MATTAPOISETT – The long-awaited additions to the Mattapoisett bike path are making scenic areas accessible to the public and will soon be linked to the village center.

However, some have raised concerns over the safety and parking availability of the path.

At the beginning of July, the town opened the newest stretch of the path, which extends from Neck Road to Reservation Road to cross the Mattapoisett River.

The bike path extending from the Fairhaven line through the Mattapoisett town center has been in the works for many years. The phase to connect to Reservation Road was delayed in 2019 due to warped decking between Goodspeed Road and Reservation Road. 

Soon, the town may be able to continue with the installation toward the center of Mattapoisett, said Rep. Bill Straus.

The plan is to connect the path to Main Street through the village, said Straus. He said that according to a recent conversation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, it expects the wooden panels for the path to arrive in September.

“We’ll be looking at the rest of the path getting to the village in, I hope, a fairly decent time,” he said.

The completion of that portion of the path will provide a complete connection from the center of Mattapoisett to Fairhaven.

After this, he said, the town is currently engaged in “the early process of what will become the design of connecting from the village to the Park and Ride lot that the state runs on North Street.”

Straus, who was involved in the initial opening of the bike path near the Fairhaven Line more than 20 years ago, says that the project has been “an incredible effort” and “a lot of work.”

“We could have never got here without the people in Mattapoisett who have worked very hard to keep this project going,” he said.

The construction of the path, however, is not without its hang-ups.

Town Administrator Mike Lorenco stated that there have been “numerous tickets written” by police in regards to people parking on Neck Road, sometimes “literally on the bike path.”

Members of the Select Board also expressed safety concerns at their meeting on Monday, July 25.

“My big concern is that people slow down and don’t stop (at stop signs),” said Select Board member Tyler Macallister. “The bicyclists think they are pedestrians and that is where the disconnect seems to be.”

Macallister said that since the path initially opened in 2001, it has been a “struggle to keep people safe.”

The Select Board discussed the possibility of police detail to enforce safety for bicyclists, but no action was taken at Monday’s meeting.

The board at the Reservation Golf Club has reached out to the town with complaints about non-members using their parking to access the bike path since the Reservation Road portion was opened to the public. The town has installed signage, according to Lorenco, but cannot write tickets for a private lot.

Lorenco says alternate parking options are limited to Brandt Island Road and Mattapoisett Landing. People could also park on Depot Street, but then would have to bike over to the path itself.

Lorenco is in the initial stages of looking into adding a parking lot on Neck Road.

Straus said that in the initial plan to complete the path all at once, parking wouldn’t have been a problem, because bikers would have access from the town center.

“The original design had the opening all the way in the village, so this issue wouldn’t have occurred,” he explained, acknowledging that the parking has “been an issue for a number of people.”

Straus encourages people to get out and use the bike path, mentioning that the path is not only a transportation alternative, but opens up to “beautiful areas of town” that “haven’t often been seen by people.”

He said upon his first visit to the newly opened path with his daughter, they counted 12 turtles in the Mattapoisett River.

“It’s about being able to get out there and enjoy seeing what the town has to offer,” he said.