The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), Mass In Motion,, UMass Dartmouth, Voices for a Healthy Southcoast, and the South Coast Bikeway Committee sponsored a bicycle ride from the ATMC in Fall River to the Dartmouth Regional Park on June 16, 2012. The ride was part of a continuing effort to demonstrate the vision for a Southcoast Regional Bikeway from Providence to Provincetown. The bikeway, once realized, will be a 50-mile continuous system of bike paths (or multi-use paths) and bike lanes that will connect Rhode Island to Cape Cod. Cities and towns included in this plan are Swansea, Somerset, Fall River, Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion, Wareham and Bourne. Several segments of the bikeway already exist in Swansea, Fall River, New Bedford, Fairhaven and Mattapoisett and are available to riders and walkers now. Plans to complete the path through Fall River are currently underway. Click here for a video of the ride. Click here for pictures from the Southcoast Bikeway Summit and here for the East Bay Bike Path ride. For more information, contact Fall River Mass In Motion coordinator Julianne Kelly, at 508-324-2405 or Fall River Bicycle Committee Chairman Brian Pearson. (Photos courtesy of Brian and Karen Pearson and video courtesy of Patrick Mulgrew)

(Top row, left) The group poses for a photo at the beginning of the ride. (Top row, right) SRPEDD transportation planner Adam Recchia arrives first at the Dartmouth Regional Park. (Middle row) Riders Kathy, Frank, Arch and others arrive next at the Park. (Bottom row) Jim Hornsby arrives to join Leigh Picard, Dartmouth Board of Health director Wendy Henderson, Fall River School Wellness coordinator Marcia. Natalie, Kathy and Arch at the Park.