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Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)
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grand_junction
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I am hopeful that we see Concord Carlisle, or Bedford think about a way to build a more cohesive network in the area. You can go on protected paths for a good chunk of a ride leaving Boston, but there's a distinct gap on 62 between the Reformatory Branch and the Bruce Freeman that's not nice to bike on at all, and makes a safe, low-stress ride a tougher proposition (same goes for northbound from Bedford -- the Narrow Gauge only gets you so far).
Eventually the dream would be a way to do MCRT -> BFRT -> MMRT as a loop, it's very nice to see these taking shape.
RandomWalk
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I assume the proposed Reformatory Branch work is deader than Bernie Lomax after the two town meeting votes. Is there any chance of severing the Railroad Ave connection to the MMRT from the rest of the work?
Honestly, my friends and I until recent years when I stopped biking as much would frequently do the minuteman to Walden pond for a swim, and back. And often someone would have a road bike so we wouldn’t do reformatory and would just take whatever the roads (ie Rt 62) are that get you to concord center. When everyone had hybrids we’d do reformatory but the road way was fine. It wasn’t perfect but there is definitely room for concord to make 62 safer and better. I share the concerns of what would happen to the Reformatory Branch with paving. It’s a beautiful woodsy trail and the simple fact of convenience and “let’s connect dots on a map” should not obscure the fact that it’s amazing as is and once you pave a trail it totally and completely changes what exactly it is you’re walking or riding on. A rail trail that’s paved is utterly a different animal than a walk in the woods that heavy duty bikes can also manage cautiously. Paving it would totally change the character of it and it goes thru some very environmentally sensitive spots. I know that a full land taking to build protected lanes on 62 might seem unrealistic but it’s not impossible and there are absolutely things the state and concord could do to make that a ride. I’ve done it dozens of times as it is and it’s not that bad now. I think it would be better at any rate to accept that reformatory is going to stay the way it is and focus on efforts to make 62 safer and nicer for biking connections.
RandomWalk
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I’m not really expecting the full build of the Reformatory Branch to happen. I just want the one block connection between Bedford Depot and the start of the trail to get a protected bike lane.
I'm also not convinced that paving it would be good, but if it's going to function as a connector I think there should be some upgrades to make it more usable by road bikes. No one is complaining about the Bridge Street to Farwell Street section of the Charles River path because it's wide enough to be functional for transportation.
IMHO this section between Farwell and California Streets should be paved. Both ends are all rutted from the rain, with channels that can catch a bike tire, and there are several muddy sections after every rainfall. It's barely functional as "transportation", vs. the parallel Pleasant Street.
I ride the Reformatory Branch on a road bike all the time without difficulty, and I encourage anyone curious to try it; unless it's just rained a lot (and even sometimes then) it's perfectly doable. Larger tires help, but I think they're better on all roads than the old 700Cx23 days anyway. I don't really have a dog in the fight on the paved vs unpaved; I can be happy with either. But I think the condition of the path could be improved regardless; it could stand to be regraded a bit and the base renewed. Large rain events such as we've had several of this year are hard on unpaved surfaces.
hipster_garbage
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Agreed. The trail is in decent enough shape that I have no problem riding it on my Trek road bike with 700x28c tires on deep dish carbon wheels. If I want to go fast I'll stick to 62 but the trail is fine for most road bikes. Yeah it's more comfortable on a 32c tubeless setup like I have on my touring/commuter bike but it's fine on a road bike too. If they're adamant about not paving it they should just regrade certain parts, put down some crushed stone, and call it a day. The most "rugged" parts of the trail are in Concord anyway, where you'll have roots and trees in the middle of the path, but good luck getting Concord to do anything about it.
RandomWalk
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Concord doesn’t want the underpass on 62 because it would remove a convenient barrier which made Concord’s desires into Bedford’s problems.
The irony is that there was a grade separation there when the rails were in use, but it was filled after the line was abandoned.
The irony is that there was a grade separation there when the rails were in use, but it was filled after the line was abandoned.
bigeman312
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I have a feeling that most Concord and Bedford residents would vote for the grade separation. It helps cyclists, pedestrians, drivers, and non-humans.
Apropos of nothing, can we adjust the thread title to reference "Bluebikes" instead of "Hubway", since the system hasn't been named that since 2018? I would imagine more recent users / area residents wouldn't be familiar with that name.
I used to ride this all the time on my Trek hybrid and never had an issue with any trails on either side of the Charles between Moody or Watertown...
Havent seen this on here so sharing this -- the bridge that crosses from RI into MA on the Blackstone kicked off this year and will take three years. 11 million for a bike bridge, pretty good chunk of money for the state to commit, it's great.
patch.com
Blackstone River Greenway Bridge From MA To RI Begins Construction
The $11.3 million project will complete a 1/2-mile section of the trail, a key link on a path between Worcester, Woonsocket and Providence.
patch.com
Im not exactly sure why there's been almost zero movement on the MA segments of this for years. Apparently Sutton and Uxbridge have made some movement on a 3 mile segment but overall the Mass part of this is the same as it was when I biked the Worcester part over ten years ago. I dont even seen anything about other segments.Havent seen this on here so sharing this -- the bridge that crosses from RI into MA on the Blackstone kicked off this year and will take three years. 11 million for a bike bridge, pretty good chunk of money for the state to commit, it's great.
Blackstone River Greenway Bridge From MA To RI Begins Construction
The $11.3 million project will complete a 1/2-mile section of the trail, a key link on a path between Worcester, Woonsocket and Providence.
lainpimicaja
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It unfortunately doesn't look like the Blackstone River Greenway was included on the state's recently released priority trail map (supposed to guide state investments in where to build out trails): https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/75ad0564b18f48f5973657d65d2a775d/page/Page/
Has there been support at the local level along the proposed greenway? Projects like these sadly rarely move forward in MA without lots of local support and advocacy.
Not sure, it's funny, I lived in Worcester for four years and som familiarity with the towns clockwise from southwest all the way to east-southeast of it, but the towns way south and southeast like Douglas, Uxbridge, Northridge, Blackstone, Millville and others are a total black box to me.
It is strange that the Blackstone was not included in the priority rail trails given that the whole line is converted in RI, plus the fact that the state is already ponying up 11 million for a bridge that as of now doesnt get one very far on the Mass side...
The EGE
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I believe this section being built is the part through Roosevelt Park here. It's expensive because it's actually on top of the historic Blackstone Viaduct, which is being restored. It'll be a very cool ride when completed.
On the RI end, it connects to a short section of the BRG that crosses the river and ends at Singleton Street. There's about a 2-mile gap through downtown Woonsocket, then it's paved all the way to Valley Falls. On the west end in MA, the paved combined BRG/Southern New England Trunkline trail runs for 3.5 miles to 146A. There's a bit over a mile gap, then the SNETT becomes an unpaved trail that continues into Connecticut as the Air Line Trail.
East of the river, the SNETT alignment is fenced off from Castle Hill Way to Farm Street, and only passable on foot for a bit after that. It's bikeable but unimproved after 126, and improved from Center Street to the end of active rail outside Franklin. There's nothing major preventing it from being an improved trail that whole length. Getting from the existing BRG crossing to Castle Hill Way might be tricky, though. East of Farm Street, it also connects to the ex-Millis Branch, which is a priority trail all the way to Newton.
TL;DR: Even without the Massachusetts section of the Blackstone River Greenway, this is an important connector for several regional trails.
On the RI end, it connects to a short section of the BRG that crosses the river and ends at Singleton Street. There's about a 2-mile gap through downtown Woonsocket, then it's paved all the way to Valley Falls. On the west end in MA, the paved combined BRG/Southern New England Trunkline trail runs for 3.5 miles to 146A. There's a bit over a mile gap, then the SNETT becomes an unpaved trail that continues into Connecticut as the Air Line Trail.
East of the river, the SNETT alignment is fenced off from Castle Hill Way to Farm Street, and only passable on foot for a bit after that. It's bikeable but unimproved after 126, and improved from Center Street to the end of active rail outside Franklin. There's nothing major preventing it from being an improved trail that whole length. Getting from the existing BRG crossing to Castle Hill Way might be tricky, though. East of Farm Street, it also connects to the ex-Millis Branch, which is a priority trail all the way to Newton.
TL;DR: Even without the Massachusetts section of the Blackstone River Greenway, this is an important connector for several regional trails.
Very cool. Thank you. Do you have any idea why Massachusetts did not prioritize extending the Blackstone trail all the way to Worcester, though? Seems like something easy to do.