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

Nice! It's bonkers how resistant they have been to this idea. It's a classic broken window concept: build something attractive and useful that people in the community and enjoy and you... have a better community!
 
Waltham has advertised for bids a design contract for the design of the 3-mile section of the Wayside Rail Trail through the City.

Also the City traffic commission has approved the installation of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at the 4 Riverwalk crossing locations: Prospect Street, Moody Street, Newton Street & Farwell Street.
 
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Arlington said:
Nice!
That's the part of the Mass Central RR from the junk yard @ 128 to the Belmont line, yes?

http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/projects/mcrt/mcrt-overview-and-guidelines-1114.pdf
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More like Beaver St. or Waverley Oaks Rd. to the 1200 ft. placeholder pathlet the Polaroid developers put on the ROW when they built the new pedestrian underpass of the access road.

Crossing 128 requires:

  • Squaring the crosswalks at the very busy 117/Stow St. intersection.
  • Security fencing on the Stow St.-to-128 block preventing hill-climbing to the open backyards on Keach St. or down the embankment onto the highway, and to corral trail users onto the bridge.
  • Mitigation to the junkyard in the form of new security fence on the currently open north/ROW-facing side of the property, and a night security gate on their driveway.
  • Permission from New York Life for a trail head at that odd little cul de sac thingy in their driveway.
  • Upgrades to the narrow sidewalk on the New York Life driveway for reaching 117 from that side of the highway (since Green St. has no sidewalk).
Not a big deal, but unlike the rest which can be managed by the town there's several private parties, MassDOT, and Eversource (for the power lines) that need to be dealt with to do that last 2000 ft. across the highway. It's a Phase II they don't have any pressing need to tackle until they deliver a contiguous trail to 128's doorstep. Not a whole lot of people other than whatever microscopic number of NY Life employees take the 70 bus to work need it right now.
 
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Just thought i'd post a map of the future Waltham Bike trail.
 
As someone who used to regularly bike from Somerville to Brandeis, I'm getting a little jealous...

How costly would an off-road connection between the end of the BCP at Waverley and where the Mass Central splits off the Fitchburg Line just west of Beaver St be?
 
^Agreed. It would be amazing if they could extend the trail along the side of the Fitchburg line to the Fitchburg line cutoff in Belmont. That would allow it to be connected to the Minuteman and the Somerville community path.
 
Balerion said:
As someone who used to regularly bike from Somerville to Brandeis, I'm getting a little jealous...

How costly would an off-road connection between the end of the BCP at Waverley and where the Mass Central splits off the Fitchburg Line just west of Beaver St be?
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Not at all expensive. The only reason they're not connecting right now lumped in with the rest is because this Waverley-Beaver St. segment is the one that crosses a town line, while the other 117-to-Beaver and Brighton St.-to-Waverley legs stay solely inside Waltham and inside Belmont. Purely a decision of administrative simplicity. Once they reach their intra-town trail heads this midsection will get cued up for completion real fast.

There's one industrial abutter with a quarter-mile long driveway off Beaver St. who'll have to be engaged for a security fence installation around their building, but that's it. Because of the Beaver Brook wetlands the north side of the Fitchburg ROW is almost all-vegetation after departing Waverley, and flat as a board in elevation with no embankments to work around. Lickety-split job.
 
tysmith95 said:
^Agreed. It would be amazing if they could extend the trail along the side of the Fitchburg line to the Fitchburg line cutoff in Belmont. That would allow it to be connected to the Minuteman and the Somerville community path.
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...and the Mystic path system.
...and the Watertown Greenway.
...and the Charles paths via the H2O Greenway's Arsenal spur and GLX bringing the SCP to Northpoint.
...and the finished Yankee Doodle trail to Billerica.
...and the upgraded Reformatory Branch trail to Concord.
...and the Northern Strand when it's connected to the Mystic system.


It's too bad Weston and Wayland are being great big NIMBY poopypants about allowing the Central Mass trail anywhere east of Sudbury or west of the New York Life campus, because that deprives all of ^these^ connections from:

...the Central Mass.
...and the Assabet River trail.
...and the Bruce Freeman.
...and everything south that'll eventually be threaded around downtown Framingham to connect to The Bruce.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
More like Beaver St. or Waverley Oaks Rd. to the 1200 ft. placeholder pathlet the Polaroid developers put on the ROW when they built the new pedestrian underpass of the access road.

Crossing 128 requires:

  • Squaring the crosswalks at the very busy 117/Stow St. intersection.
  • Security fencing on the Stow St.-to-128 block preventing hill-climbing to the open backyards on Keach St. or down the embankment onto the highway, and to corral trail users onto the bridge.
  • Mitigation to the junkyard in the form of new security fence on the currently open north/ROW-facing side of the property, and a night security gate on their driveway.
  • Permission from New York Life for a trail head at that odd little cul de sac thingy in their driveway.
  • Upgrades to the narrow sidewalk on the New York Life driveway for reaching 117 from that side of the highway (since Green St. has no sidewalk).
Not a big deal, but unlike the rest which can be managed by the town there's several private parties, MassDOT, and Eversource (for the power lines) that need to be dealt with to do that last 2000 ft. across the highway. It's a Phase II they don't have any pressing need to tackle until they deliver a contiguous trail to 128's doorstep. Not a whole lot of people other than whatever microscopic number of NY Life employees take the 70 bus to work need it right now.
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The design contract is for the Entire Length through the city except the section from Beaver St to Belmont Line as the right of way is owned by a private company. As part of 1265 main mitigation Stow Street will be cul-de-saced near Main Street and a new Route 117/Route 20 connector along Green Street will be built. So the only major crossing would be Main Street which would probably be the Main access drive to Market Basket or across the existing Stow/Main Street intersection which will become a 3-legged intersection with a new 95 north on-ramp. The bridge over 128 will be repaired and the path will then continue across the new Green Street connector at a traffic light and then the path will run along the Jones Road connector road and to the new Route 128 multi modal transit center.
 
F line, even if they paved the trail right up to the beginning, it still would only be able to get you to Waverley Square. For someone who always is talking about what's possible and what's not, I don't see anyway for a protected right-of-way between Waverley Square and where the Fitchburg cut off ends. It's all dense residential, and then after Belmont Center, right along Pleasant Street where the right-of-way is constrained by the hillside.
 
FK4 said:
F line, even if they paved the trail right up to the beginning, it still would only be able to get you to Waverley Square. For someone who always is talking about what's possible and what's not, I don't see anyway for a protected right-of-way between Waverley Square and where the Fitchburg cut off ends. It's all dense residential, and then after Belmont Center, right along Pleasant Street where the right-of-way is constrained by the hillside.
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The trail would not go directly through Waverley CR station. That was a 1955 grade crossing elimination by B&M, so space is constrained by that major alteration mid-square. Phase I would have a trail head on the east end of the square, then you'd cross on crosswalks to the west end of the square. At Agassiz Ave. you're at the end of the 1955 crossing elimination cut and back to the legacy ROW. Trail head #2 goes at the end of the street, ramps down the last 5 ft. of remaining dirt-pack embankment. Dirt pack completely disappears between Agassiz Ave. and the Moraine St. retaining wall, then you're back on the empty Track 3 berth to Beaver St. What's so difficult about that? They already conceptualized this.


Past Belmont Ctr. is already a settled issue. Track #3 berth is fully intact and unchanged since that track from West Cambridge to Beaver St. was lifted 60+ years ago, and they have 60 ft. of fully-graded railbed width to work with the whole way to Belmont Center. Zero issue and no alterations have to made to the buffer envelope for the CR tracks to install the security fence and paved path along the hillside. That's not even speculative; Belmont has its final design for this segment and is going to do it.

Here's the Belmont Community Path Action Committee's document index website, with every archived concept render under the sun including the Waverley-Beaver St. segment: http://www.belmont-ma.gov/community-path-advisory-committee/pages/cpac-document-index.
 
This year's inaugural round of Complete Streets grants are out, all of the grants went to Boston suburbs or satellite cities and most of those had some bike projects in their mix. For the program's sake I hope they get some western Mass projects in the next round!

http://blog.mass.gov/transportation...on-announces-complete-streets-program-grants/

Acton will receive funding for town center pedestrian safety improvements, reconfiguration of travel lanes on Main Street (Route 27) at Maple Street/High Street to improve bicycle safety, and Main Street Corridor Bike Lanes to improve bike safety between the Assabet River Rail Trail and the Bruce Freeman Rail Trails. In addition, the town will also install a sheltered bike rack at the South Acton Commuter Rail Station to serve the large number of cyclists who seek access to the station on a daily basis.

Arlington will receive funding to make improvements to Gray Street, which serves as a major route for children walking to Ottoson Middle School. The Gray Street Pedestrian Accessibility & Connectivity Improvement Project will provide a new section of sidewalk, new handicap ramps, and improve the safety and visibility of the crosswalk located at Quincy and Fountain Street with a new pedestrian activated beacon. The project will make the major street crossing and path to the school more visible, accessible and safe for children and other pedestrians.

Beverly will receive funding for the reconstruction of Broadway Street to provide a network for pedestrians and bicyclists to connect Beverly’s downtown commercial district with the Beverly Depot Commuter Rail Station. New ADA compliant sidewalks and curb ramps, bicycle sharrows, signage, and pedestrian scaled lighting will nicely complement MassDOT’s current Rantoul Street improvements.

Cambridge will receive funding to enhance major city and Chapter 90 funded projects on Massachusetts Avenue and Lawn Streets. Cambridge’s two roadway segment improvement projects will improve walkability and provide bicycle network accommodations. Cambridge will also improve user safety by providing pedestrian signal timing improvements, marked crosswalks and reducing corner radii to increase intersection crossing safety, and bicycle parking at transit stops. In addition, Complete Streets funding will be used for sidewalks, pedestrian ramps and bike parking.

Framingham will receive funding to build a section of a two-way multi-use path originating just north of the intersection of Fountain Street and Dudley Road and continuing along the east side of Dudley Road, terminating at Dr. Harvey L. Cushing Way. The multi-use path will link residents in nearby neighborhoods to downtown transit, employers, and schools, and provide access to major Town recreation amenities.

Lawrence will receive funding to create a safer path to the Wetherbee School and to Riverside Park. Sidewalks will be repaired along Kingston Street to Riverside Park and new crosswalks and ADA compliant ramps at the intersections. The Kingston/Everett intersection will be addressed to calm traffic speed and reduce crossing distance. New flashing beacons will also alert vehicles to crossing pedestrians.

Lowell will receive funding to construct a new lighted and landscaped multi‐use shared path in the South Commons Park to provide vital connections between the Gallagher Multi‐Modal Bus/Train Terminal, the Rogers School STEM Academy, and the Markham Village low‐income apartments. Another multi use trail spur will run parallel to Thorndike Street from the Highland Street intersection to the Gallagher Terminal intersection. The improvements dovetail with the new multi‐modal improvements being done as part of the Lord Overpass reconstruction project.

Medford will receive funding to improve pedestrian safety at six strategic locations, including traffic calming and signal improvements at Brooks Elementary School and intersection and crossing improvements at West Medford Square, Tufts Pool and Park, Medford Square, and Winthrop circle. Funding also supports bicycle safety improvements along Boston Avenue with a northbound separated bicycle lane and southbound shared lane between High Street in West Medford to the Somerville line on Broadway.

Stoughton will receive funding to improve walkability and accessibility of Central Street from the intersection of Pearl Street to the intersection of Tosca Drive. New sidewalks with traffic calming landscaping buffer strips will help to better connect pedestrians to schools and low income housing and recreations facilities. The project serves Environmental Justice populations and also leverages a Safe Routes to School Project and a TIP intersection improvement project at Tosca/Central Street to increase the overall impact.

Westwood will receive funding to improve the intersection geometry and crossing safety of High Street and Pond Street. The town identified these areas of need through a safety audit. Approximately 1,000′ of new sidewalk will be constructed on the westerly side of High Street from Millbrook Road to Pond Street to improve connectivity between residential neighborhoods and the William E. Sheehan School. An additional project includes constructing 5‐foot bike lanes in each direction along 1‐mile of Blue Hill Drive to improve local and regional bicycle connectivity from Canton Street to University Avenue and the University Station transit facility and mixed‐use development.

Winchester will receive funding to construct pedestrian safety improvements at twelve critical locations across town. Improvements include traffic calming, (or narrowing travel lanes), improved crosswalks, installation of pedestrian flashing beacons, and installation of “Your Speed” radar feedback signs. Locations include the crosswalk on Highland and Stone Avenue, a primary walking route for children attending the Muraco Elementary School.
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Scipio said:
This year's inaugural round of Complete Streets grants are out, all of the grants went to Boston suburbs or satellite cities and most of those had some bike projects in their mix. For the program's sake I hope they get some western Mass projects in the next round!
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That's mostly because the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council has been doing a lot of technical assistance for towns in its region to adopt Complete Streets policies... http://www.mapc.org/complete-streets-roll

Out here on Cape Cod, we've had had no support from the Cape Cod Commission to get these things adopted. And I expect the same is the case in western Mass.

Regardless, it's good to see the state program actually making some progress and I'm sure more towns will hop on the bandwagon as long as funding remains available.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The trail would not go directly through Waverley CR station. That was a 1955 grade crossing elimination by B&M, so space is constrained by that major alteration mid-square. Phase I would have a trail head on the east end of the square, then you'd cross on crosswalks to the west end of the square. At Agassiz Ave. you're at the end of the 1955 crossing elimination cut and back to the legacy ROW. Trail head #2 goes at the end of the street, ramps down the last 5 ft. of remaining dirt-pack embankment. Dirt pack completely disappears between Agassiz Ave. and the Moraine St. retaining wall, then you're back on the empty Track 3 berth to Beaver St. What's so difficult about that? They already conceptualized this.


Past Belmont Ctr. is already a settled issue. Track #3 berth is fully intact and unchanged since that track from West Cambridge to Beaver St. was lifted 60+ years ago, and they have 60 ft. of fully-graded railbed width to work with the whole way to Belmont Center. Zero issue and no alterations have to made to the buffer envelope for the CR tracks to install the security fence and paved path along the hillside. That's not even speculative; Belmont has its final design for this segment and is going to do it.

Here's the Belmont Community Path Action Committee's document index website, with every archived concept render under the sun including the Waverley-Beaver St. segment: http://www.belmont-ma.gov/community-path-advisory-committee/pages/cpac-document-index.
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thanks.. i had no idea... thought there wasnt room along the tracks. well, that's great. only thing i dont really like is the part of the trail above pleasant street that makes that big loop, but if that's the way it has to be, fine.
 
FK4 said:
thanks.. i had no idea... thought there wasnt room along the tracks. well, that's great. only thing i dont really like is the part of the trail above pleasant street that makes that big loop, but if that's the way it has to be, fine.
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The reason for the loop is because when Track #3 was taken out the 2 remaining tracks were realigned on approach to Waverley for that mid-50's grade crossing elimination. From the Belmont Ctr. curve east to Cambridge the empty #3 berth is on the north (outbound) side of the ROW. On the Pleasant St. straightaway to Waverley the empty berth is on the south (inbound) side of the ROW behind the Belmont DPW yard. Then after Waverley it's back north again the rest of the way to Linden St., Waltham. Right at the Clark St. ped overpass is where the 2 tracks are actively shifting positions, so side space is unfortunately very constrained at the one readily available ped access point to pull a full grade-separated ramp-up / switch sides / ramp-down move. So they have to hedge on an earlier bail-out and on-street detour unless the state is willing to front the money for some minor embankment shaving or track realignment that enables access to the Clark overpass. Would only take short money to do the landscaping fix to the embankments spanning the short distances between ends of empty track berths on each side and starts of the ramps up to the overpass. But because it's a town-led project they can't let any state dependencies upend them. This gap will inevitably get plugged after the trail's contiguous to 128 and popular demand compels the appropriation of DCR fun bux to plug the gap.

Ditto around Waverley for a trail head direct into the Square because they don't have a canvas they can guesstimate at until the T reboots its ADA design for Waverley station. The 18-switchbacks over-expensive dumpster fire of a concept render they circulated earlier this year was so universally mocked that they're back at the drawing board. A sane concept advanced into prelim engineering should be able to bake in a trail egress into its design, but Belmont can't base any assumptions on that for the go-it-alone Phase I trail build. So prepare for longer and much more unsatisfactory street detour to Waverley, then in due time the follow-up gap-filler that can bring the trail head directly to Trapelo via a White St. turnout. Then it's simply crossing the Square to pick up the Waltham leg of the trail off Moraine St./Agassiz Ave.
 
Signal said:
The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee is hosting a kick off meeting for the public engagement component of the Community Path Feasibility Study tomorrow night in Belmont.

http://belmont.wickedlocal.com/news/20160914/belmont-committee-to-host-community-path-meeting-
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Oh, Belmont. I'm really glad that the town finally paved one of its busiest streets, Leonard st. in the center. However, who thought it'd be a good idea to narrow Leonard at the intersection with Channing and Concord AND put a bike lane there? I'm talking about this intersection, which is always gridlocked during rush hour. Everyone is funneled under the commuter rail bridge and there are usually two lanes: left for people taking a left onto Concord, and right for people taking a right onto Common and sometimes a left on Concord (cutting off the left lane). Putting a bike lane there is saying "go ahead, bike here!" - except you get people driving AND parking in the bike lane!

It's like Belmont wanted to say they have more bike lanes so they just slapped them wherever without actually thinking about it.
 
Salem has a tiny bikeshare program that is apparently successful, but has a worn-down fleet that doesn't sound like it will be around much longer. The city is seeking a private operator rather than continuing to operate it themselves. I can't imagine that the private operator would keep the system as small (3 stations) as the city has.

http://www.salemnews.com/news/local...cle_490c30b3-909b-5f7a-9f1a-b58ba9dd0f40.html
 
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