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Falmouth committee to seek MassTrails grant to repair and repave Shining Sea Bikeway
Summary
The Falmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee said DPW approved applying for a MassTrails grant to remove invasive trees and repave most of the Shining Sea Bikeway; the application is due Feb. 2, 2026 and would require a $100,000 local match.
The Falmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee on Jan. 7 discussed applying for a MassTrails grant to remove invasive trees that have caused root bumps and to repave nearly the entirety of the Shining Sea Bikeway.
Chair Katherine Jansen said the Department of Public Works has approved the committee applying for the grant and that the project scope would focus on identifying and removing invasive species that damage the trail and repaving most sections except a few recently paved stretches or areas without root damage. She said the committee needs Selectboard approval to submit the application.
Committee discussion identified funding and scheduling constraints. The committee reported a grant request in the application of approximately $400,000 with a required $100,000 match (either in‑kind contributions such as DPW work or from the existing $100,000 SSBW budget). The application deadline is Feb. 2, 2026; the committee was told award decisions are expected in August 2026, which the chair said would help avoid crossing multiple fiscal years on a reimbursement grant.
Member Neel Aluru asked whether the grant is a reimbursement‑style award, noting those can be difficult for the town to manage; Jansen said the August award timetable reduces that concern by keeping the project within a single fiscal year if funded. Frieder Klein asked whether the nearby Katharine Lee Bates connector could be repaved under the same effort; committee members clarified that DPW handles snow removal and vegetation control and that those services would not necessarily need to be included in the grant scope. Jansen said she would check the KLB connector separately.
Next steps: the committee intends to request a place on the Selectboard agenda to seek authorization for the application and to finalize match sources before the Feb. 2 due date.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the grant application at the Jan. 7 meeting; the matter is proceeding toward Selectboard review.
