By Chris Cassidy
SALEM — Drumroll, please.
The city's bypass road now has a new name — Veterans Riverway.
Ending a 15-month search for just the right moniker for the city's one-mile, $15 million stretch of waterfront pavement, the City Council finally reached a consensus Wednesday night and approved it last night.
It was not easy.
Originally, Mayor Kim Driscoll had suggested the rather safe name of "North River Greenway." Councilors envisioned something grander, however, and organized a citywide naming contest.
Suggestions poured in: Witchy Way, Old Jail Road, Harringtons' Bypass, even Blubber Hollow Boulevard.
Angry March Street neighbors offered a few helpful suggestions of their own, namely "Highway to Hell" and "Political Folly Freeway."
Then, a few months ago, outgoing City Councilor Matt Veno added a new nomination to the mix: the Edward M. Kennedy Riverway.
"No disrespect to Sen. Kennedy, but I think it should be named after someone local," Councilor-at-large Arthur Sargent said Wednesday night.
"The name Mike Ruane pops up in my head," Ward 3 Councilor Jean Pelletier said.
Ruane, however, already has a massive court project named after him, one councilor pointed out.
Councilor-at-large Tom Furey said the road should be named after "the Norman Rockwell of business" — Jack Welch.
"He did wonderful things," said Furey, noting that Welch has supported the Salem Boys & Girls Club and that General Electric donated the lights at Bertram Field.
Ward 2 Councilor Michael Sosnowski felt the road should be named after Commander J. Alex Michaud because of his work in transportation and tourism.
"His contributions to this city you can't even measure because they're so numerous," he said.
Ward 4 Councilor Jerry Ryan pulled out his BlackBerry and called up Robert Ellis Cahill's poem "Leslie's Retreat," which remembers the heroics of Joe Wicher.
"This is the guy who stood in front and almost died to stop the British from coming over the North River," Ryan said.
Robert McCarthy, the Ward 1 councilor, cautioned that naming the road after Parker Brothers or Monopoly would create trademark infringement issues.
Sargent suggested it be named for Gold Star Mothers, those who have lost children in war.
"At this point, I don't care what we call it," Pelletier said.
He then noted that since the city already has a Veterans Memorial Bridge, it would make sense to honor veterans by also naming the bypass road in their honor.
"That way, we're honoring all the vets, not just one person or stupid witch stuff," Pelletier said.
But that only led to further questions. Should it be called Veterans Memorial Riverway? Veterans Memorial Bypass? Veterans Bypass?
Sargent was concerned that if locals gave directions to drivers, they'd refer to it as the bypass road, so the name should have the word "bypass" in it.
However, Council President Paul Prevey noted that "'bypass' sounds a little cheesier than 'riverway.'"
So "riverway," it would be.
But "Veterans Memorial Riverway" sounded too long for some councilors, so the word "memorial" was stricken and a new name was born: Veterans Riverway.
"Keeps it simple," Furey said.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salem news.com.
