Marblehead board to manage scenic byway

MARBLEHEAD – Town Planner Rebecca Curran is forming an ad hoc committee to help plan the management of the Marblehead segment of the Essex Heritage Scenic Byway.Curran told selectmen last week that the Essex National Heritage Area Scenic Byway is a 64-mile route consisting of portions of Route 1A and other state roads, winding through Lynn, Swampscott, Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury and Newburyport.It passes through Marblehead on Routes 114 and 129. Marblehead’s committee, approved by the selectmen, will include Curran, a selectman and persons from the historic community, local merchants and others to be assembled under the direction of Town Administrator Tony Sasso.The state Legislature officially designated the route as a state Scenic Byway Nov. 20, 2003. The Essex National Heritage Commission led the effort for state scenic byway designation and continues to coordinate the byway planning effort as a resource to the byway communities.The Essex byway is one of 14 in Massachusetts, but the first ever in the northeast corner of the state. There are more than 1,500 byways in the United States.The designation secured an estimated $285,000 in funding support from the National Scenic Byway program and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works. A working management plan can be a useful tool for the communities involved in the byway. It can earn final designation as a National Scenic Byway, which will bring added recognition and possibly additional federal funding for the route and the region.Local efforts began shortly after June 1, when representatives from 13 Essex County communities and Essex Heritage, Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, North of Boston Convention and Visitor Bureau and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation met to launch an Essex Heritage Scenic Byway regional plan, led by State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester and State Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly. A Corridor Advisory Group was established and the outline of a corridor management plan was developed.The Corridor Advisory Group is asking local communities to form committees, which will meet over the next 10 months and give input on the roadway as it passes through their communities. The total planning process is expected to take 21 months and Essex Heritage has engaged the nationally known byway planning firm of Taintor & Associates of Newburyport to help prepare the corridor management plan.