Twelve years after the Cape Elizabeth Town Council rejected state and federal funds that would have helped construct a bike path along Shore Road, a committee is re-examining the possibility of making Shore Road bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

According to town data, there are approximately 300 homes on or adjacent to Shore Road, which runs from the town center to Fort Williams. However, many residents find that the only safe way to travel on Shore Road is by car, because there are no shoulders or sidewalks for pedestrians and cars whip by at a high rate of speed, often swerving out into the middle of the road to avoid people on foot.

“One of the primary goals is to afford those owners who live along Shore Road the ability to walk (to the town center or Fort Williams),” said Paul Thelin, Shore Road Path Committee chairman. “It is more to accommodate the existing uses, although I would imagine there would be an increase (in bicycle and pedestrian traffic) if it were a safe place.”

The town has obtained a $28,000 grant from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Study Committee, to which it will have to provide a $7,000 match, to study the feasibility of building a walking path along one side of Shore Road. A consultant will work with the recently appointed Shore Road Path Committee to determine on which side of the road the pathway should be located and how it should be constructed.

The committee was to be conducting interviews with four teams of experts at its meet Wednesday night, and would make a decision either at the end of the meeting or in the next few days, said Town Planner Maureen O’Meara.

Thelin said the committee will likely recommend that the pathway be constructed in the town right of way – and thus would not require buying any land – except in places where it would disturb a desired tree, historic wall or other feature.

Thelin said the safety of pedestrians and motorists is the main impetus for constructing a pathway.

“I live along Shore Road and have experienced the safety concerns,” he said. “The ability to walk along Shore Road as it exists now is very difficult, and, in my opinion, hazardous.”

The committee has not yet developed any cost estimates for the project.