Dover OKs pedestrian bridge over Bellamy River as part of Community Trail expansion

DOVER — Planning leaders in the city have endorsed a design for the expansion of the Community Trail , including a 105-foot pedestrian bridge over the Bellamy River.

Designed and built in three phases dating back to the start of the millennium, the Community Trail currently spans eight roundtrip miles . The next phase would increase it in length by more than a mile by extending the trail from Knox Marsh Road at Route 155 onto Lilac Lane, become a gravel trail through forested wetlands, then wind through Bellamy Park to Bellamy Road near the city’s middle and high school buildings.

Despite the Planning Board’s recent backing of a design from project consultant Fuss & O’Neill, Donna Benton, the city’s director of planning and community development, says the expansion isn’t finalized.

“There is still a long road before any site work commences,” she said Tuesday.

Two design options presented for Dover Community Trail's latest expansion

Discussion of the expansion occurred at the Dover Planning Board’s July 23 meeting, with representatives from Fuss & O’Neill in attendance to walk board members through their recommendations. Fuss & O’Neill project manager Nicole Fox and project engineer Amy Johnson presented two design options: one with a pedestrian bridge and the other without one.

“The trail will fill the need to provide a safe, delineated, accessible route for bicyclists and pedestrians to travel between New Hampshire (Route) 155 and Bellamy Road with direct access to recreation at Bellamy Park, allows students to travel from residential neighborhoods to Dover High School, and will provide future connectivity to other segments of the Dover community trail,” Fox said.

The two Fuss & O’Neill representatives noted their firm was recommending the city move forward with the design option calling for the handicap-accessible pedestrian bridge, despite its higher projected cost and the need for more tree clearing. That option also includes a plan to include parking near Knox Marsh Road.

The two stated a walking bridge would lessen the reduce of any cyclists or pedestrians being injured because of activity at the nearby Bellamy Park disc golf course.

“We definitely don’t want cyclists and pedestrians walking through and getting hit in the head,” Johnson said at the Planning Board meeting.

How much will trail expansion cost?

Anticipated project costs have risen considerably, though the city has a portion of a federal $400,000 grant to use for the expansion. The entire phase of the expansion is presently expected to cost $2.6 million, a final estimation including the projected $1.5 million cost of constructing the trail itself and $600,000 to build the bridge.

Paul Crouser III, the city’s zoning administrator and assistant planner, said last week more federal funding will be required to finish the project.

“This is significantly more than what was anticipated when the project was first introduced in 2017 due to inflation and a change in the scope of the project, including a pedestrian bridge,” he said of the price projections.

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The fourth phase of the trail’s expansion is likely several years away from completion. “Once funded, the design, permitting and right of ways generally take two to three years. Construction would likely be able to be completed within one season, so spring to fall,” Fox said.

Federal grant money earmarked for the project has been administered by the state Department of Transportation. For those grants, the city has provided a 20% match to increase the total allocation to the trail expansion.

“We’ve been working with the consultant, Fuss & O’Neill as we understand designing trails and in this case a bridge is not a simple task,” Benton said this week. “We want to ensure we get all the permitting, landscaping, engineering, and design correctly. There was a lot of effort made to ensure the trail did not interfere with the existing disc golf course and to utilize existing city-owned land or existing easements as much as possible. This general route was chosen as a way to connect pedestrians and bicyclists from Route 155 and multi-family housing developments to the schools and existing community trail, but also (to give) recreational users a way to get closer to Kingman Farm and other recreational areas.”

The Planning Board unanimously endorsed the trail expansion design calling for a pedestrian bridge.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Dover OKs pedestrian bridge over Bellamy River as part of Community Trail expansion