian Safety and Free Froyo Come Together in Hamilton

A young boy sustained minor injuries when a car struck him while he was riding his bike near Hamilton in early July. While the crash actually occurred just over the line in Ipswich, the accident prompted reminders from Hamilton officials to bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists that everyone must share Hamilton’s winding roads.

“With such bike traffic right now, we’ve had a couple of issues,” Hamilton Police Lt. Scott Janes said. “It’s part of our community policing to focus on safety. Just by nature, we have a lot of beautiful country roads that would be beautiful to ride a bicycle on, but aren’t extremely wide.”

Janes explained that those efforts focused on safety have been helped this summer by an agreement Hamilton Public Health Nurse Chris Lee worked out with Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt shop in South Hamilton.

Janes said that police officers on patrol have “tickets” for free frozen yogurt that they are authorized to hand out to kids they see making safe choices as bicyclists and pedestrians.

“[The program] raises awareness with both kids and parents,” Town Manager Michael Lombardo added. “Because of the types of road systems we have, keeping safety in the mind of the public is a good thing.”

To further encourage safety, Lombardo continued, the town’s Department of Public Works is busy with the routine replacing of street signs and markers around town.

“The work is predominantly taking place around the core business district and areas kids are known to use as school routes,” Lombardo said.

And, in the long term, the DPW is examining a bike lane and walking path along Essex Street, a project that has come up at prior Annual Town Meetings.

Lombardo said a firm would soon be hired to complete a design study for adding that walking path and bike lane along Essex Street from the Wenham line to the Essex line.

The firm will be looking at “where can we put a path,” Lombardo explained. “If it needs a crossing, where do we put that? Is there rock or ledge in the way? Do we need to work with a homeowner to get an easement?”

Lombardo said implementing the project would require more action from voters, but it was possible that something related to the Essex Street changes could come up at the April 2016 Annual Town Meeting.