[B]URLINGTON — A major phase of work on a popular 3-mile section of the Burlington bike path is complete, officials announced during a news conference Wednesday.
The path from North Beach to Shore Road, just north of Leddy Park was the last major section of the bike path to be completed. In the first half of 2017, a stretch from Burlington’s waterfront up to North Beach was completed. The entire project cost about $2.6 million, according to a news release from Mayor Miro Weinberger.
“This is the largest single capital improvement that Parks, Recreation and Waterfront have ever done,” Weinberger said.
On Election Day last November, 76 percent of voters supported a general obligation bond, some of which went to bike path improvements, Weinberger said.
During construction, the path was diverted to North Avenue, which recently got a bike lane and lost one of its four lanes due to a controversial pilot program the city instituted last spring.
City Councilor Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, represents a part of Burlington’s New North End that has large stretches of the path in its borders. Wright said that nearly six years ago the path was in shambles, and the City Council created a task force whose sole focus was to work on bike path improvements.
“We all neglected the bike path,” Wright said. “This will return this to what it was initially, which is a world-class bike path.”
While the majority of construction is complete, city crews will be back in the spring to build “pause places,” in conjunction with the University of Vermont Medical Center. The “pause places” are essentially pull-off locations that will have bike racks and exercise equipment.
Crews will also lay another layer of asphalt on the path during the spring, which will briefly close a section of the path. The city estimates that over half a million people used the path last year.
Throughout next year plans will be developed for rehabilitation work on a southern part of the path, stretching from Perkins Pier to Oakledge Park — that construction will be completed in 2019. During the winter, city plows will clear snow off the path, though perhaps not with the same urgency as they clear roads. The path is also now about 11 feet wide, which allows city plows to move the snow.
“It will not be as quick as public works plows the streets and sidewalks, because they will be using the same equipment,” Weinberger said.
Weinberger led a small cohort on an inaugural bike ride after the news conference Wednesday — the near-freezing weather likely dissuaded some would-be riders.
The improvements will be maintained through support from a city maintenance fund of about $180,000 per year, Weinberger said.
