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

[F-Line to Dudley]

This actually makes me a little sad. As Brazile's photo shows, the Reformatory Branch from Bedford Depot to the Concord line is really nice as is. Widening and paving it will certainly take away some of its beauty and charm.

I lived much of my childhood in Bedford and ran track and cross-country for Bedford High, so between workouts, mountain biking, and "playing in the woods" I easily spent hundreds of hours on that trail every year. I understand that paving it will increase access and surely benefit more people, but the NIMBY in me is a little sad about the possible destruction of what's there now.

It's quaint, but its quaintness does legitimately reduce its utilization. Especially with the Minuteman being the proverbial bipedal expressway feeding it. If the Bedford/Yankee Doodle trail is eventually going to have a trail head in North Billerica opening it up to all-new ridership, then they need to plan for a future where Bedford Depot becomes an orders-of-magnitude bigger linchpin on the trail system than it is now. And that means Reformatory's got to aim for better functionality with a widening/re-landscaping and at minimum a well-graded crushed stone surface if not outright paving.

Figure for one the proximity to Walden Pond once it does dump off in Concord Center. You have to solve for the scary Route 2 crossing at the Route 126 intersection (sadly not part of the Crosby's Corner project, whose limits stop literally at 126), but a footbridge there puts you 1.5 miles from the trail head down Keyes Rd. and Walden St. to the Pond. Maybe with other future off-road bike/ped enhancements closing that gap further. And future Sudbury River-hugging paths doing their part to close the gap to West Concord/Bruce Freeman Trail a *little* bit.


As a long-term growth and connectivity prospect the Reformatory's a pretty big deal. I wouldn't look at a slight compromise of its rusticness being a loss to lament, but more a sign that it's graduating to the bigtime. Same goes for Billerica when the missing link to Route 3A/downtown opens.

 

[ceo]

Surprisingly enough, the MAPC map seems to indicate a possible extension as far as the Barretts Mill Farmland just west of the 2nd river crossing. Looking at Google Maps, the ROW property line actually looks fairly contiguous from Concord center out to this point, with practically no encroachment at all.

Oh sure, you go tell the extremely rich people who live on that stretch of Nashawtuc Road (seriously, look at #213) and whose property lines run straight to the river that you're putting a bikepath across their riverfront property. I think you'd have to run that stretch through the conservation land on the other side, which would have its own issues.

 

[Uncivil_Engineer]

Oh sure, you go tell the extremely rich people who live on that stretch of Nashawtuc Road (seriously, look at #213) and whose property lines run straight to the river that you're putting a bikepath across their riverfront property. I think you'd have to run that stretch through the conservation land on the other side, which would have its own issues.

While I imagine things will get loud if they try to build out a bike path, based on this map it looks like the town already has some kind of arrangement in place to connect several land trust parcels with a walking trail along the ROW.

 

[chumbolly]

While I imagine things will get loud if they try to build out a bike path, based on this map it looks like the town already has some kind of arrangement in place to connect several land trust parcels with a walking trail along the ROW.

I've spent hours studying how to extend the Reformatory Branch to the Bruce Freeman as I live in the area.

The path around Nashawtuc hill is already there, and well maintained on the old ROW. It's primarily on Concord conservation land. I rode it on my road bike last week. The real problems are the two missing bridges and where the ROW has been extinguished near Barrett's Mill Farm on the other side of the river--there's a small subdivision lying right in its path onward to Route 2. A workaround for the blocked ROW issue would be to leave the ROW, cutting through Barret's Mill Farm, and then having a bike lane on Barret's Mill Road to Route 2. If and when the Route 2 rotary is replaced with an overpass for Route 2A, then the bike route could go up and over Route 2, joining the BFRT on the other side. That would leave the bridge problem. The Sudbury and Assabet rivers, over which the trail ROW would need to cross twice, are designated as "Wild and Scenic," which, if I'm not mistaken, means no federal funds can be used to build a bridge over them. Good luck paying for two substantial bridges without federal funding.

Lastly, there would definitely be opposition from wealthy abutters to upgrading the trail and building the bridges. See this website (http://www.concordruraltrails.org/) to see the astroturf group that fought against upgrading the Reformatory Branch on the stretch leading to Bedford. My hope is that the BFRT will be a real success, and that knee-jerk reaction to "bike superhighways" will be reduced.

Another proposed solution could be to leave the Nashwatuc path and Barrett's Mill area as is, and instead have a bike route run from the current terminus of the Reformatory Branch down Railroad avenue and on to the Concord MBTA station, with a Rails with Trails segment running from Concord Station to West Concord Station, meeting there with the BFRT and perhaps continuing further along the Fitchburg Line to West Acton Station. West Acton Station will soon be the terminus of the Assabet River Trail coming up from Maynard. Double the trail connections! Perhaps the precedent of the RwT on the MBTA line in Belmont makes this a possibility, but in talking with the Concord town planning department, working with the MBTA is neigh impossible. I actually prefer this option to running the trail on the existing Reformatory ROW because it provides a much more direct connection between West Concord and Concord (kids could bike to the high school from South of Route 2!), and might even get weekend warrior bikers off Route 62 between the town centers.

 

[Alex]

Figure for one the proximity to Walden Pond once it does dump off in Concord Center. You have to solve for the scary Route 2 crossing at the Route 126 intersection (sadly not part of the Crosby's Corner project, whose limits stop literally at 126), but a footbridge there puts you 1.5 miles from the trail head down Keyes Rd. and Walden St. to the Pond.

Related to this, I find it really unfortunate that (as part of the Crosby's Corner project) a short path isn't being built south of Route 2 to connect 126 with Sandy Pond Road/Drake Park... In conjunction with the work that is already being done at Crosby's Corner, it would really open up a more direct connection for cyclists from Walden Pond to the east that doesn't involve a detour through downtown Concord. At least cyclists will be able to take advantage of the new 2A/Sandy Pond Rd underpass and connection once it opens next year.

 

[matredsoxfan]

Waltham has been busy lately, multiple sharrow markings have been repainted along Lexington Street & Beaver Street. New sharrows have been placed along South Street and Prospect Street. At a recent traffic commission meeting a proposal to add bike lanes on Main Street from Linden St to Newton St was on the agenda. Unknown if it was approved or not.

 

[Scipio]

Salem has a trail plan that A) Exists and B) is in trouble:

The planned 1.2-mile multi-use path slated to be part of the Canal Street upgrade in Salem, MA, is in serious jeopardy. The shovel-ready project, funded through a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) grant, was planned for spring 2016 construction and would complete the off-road link from downtown Salem to downtown Marblehead.

During an August 2015 field-visit to survey preliminary work, it was discovered that some railroad communication lines and infrastructure need to be relocated. We are told that this work would typically be done by the railroad and then billed to the project. However, the railroad company, Keolis, is not able to address the issue at this time.

Due to the tight timeframe of the TIP grants, decision makers decided to eliminate two-thirds of the multi-use path from the Canal Street project so that it could be put to a bid before the September 30 fiscal deadline. The only remnant will run approximately 0.2 miles from Mill to Roslyn Streets, parallel to Canal Street.

At a special meeting called on September 16, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll expressed her frustration with the turn of events as well as her commitment to ensuring the completion of the multi-use path. Mayor Driscoll is hopeful the path will be completed during the construction period of the Canal Street project; however the fact remains, there is currently no funding and no timeline for connecting the section from Roslyn Street to the existing path behind Salem State University.

At the time of this writing, we are working with the Mayor and local partners to develop a plan of action. Please contact molly@greenway.org if you would like to offer your support.

Anyone have details on what this trail was supposed to be? I've been on what google calls the "Marblehead Rail Trail" from Salem to Marblehead before but this is all news to me.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Salem has a trail plan that A) Exists and B) is in trouble:



Anyone have details on what this trail was supposed to be? I've been on what google calls the "Marblehead Rail Trail" from Salem to Marblehead before but this is all news to me.

Extension of the Marblehead Trail from the current trail head on Canal St. by the Salem State U. campus to bring the grade separation into downtown. Requires snaking through backlots abutting the Eastern Route before it rejoins Canal at around St. Paul St. Then widening the very narrow sidewalk on the tracks side of Canal as part of the street upgrade so there's adequate room to share bike and ped traffic up to the new trail head at Mill St. Very necessary little mini-extension + streetscaping because Canal's pavement is just too narrow for bikes and that sidewalk absolutely blows for having to pass other walkers single-file at every single telephone pole and tree planting.

Keolis is probably balking at ripping out the derelict freight siding behind the animal hospital and relocating a couple signal boxes alongside Canal. Chintzy because they've known this was proceeding for years, but whatever...small potatoes. They'll resolve it, just probably not this year.

 

[Balerion]

Changes coming to Arlington Center that affect the Minuteman.

The project will include three major improvements for cyclists navigating between the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington Center:

A traffic light will be added at the intersection of Swan Place and Massachusetts Avenue

Traffic lights on Massachusetts Avenue between Pleasant Street and Medford Street will be synced

Bike lanes will be added on Massachusetts Avenue between Pleasant Street and Swan Place

 

[George_Apley]

^ Glad that they're trying to address the worst discontinuity on the Minuteman.

 

[autonomy]

Changes coming to Arlington Center that affect the Minuteman.

Awesome! Are there any plans for a bike lane on Mass Ave between Rt. 60 Pleasant St and Water St? When going west, since sidewalk riding is not allowed, most cyclists travel that stretch of Mass Ave, take a right on Water st, then left to pick up the path. Easily the most treacherous part with the uneven pavement, parked cars, and 2 lanes of traffic trying to get by.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42....782,-71.1546818,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e0

 

[Arlington]

Awesome! Are there any plans for a bike lane on Mass Ave between Rt. 60 Pleasant St and Water St? When going west, since sidewalk riding is not allowed, most cyclists travel that stretch of Mass Ave, take a right on Water st, then left to pick up the path. Easily the most treacherous part with the uneven pavement, parked cars, and 2 lanes of traffic trying to get by.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42....782,-71.1546818,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e0

Not that I've heard. The Minuteman-thru-Center and the East Arlington Mass Ave rebuild have dominated for the past 5 years. Yours is a good question for the Arlington Bike Advisory COmmittee

 

[Scipio]

Only sharrows from the Mass/Pleasant intersection to Water street.

The plan is to extend the north bit of the Minuteman down the side of the sidewalk right up to the Mass/Pleasant intersection, more or less formalizing sidewalk riding. This 25% map is pretty close and easier to read than the 100% design. At first glance it looks like the 100% design adds painted bike boxes and dashed lanes to help turn from the Minuteman extension onto Mass Ave eastbound, and a dashed lane to get from Mass Ave westbound onto the Minuteman extension.

 

[autonomy]

Only sharrows from the Mass/Pleasant intersection to Water street.

The plan is to extend the north bit of the Minuteman down the side of the sidewalk right up to the Mass/Pleasant intersection, more or less formalizing sidewalk riding. This 25% map is pretty close and easier to read than the 100% design. At first glance it looks like the 100% design adds painted bike boxes and dashed lanes to help turn from the Minuteman extension onto Mass Ave eastbound, and a dashed lane to get from Mass Ave westbound onto the Minuteman extension.

Thanks for the link. That actually solves my problem - if cyclists are allowed to ride on that part of the sidewalk, there's no reason to ride on Mass Ave to Water St. The planners can even do the same thing that works well between the rotaries on Rt. 16 where the sidewalk is divided into 3 parts - 1 for pedestrians, 2 for cyclists.

I wonder if they'll put in a cool cyclist-light like I've seen in Canada and like the one that was recently put in at the Minuteman-Rt. 225 intersection in Concord.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Danvers Rail Trail to Northern Strand Community Trail via Wakefield - Lynnfield

I'm wondering if constructing an alternate route for the East Coast Greenway via the Wakefield - Lynnfield Rail Trail (which is programmed in the TIP for 2018 CMAQ funding) would be feasible.

With the connection between the Wakefield - Lynnfield Rail Trail and the Danvers Rail Trail, the biggest challenge appears to be the route 1 crossing, and that leads to the question of whether that section of route 1 might have traffic levels that would support a road diet, given that all the through traffic in that area is likely to use I-95 as a bypass. Specifically, I'm wondering if there's any need for more than one lane in each direction for the part of route 1 that isn't to the south of I-95's exit 46.

MAPC's Landline proposal contemplates a bike path along the Oak Grove to Malden Center part of the Orange Line (and somewhat more than that), but there's a gap. Is there any good reason not to fill in a trail along that gap so that a Wakefield - Lynnfield Rail Trail user would find a continuous rail with trail corridor along the Haverhill Line all the way to Malden Center, along with some connection to the Northern Strand Community Trail in the general vicinity of Malden Center?

The Mill River runs from the Lynnfield - Wakefield Rail Trail to where it runs into the Saugus River near Breakheart Reservation, and the map seems to show that Breakheart Reservation has some existing bikeable trails, and the Saugus River continues to eventually run under the Northern Strand Community Trail. Would building a river bike path along the Mill River and Saugus River to connect these be practical?

 

[bigeman312]

I biked through to see the Greenough Greenway progress, and it is what is advertised:

GREENOUGH GREENWAY

Ever since its construction in 1965 Greenough Boulevard has posed a serious threat to pedestrians and cyclists. Its excessive width crowds the shore and encourage speeding far in excess of the speed limit. Its seven+ acres of pavement drains directly to the Charles degrading the river ecology. Reconfiguring Greenough Boulevard will make room for trees, meadows, benches, and a broad shared-use path for walkers, runners, and cyclists. A curving, tree-lined path along this stretch of the river would be within walking distance of tens of thousands of people in Cambridge, Watertown, and Boston. All of this can be done with no significant reduction in traffic carrying capacity on Greenough Boulevard while better accommodating walkers, runners, and cyclists.

I think I said this elsewhere, but this is the best road/path construction project of 2015. It closes the biggest gap in the Charles River bike path loop from the Museum of Science to Watertown Square.

Once the Greenough Greenway is complete, the biggest gap will be along North Beacon in Watertown (it is currently an unprotected bike lane alongside parallel parking).

 

[Arlington]

Both Medford and Malden have passed their local CPA ordinance (providing for a small tax increase & state match to fund open space, recreation, affordable housing, and historic preservation). At least in Medford, there's a sense that part of what Open Space and Recreation will mean will include better integration of city open space into a regional path plan through improved bike-ped access.

Stephanie Muccini Burke also won the Medford Mayor's race with 52%, and that's good news for cycling, where she knows (a) what complete streets are and (b) that they're likely the solution to what ails Medford Square (currently chopped by big one-way arteries that maximize I-93 access). And that they Mystic River is an underused asset because bike-ped access to it is so bad.

 

[Arlington]

As several active posters have pointed out in the Waltham Developments thread, there is currently a live survey asking what people what the most important transportation project is for any body who lives/visits/works/schools in Waltham.

Please consider responding that the Mass Central Rail Trail is your #1 Project (and honestly do the rest of the survey too)
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vF5WRqaLpo8cuCV1ghYTjipPXX462lWNKveziYIEmA4/viewform

Here is some background on the Mass Central Rail Trail, which would be pretty sweet:
Mass Central Rail Trail Presentation

And also check out the statewide map of the Mass Central rail trail progress (green = built; red = unused), and the larger http://www.masscentralrailtrail.org/ site

wonder why it seems all the impetus is to get the trail to berlin and not northampton...

Maybe just that I-495 is something of a easy mental boundary. Inside it, Civilization. Outside it, there be dragons

 

[Scipio]

Did the Trapelo road rebuild project include bike lanes through Waltham, or just Belmont? I rarely ride through the town, my only observation is that the Charles River path out that far could use some more or at least more convenient curb cuts where the path intersects roads. I bet that any infrastructure improvements in Waltham itself going to have to go through a certain hometown hero vehicular cyclist.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

As several active posters have pointed out in the Waltham Developments thread, there is currently a live survey asking what people what the most important transportation project is for any body who lives/visits/works/schools in Waltham.

Please consider responding that the Mass Central Rail Trail is your #1 Project (and honestly do the rest of the survey too)
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vF5WRqaLpo8cuCV1ghYTjipPXX462lWNKveziYIEmA4/viewform

Here is some background on the Mass Central Rail Trail, which would be pretty sweet:
Mass Central Rail Trail Presentation

And also check out the statewide map of the Mass Central rail trail progress (green = built; red = unused), and the larger http://www.masscentralrailtrail.org/ site


Maybe just that I-495 is something of a easy mental boundary. Inside it, Civilization. Outside it, there be dragons

That's the end of the T-owned landbanking. Berlin Stone off Sawyer Hill Rd. was served by active freight until 1981, with a runaround track that stubbed out around Highland St. That's why they're able to do a trail head there no-fuss. Past that point to Clinton it was abandoned in 1959, and immediately west of Clinton in '38. Original alignment through West Berlin is missing overpasses of Route 62 and the Fitchburg Secondary (competing RR's; never was a track connection). So they have to stitch that one together seeking easements on an alternate alignment in middle of the woods through somebody's 18th century land deed to get it out to a clean connection with all the DCR land around Wachusett Reservoir.


I doubt you'll ever get it completely contiguous to Northampton because the abandonment in chunks started happening so early. And the Central Mass was chartered by its original investors as a "threat railroad" that invaded/duplicated other RR's space in an effort to force mergers, alliances, or straight-up annihilation (it lost...badly). So much of it in Worcester County crosses and/or travels right next to (or literally on the same ROW) with other RR's still active today that the rail-with-trail easement situation is a nightmare to square. What's left of the original alignment really is kind of bugfuck out there. There's some very nice and useful trail 'chunks' out there that are having gap-filler added to them constantly, but complete-and-contiguous across the state isn't all that realistic here.