Shared Streets & Spaces Program

The City of Methuen is participating in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Shared Streets and Spaces Program. This COVID pandemic-related grant program is intended to assist municipalities in meeting their individual needs for more and safer outdoor recreation, commerce, community activities, and mobility. Methuen has received two rounds of funding to date: The Riverside Drive /Burnham Road Multi-Modal Improvement Project Fall 2020, and the Methuen Senior Center Safe Pathway Project.

The Riverside Drive portion of the project is temporarily reducing the width of the vehicle travel lanes and installing six-foot-wide bicycle lanes with three-foot-wide safety buffers on either side of the road between the boat ramp and Riverside Park. Two permanent signalized crosswalks are also being installed at Burnham Road and the park and between Glen and Barry Avenues. The vehicle travel lanes on Burnham Road will be reduced to provide a six-foot social distancing path along with a two-foot wide safety barrier along the existing five-foot sidewalk between the shopping plaza and the intersection with Riverside Drive. The Senior Center Project will create safe walking paths to the Senior Center along Orchard and School Streets from Mystic Avenue The planning for this project is underway. It is hoped that both projects will lead to further funding opportunities for permanent solutions to these projects.

Implementation of these projects is expected to begin in August 2021. For further information on the Methuen Shared Streets program, please email Brian Keating or call 978-983-8568.