Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)

gks5m said:
Supposedly they are waiting for a new crosswalk across Alford St before opening the path to the public
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Where would this crosswalk be? Where the path hits the Rt 99 Bridge? There's already a recently refreshed crossing at the rotary a hundred yards south of this path. Crossing over to the Ryan Playground at this point would be great, but would require actual construction to remove the barriers and fencing that separate traffic here.
 
kjdonovan said:
Where would this crosswalk be? Where the path hits the Rt 99 Bridge? There's already a recently refreshed crossing at the rotary a hundred yards south of this path. Crossing over to the Ryan Playground at this point would be great, but would require actual construction to remove the barriers and fencing that separate traffic here.
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I believe so. I saw it here.
"At Friday’s press event for the Mystic River bridge, StreetsblogMASS asked Dan Driscoll, the Department of Conservation’s new Director of Green Transportation, why the trail hasn’t opened yet.​
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It’s pretty much ready to ride,” agreed Driscoll.​
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But he said that the agency is still waiting on a new crosswalk to be installed across Alford Street, to allow for a safer connection between the new trail segment and the existing Boston Harborwalk trail in the Ryan Playground.​
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Driscoll said that the new trail could finally open to the public in November.​
 
Calling BS on a November opening if they are cutting directly across Alford Street. Unless it is a prioritized rapid build, breaking through that barrier and building a wholly new crosswalk would be a hugely disruptive and multi-week or even multi-month effort. Demo barrier, build ADA ramps, install crossing lights, repave and paint. Again, maybe I'm not understanding the activity being discussed here but if involves anything more than fresh paint it is a ways away.
 
Some updates on the Northern Strand South extension to the future Mystic River Bridge...

Starting in Everett - new landscaping
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Bridge and electrical done
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Planters were purchased a bit too early - hope they last the winter
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New Entrance at Wellington/West St
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Stuck at the bridge with construction ongoing.
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Nice pics, Vagabond.
It's looking better than last week. They added new crushed rock on the approach to the Tileston Street bridge where the homeless guy was camping two weeks ago.
I went for a ride there again yesterday. The NS Trail the goes all the way to the to the dam except for the fence across the path connection entrance behind Costco. I have a feeling they'll probably keep the fence there until the trail connects the last 1/5 of mile between 16 and West/Wellington (as Vagabond captured)
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Soooo close! Also noteworthy, the fence on the east side of the Amelia Earhart Dam was open for some reason... on a Sunday? First time I've seen that.
 
BeyondRevenue said:
Nice pics, Vagabond.
It's looking better than last week. They added new crushed rock on the approach to the Tileston Street bridge where the homeless guy was camping two weeks ago.
I went for a ride there again yesterday. The NS Trail the goes all the way to the to the dam except for the fence across the path connection entrance behind Costco. I have a feeling they'll probably keep the fence there until the trail connects the last 1/5 of mile between 16 and West/Wellington (as Vagabond captured)
View attachment 18373

Soooo close! Also noteworthy, the fence on the east side of the Amelia Earhart Dam was open for some reason... on a Sunday? First time I've seen that.
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Did you bike out the other way? I got stuck in Lynn at the end- surprised there isn't even a road connection yet. Some of the best parts of the trail are at the end, although the Lynn/Saugus drivers are going to have to learn how to use the breaks near the crossings.
 
Vagabond said:
Did you bike out the other way? I got stuck in Lynn at the end- surprised there isn't even a road connection yet. Some of the best parts of the trail are at the end, although the Lynn/Saugus drivers are going to have to learn how to use the breaks near the crossings.
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I came in from the Boston side on 99, looped up around the MBTA yards near the tracks, through the Wynn buildings and grounds turf, and down the backside casino maintenance road down to the water. Then I went up to the Michael's end of the Gateway Center to see the other side, snooped out all of the improvements from Sweetser Circle side on down, drove past the backhoe and skip to go back toward the dam around the temporary fence. Not technically trespassing if the other side is open, right?
That NST path is going to be really nice when it connects that last bit North and goes through to Assembly.... however it gets there ;).
From what I saw last week when I entered NST closer to the Malden/Revere line going inbound, the ride still favors a mountain bike... if only for the unfinished crossings where it goes Awesome trail > Drop Off > Concrete ramp face > Unmarked Street crossing > Concrete ramp > Drop off to dirt > Awesome trail.... about 20 times between where I started and the Tileston Street Bridge in Everett. Hope they get it done before the snow flies.

The NST going to be really great. The people of all these towns deserve something nice like this in their backyard. It's already being used heavily -- though presently as a walking path. I'm just happy it's getting used in the meantime! More access paths!

As for the dam, does anybody have any use data... including number of passages through the locks and average height of vessels?
Come on aB -- Wow me! I can't find anything.
 
BeyondRevenue said:
As for the dam, does anybody have any use data... including number of passages through the locks and average height of vessels?
Come on aB -- Wow me! I can't find anything.
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I've tried to find some data on marine traffic through the locks at the dam and I've come up empty. If that data's published somewhere, it's not in a place that's easy to locate, which is quite annoying. (That said I question whether they'd be allowed to put in a bridge with a lower clearance than the 30-or-so foot clearance of the Eastern Route bridge, unless it was a drawbridge of some kind.)
 
Brattle Loop said:
I've tried to find some data on marine traffic through the locks at the dam and I've come up empty. If that data's published somewhere, it's not in a place that's easy to locate, which is quite annoying. (That said I question whether they'd be allowed to put in a bridge with a lower clearance than the 30-or-so foot clearance of the Eastern Route bridge, unless it was a drawbridge of some kind.)
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I'd settle for a low rent bridge with 15 feet clearance above the dam (which I'd bet covers 95% of the traffic) and a movable section for the occasional sailboats or extreme tall boy cabin cruisers. Honestly, we should fix or replace the dam before a solid chunk of Medford ends up looking like the Ninth Ward after the inevitable storm driven king tide tops the existing dam. A likely scenario from what I've heard. And we've come close recently.
If anyone wants to play, here's some digital Legos.
 
Don't know when this was put in, but I just noticed it driving through today. A bi-directional bike lane on Willow Ave in Malden, with some sections parking protected.
This is a great little project, this connects to the NST in the north across Eastern Ave, and this goes to a skate park and two other small parks in the area.

Video from my dashcam:
https://imgur.com/TAWPAGf

Route: top of image is NST connection with Eastern ave running east-west, and bryant ave at the bottom intersection
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I have an idea for a Rumney Marsh trail and I don't know where to post it (mods, please move if necessary).

Some aBers must have ridden in, near or around the marsh. After seeing a video about Lynn's Bike to the Sea plan, and the Northern Strand Trail, a while ago I went for a few NST treks trying to find connector paths. Getting there through Revere, the auto-monopolized road treachery was incredibly intimidating. My conclusion: there is no easy, slow or quiet way to traverse Revere or get to Lynn on a bike. It's all menacing, all-car awfulness. They need paths.
There must be other ways the map could connect trails without much expense or effort, so I set a goal: I wanted to find a way to get to to the NST, from the shore, possibly via the Sea Plane Trail below the abandoned Route 1 rotary OR via some trails in between. Seeing on Google maps there was little bike friendly turf at all, I biked up to the 107th Flyers RC plane runway on Hwy 107 from Revere (cool, but dangerous to get to on a bike).
Once there, I rode the narrow bramble laden path south-ish to see what it would take to build a bike friendly link across the Rumney Marsh to Lynn. With a bridged crossing at the end of the Sea Plane trail, a pike path to Lynn could be built without too much noise or habitat destruction and would provide a slower, quieter, respite for hikers, bikers and birders from the 107 Speedway. I also see an opportunity to actually use the abandoned Rt 1 rotary overpasses!
I'm seeing a rail/trail advocacy groundswell and I'm wondering who among us is involved with this effort to connect existing more bike friendly roads to trails unbuilt.
I thought I'd throw in an idea that could be built mostly on the cheap. Brush clearing, road paint and permission on the cheap end with only a little infrastructure expense (at the Rt 1 rotary and a small bridge).

Kick the tires. New trails in Yellow, problem areas in Red:

Rumney.jpg
 
There is a trail that starts at that Revere rotary, I believe its called the sea plane basin trail. It starts at a gate in the back of the hotel parking lot. If you are interested in using this trail I would douse in tick spray. I hiked to the end and then discovered that there were more than a dozen ticks on my jeans. The "rumney marsh walk" starts next to the wheelabrator plant and has no ticks. The trails end at each sides of the above picks by Beyond Revenue post 514
 
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Jrubbs said:
There is a trail that starts at that Revere rotary, I believe its called the sea plane basin trail. It starts at a gate in the back of the hotel parking lot. If you are interested in using this trail I would douse in tick spray. I hiked to the end and then discovered that there were more than a dozen ticks on my jeans. The "rumney marsh walk" starts next to the wheelabrator plant and has no ticks. The trails end at each sides of the above picks by Beyond Revenue post 514
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I know about the Sea Plane Trail (in green above). De-ticking (widening, firming, mostly in yellow) is part of the building exercise of extending it to Lynn up the middle of the marsh with a new bridge in the middle connecting north to south like in #512 above. The rotary and the bridge are pricey bits connecting Revere and Lynn. (In red)
 
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