With the summer season underway, the town has moved forward with providing the physically handicapped with access to two Bourne beaches. On Tuesday, June 28, work crews with the Department of Public Works rolled out and installed handicapped-accessible beach mats at Monument Beach, Hen Cove, Electric Avenue Beach and Gray Gables Beach.

Work crews started at Monument Beach. While one worker in a bulldozer smoothed a section of beach adjacent to the beach parking lot, several other crew members raked areas the heavy machine could not reach. Once smoothed over, the blue plastic mat was rolled out, and two-foot-long spikes were hammered through eyelets in the mats border into the sand to anchor the walkway in place.

A second mat was connected to the first and stretched down to the high tide mark by the waters edge. More spikes were driven into the sand along the sides of both mats, ensuring each mat will provide solid footing for anyone who is physically unstable.

This will be good for anyone in a wheelchair, using a walker or on crutches, DPW Director George M. Sala said.

Mr. Sala instructed the workers to stretch the mat as far as possible, even if it meant a portion of it would enter the water. He said he was advised by Bourne Department of Natural Resources Director Timothy W. Mullen that any growth on the mat, such as algae, would be killed by the hot sun during low tide and easily swept away. It will be the responsibility of Monument Beach lifeguards to sweep the mat free of sand that accumulates on it during the day, he said.

Town residents approved Article 26 at Annual Town Meeting last month, which included $20,000 to the Bourne Recreation Department for access beach mats at Monument Beach and Hen Cove. After rolling out the mats at Monument Beach and Hen Cove, Mr. Sala realized there was enough material to install beach mats at Electric Avenue Beach in Buzzards Bay and Gray Gables Beach, as well.

Mr. Sala noted that while the lifeguards at Monument Beach will sweep the mats there, DPW crews will clear the mats at the other beaches when they make their trash runs. He asked that residents using the beaches also help out by occasionally sweeping the mats clear of accumulated sand. He also encouraged residents to report any sign of vandalism to the mats.

If people using the beach want good things, they have to keep an eye out and report any type of damage, so we can correct it immediately, he said.

Read this article:

Bourne's Beaches Get Mats For Handicapped - CapeNews.net