PEABODY — City planners have joined forces with a consultant to think up ways to pull neighborhoods, parks, ponds and roadways together to benefit local residents.
The Peabody Connectivity Plan looks at ways to tie the city together to improve how residents, shoppers and visitors get around the city and how different parts of Peabody can benefit from improved access.
According to the plan’s introduction, “The pedestrian infrastructure has connectivity gaps and uncomfortable and/or inaccessible crossings and sidewalks that discourage alternative transportation options.”
The plan focuses on the local transportation network, with its focus on travel by car. The problems it zeroes in on include a wide right-of-way and unsafe speeds on Perkins Street; segmented parks with individual parking areas; and the lack of consistent signage for safety and awareness to nearby destinations.
The planning is intended to help people move around between locations like James Street and Emerson Park, substituting bicycles and feet for driving.
“We are looking for improvements off the road,” said city Director of Planning and Community Development Curt Bellevance.
The good news for Peabody when it comes to making it easier for people to get around is that neighborhoods like the hilltop one around Higgins Middle School offer, “numerous active and passive recreation areas and the location relative to the City’s vibrant downtown center all (providing) a strong basis for a pedestrian and bicycle hub and solid linkage to the broader community,” according to the plan summary
The plan’s objective is to identify key “alignments” that will encourage an increased usage of the bikeways, walkways and trail networks, as well as improving access to these recreational amenities.
The plan notes that finding these alignments or connections means understanding Peabody’s history.
Known in the early days as the Northfields or The Farms, Peabody was a natural oasis sought out during times of early English settlement by residents of Salem wanting to emigrate west into the rolling meadows and forested wetlands.
By the 18th century, Peabody had become a rich industrial center of commerce, renowned as the world’s largest producer of leather. Referred to as “The Leather City,” Peabody also had factories that produced textiles, glass and pottery, made with the iron-rich clay found in local riverbanks.
Over the last several years, city staff members have been evaluating opportunities to improve usage of the Perkins Street parks and surrounding recreational spaces.
As the city began to invest in improvements to the Perkins Street area, the idea of a comprehensive connectivity plan became more critical to ensuring that the area was a connected neighborhood resource.
In November 2018, city planners met with the Horsley Witten Group, Inc. (HWG) to discuss the overarching goals and vision for a connectivity plan.
From that discussion and subsequent discussions with stakeholders and key community members, the city established an overall vision of a safe, accessible campus that connects pedestrians, motorists and bicyclists of all ages and abilities to the unique spaces within the Eco-Recreational Campus.
The campus will be a community destination for passive and active recreation, education and enjoyment of natural resources during all seasons. The Connectivity Plan will help to provide solutions for establishing campus connections, prioritize projects that will improve both physical and experiential infrastructure, and identify a process for putting this plan into action.
Bellevance said planning work will conclude in December, with construction related to connectivity starting sometime next year.
Plan goals including developing a network of sidewalks, bikeways and trails that are designed for all ages, abilities and users; creating a safe, comfortable space for multi-modal travel within the campus and capitalizing on existing natural resources and recreational opportunities within the campus and surrounding areas.
The plan also proposes establishing a “campus brand” through signage and other park amenities that clearly identify the primary and secondary corridors, the trails and links to identifiable community destinations, as well as increasing connectivity between Higgins Middle School and Scouting Woods and promoting bicycle and pedestrian access to and within the campus.