Sycamore Lane

Sycamore Lane runs west from Bridle Road in River Pines to the corner of Birchwood Road and Mcrayne Hill Road, between Briarwood Avenue and Basswood Avenue; Fernwood Road, Cedarwood Road, Greenwood Road and Arborwood Road run north to it from Briarwood Avenue. Until about 1991 it was Rogers Avenue. It was laid out under that name on the "Plan of River Pines, Unit 5," drawn in May 1928 by R. F. Smith, surveyor, of Boston Road, Billerica, and recorded in June 1928 (Plan Book 52, Plan 7). On that plan Rogers Avenue runs from Bridle Road west to the diagonal Sprucewood Road, which follows the line of land "now or formerly Rogers," and the "wood" roads of Unit 1 end on it. The plan does not explain the name, and no other source for it has been found.

In 1932 the town was asked for street lights on Bridle Road at Basswood Avenue and Rogers Avenue. A W.P.A. crew laid 700 feet of 6 inch water pipe in Rogers Avenue from Bridle Road, reported completed in 1942. The annual town meeting of February 9, 1946 voted to accept Rogers Avenue "in the section known as River Pines a distance of 1,400 feet from the highway known as Bridle Road," and the special town meeting of October 28, 1946 accepted "the laying out of Rogers Avenue as a town way in accordance with the report of the Selectmen." In 1947 the town took $2,975 from free cash to extend the water main 815 feet, and in 1949 the Water Department extended the main on Rogers Avenue by 685 feet; the same year the street was graveled, given tar penetration and sealed. The side streets were accepted in 1953 as running "from Briarwood Avenue to Rogers Avenue." Rogers Avenue was hot topped with bituminous concrete in 1971.

The name was changed to Sycamore Lane in the renaming of 1988 to 1991, when the selectmen replaced duplicate street names across the town; Billerica also had a Rogers Street in North Billerica. The renamings of 1989 to 1991 are not printed in the town reports, but a house listed at 13 Rogers Avenue in 1990 is listed at 13 Sycamore Lane in 1993. No record explains the choice of the new tree name. Sycamore Lane is not among the roads of the 1831 town map accepted by the town in 2016.

References

1. Annual Report 1932: warrant Article 19, street lights on Bridle Road at Basswood Avenue and Rogers Avenue
2. Annual Report 1942: W.P.A. water project, 700 feet of 6 inch pipe in Rogers Avenue from Bridle Road (completed)
3. Annual Report 1946: annual meeting of Feb. 9, 1946, Article 62, Rogers Avenue accepted, 1,400 feet from Bridle Road
4. Annual Report 1946: special town meeting of Oct. 28, 1946, Article 35, laying out of Rogers Avenue accepted
5. Annual Report 1947: warrant Article 32, extend the water main on Rogers Avenue 815 feet
6. Annual Report 1949: Rogers Avenue graveled, scraped, tar penetration and sealed
7. Annual Report 1949: water mains extended by the Water Department, Rogers Avenue 685 feet
8. Annual Report 1956: list of streets accepted by the town, "Rogers Ave. From Bridle Road 2-9-46, 10-28-46"
9. Annual Report 1971: streets hot topped with Type I bituminous concrete, Rogers Avenue among them