WINDHAM — A $1.6 million bike path being built on both sides of Lowell Road this summer might even see a horse or two once it is done.
Lowell Road resident Brenda Seniow ventures to the roadside with her horses Pontiac and Party from time to time. She said she will feel better about the riding with the shoulder widened by 4 feet on both sides. The road will be broadened over a two-mile stretch from Golden Brook Elementary School to just south of Collins Brook Road, near Route 111.
Seniow also said she will rest easier knowing her children and other bicyclists, joggers and walkers will have a buffer between them and traffic.
"The problem (now) is you are so close to the road," Seniow said.
She served as an abutter-representative on the Windham Bike Path group back in the early part of the decade. The project had its supporters, including those who touted its safety benefits on a road with blind spots and schools.
Some detractors worried about its impact on property values.
The project has gone very smoothly — without any complaints — since it started in late April, according to contract administrator Kevin Lapointe of the state Department of Transportation.
Yesterday, 11 crew members used heavy equipment to remove turf along both sides of the road. Half of the project will be excavated by today, project supervisor Tom Billetter said. The crews put down a bed of crushed gravel over excavated areas and then pave it.
The project deadline is Sept. 25, but both Lapointe and Billetter of American Excavating Corp. in Derry expect the project to be completed ahead of time.
In the meantime, they both want to prepare motorists for a road closure scheduled for two weeks in July, likely the second and third weeks. A section of road will be closed while crews install a box culvert about three-quarters of a mile from Route 111. The detour will be from Cobbetts Pond Road to Range Road.
State DOT project manager Christopher Waszczuk said the project offers significant safety benefits for motorists and bicyclists.
The road, rife with twists, turns and dips, is fed by numerous side streets and school buses rumble over it twice a day during the school year.
The DOT has seen several photographs that show buses, bicyclists and cars traveling in the same area at the same time, he said.
"When you come over a blind hill there is nowhere to move," Waszczuk said.
When it comes to the project's financial ledger, the town is responsible for $184,000 of the $1.6 million price tag. The federal government and state are paying the rest. Construction cost is $1.2 million. Design and right-of-way acquisitions account for the other $400,000.
In the past, the town has expressed interest in extending the bike path to the Pelham town line and installing a bike path on North Lowell Road, Waszczuk said.
