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

^^ Agree it's a great project, but the connection to biking / bike trails is fairly limited (the bridge as I understand would be a fairly short pedestrian/bike connection from the commercial, hotel and - soon - residential big-box buildings on Baker Avenue, to West Concord center / Concord Junction).

There are 3 amazing potential bike initiatives for Concord that I *do* really hope to see, fwiw:
1) Paving the Reformatory Branch to effectively extend to Concord the Minuteman Bike Path
2) Connecting the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the Assabet River Rail Trail (i.e., building a paved path along the Fitchburg MBTA line from West Concord to South Acton)
3) Adding meaningfully protected bike lanes across the many many Concord roads that are great for biking (Main Street/Route 62, Lowell Road, Monument Street, etc.).
 
Bedford rejecting the eminent domain to upgrade their portion of the Reformatory Branch was partially driven by Concord’s irrational fear of it dumping out on a dirt track just past Route 62. Short of the state mandating it (probably as a stone dust path), it will never happen.
 
itchy said:
^^ Agree it's a great project, but the connection to biking / bike trails is fairly limited (the bridge as I understand would be a fairly short pedestrian/bike connection from the commercial, hotel and - soon - residential big-box buildings on Baker Avenue, to West Concord center / Concord Junction).

There are 3 amazing potential bike initiatives for Concord that I *do* really hope to see, fwiw:
1) Paving the Reformatory Branch to effectively extend to Concord the Minuteman Bike Path
2) Connecting the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the Assabet River Rail Trail (i.e., building a paved path along the Fitchburg MBTA line from West Concord to South Acton)
3) Adding meaningfully protected bike lanes across the many many Concord roads that are great for biking (Main Street/Route 62, Lowell Road, Monument Street, etc.).
Click to expand...
Yeah I guess by great project I meant it’s a great project for the public, which a new bridge over a river that connects new developments to a bike path definitely is. But it’s more of a public amenities project than truly a biking project.
 
Progress on the Northern Strand Trail Extension in downtown Lynn: workers are placing new curbs in the westernmost lane of the Lynnway to create the new physically-protected bike path that will eventually extend all the way across the city from Western Ave. to the ocean:




Several other segments in the growing Border-to-Boston network are due to come online over the next few years:
mass.streetsblog.org

Travel Guide: Biking From the Border to Boston - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The Border to Boston trail is a proposed 70-mile route that will eventually connect Seabrook, New Hampshire to downtown Boston via Newburyport, Salem, and Lynn along abandoned railroad rights-of-way. Like many long-distance rail trails in Massachusetts, the Border to Boston trail is an ambitious...
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
 
mass.streetsblog.org

New Trails We Can Look Forward To In 2025 - Streetsblog Massachusetts

In the past year, Massachusetts trailbuilders cut the ribbon on about 15 miles’ worth of new car-free bike and pedestrian trails. Those projects include several we’ve written about here on StreetsblogMASS, including the 2.5 mile Waltham Wayside Trail, which was mostly finished in 2023 but had...
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
 
FHWA announced the first round of Active Transportation Infrastructure Improvement Program funding today, the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission was awarded a $1,176,000 planning grant for "Reimagining the 110"

The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission will receive funding to develop a strategic planning and design process for a 24-mile spine in the upper portion of the Merrimack Valley that would connect Methuen, Lawrence, Haverhill, Merrimack, and Amesbury and provide safe and comfortable active transportation options that improve mobility, access, and connectivity. The project will focus on improving active transportation safety for many high crash areas, including five high crash pedestrian clusters, two high crash bike clusters, and 10 high crash intersections within the top 5 percent of their categories’ statewide. This project also envisions improvements for environmental justice populations by improving access to essential services and connecting environmental justice communities to train services (MBTA and Amtrak) that will help people to travel within and between communities.
Click to expand...

The full list of awardees can be found here:

 
Maybe beyond the scope of this forum but Western Mass developments deserve the spotlight: $17.3m awarded for planning, design and permitting of a 9-mile extension of the Ashuwillticook Trail up to North Adams and Williamstown. Great way to stitch the Berkshires and some lovely communities together. Hope one-day this can span from Connecticut up through Vermont. Would also be great if this tied into Downtown Pittsfield and the Amtrak station there to support regional mobility and recreation / tourism.
 
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