This past Saturday, cyclists from Maplewood and South Orange met for a group ride across a planned path that will one day connect the two towns.
The event was organized by the South Orange Maplewood Bicycle Coalition (SOMbike), which puts together frequent group rides and hopes to encourage safe street riding for SOMA families. This ride was focused on The Greenway, a proposed project that will create an uninterrupted bike and pedestrian path from Maplewood Middle School to South Orange Middle School (through Memorial Park and Cameron Field), hopefully by the end of the decade.
Just under a dozen riders met in downtown Maplewood on Saturday, along with Vice-Mayor Kathy Leventhal, who is one of the members of the task force working to make the planned Greenway a reality. “We have a task force giving a recommended plan in December,” says Leventhal. “Then the township committee will work with our engineer to decide how to move ahead.” She says the project will require lots of grant funding for both the Maplewood and South Orange sections of the Greenway, and she’s hopeful that all of the pieces will come together in the near future.
For the time being, though, it was all about the ride. Since the Greenway path goes nearly to the door of Hat City Kitchen in Orange, the local eatery was the final destination for the bikers, who enjoyed complimentary drinks after riding together along the proposed route.
For more information on SOMbike events, visit sombike.com.
