Essex Street Pedestrian Path Survey Work is Now Underway

The study of Essex Street in Hamilton to see whether a bicycle and pedestrian path can be built along it – and where that path should go – is underway.

Voters . At the time, voters gave the OK to spend up to $19,000 on the work. The question went before voters after citizens compiled a petition to get the question on the Town Meeting warrant.

Rudi Pizzano, an Essex Street resident who spearheaded the drive to put the question before voters, went before Selectmen earlier this summer to let the board know that work on the study had not yet begun.

Joan Tomasz, the director of the , said on Monday that the survey work will be completed this week and a preliminary plan for the layout of the path will be submitted by the end of next week.

“The survey will identify the location of significant features along the road out to about 10 feet,” Tomasz said. “The goal is to identify the feasibility of constructing a sidewalk from the Wenham to the Essex town lines.”

The work is being completed by Cammett Engineering of Amesbury for a total cost of $19,500.

For a portion of the road, near Martel Road and , there is a sidewalk along the north side of the road. But most of the two miles between the intersection with Larch Row in Wenham and Western Avenue in Essex there is no sidewalk or path.