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Senator Moore frustrated by lack of state progress on Blackstone Bikeway |
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BOSTON, August 26, 2005 – Frustrated by a seeming lack of continued progress on the Blackstone River Bikeway, State Sen. Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) earlier this summer, asked the Senate Post Audit and Legislative Oversight Committee to investigate the problem. In a letter to committee Chairman Marc R. Pacheco (D-Taunton) on June 15, Mr. Moore said that despite significant spending and allocation of funds, the project has run into delays in both design and construction. In response to Senator Moore’s request, Senator Pacheco reported that a preliminary review by the Senate Post Audit staff has found that “certain delay is attributable to the inability of Mass Highway and the Department of Conservation and Recreation to identify and assign Project ownership.” As a consequence, Sen. Pacheco stated, “The (Post Audit) Committee is concerned that this hindrance will continue to delay Segment 2 of the Project, as Mass Highway may not conduct public hearings on the revised 25% documents until ownership s determined.” Segment 2 involves the design of the bikeway in Blackstone, Millville, and a portion of Uxbridge. The preliminary design for this segment was completed by engineering consultants more than a year ago and cannot proceed until a public hearing is held. “The question of which agency will manage the bikeway has been discussed since Peter Webber (former Commissioner of Conservation and Recreation) three years ago, and the Administration still hasn’t figured it out!” an exasperated Senator Moore noted. “It seems amazing to me that our Rhode Island neighbors have built much of their portion of the bi-state bikeway without any such debate,” Moore pointed out, adding, “perhaps there’s a good example of the merits of keeping bureaucracy small.” Mr. Moore noted that he had discussed the bikeway management issue with Webber’s successor as commissioner Kathleen F. Abbott during a visit to the Blackstone Valley last summer and had been promised that DCR would resolve the matter. Abbott was replaced by Governor Romney in a dispute over snowplowing before resolving the matter. In an effort to resolve the apparent impasse, Senator Pacheco is scheduling a meeting of the Post Audit Committee, including Senator Moore, with Secretary Douglas Foy, of the Office for Commonwealth Development. In the meantime, the Post Audit Committee has made a formal document request for all documents related to the bikeway project from the Executive Office of Transportation. |
