Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Every time I pass the westbound path segments between Gilman and Davis on a weekend they have been opened by my good Somerville neighbors with a few people happily strolling. It is then closed by the villainous government overlords early during the work week.

At the risk of whipping up the board's politicos, I do think if this little bit of glorified sidewalk were in nearly any other municipality in the nation it would be de facto open and "let the walkers beware." But because #Somerville they vigilantly secure the perimeter at every opportunity.
 
kjdonovan said:
Every time I pass the westbound path segments between Gilman and Davis on a weekend they have been opened by my good Somerville neighbors with a few people happily strolling. It is then closed by the villainous government overlords early during the work week.

At the risk of whipping up the board's politicos, I do think if this little bit of glorified sidewalk were in nearly any other municipality in the nation it would be de facto open and "let the walkers beware." But because #Somerville they vigilantly secure the perimeter at every opportunity.
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I agree, I cant believe how 'Meh' everyone around here is about this. A perfectly good piece of infrastructure sitting there, lit at night. They cant get their crap together to legally open it and everyone just goes ho hum.
We're all moving from accepting mediocrity to almost celebrating it.
 
"For starters, the City and the MBTA still haven't finalized the language for the lease agreement for the CPX that will allow Somerville to operate and maintain the CPX.

As you might've seen, it came out last week that the MBTA still is doing some punchlist work on the CPX, so legal stuff isn't The Thing holding this up right now.

Whatever "spring" means, we're currently being promised that the CPX will open in the spring. Just bear in mind the area behind Central Hill (City Hall, the 1985 Building, SHS, and the Central Library) is likely to remain closed beyond that due to the construction happening there around Reavis Field. There will be detour down School to Medford while the rest of the CPX is open but this stretch is closed."
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Source
 
Ruairi said:
I agree, I cant believe how 'Meh' everyone around here is about this. A perfectly good piece of infrastructure sitting there, lit at night. They cant get their crap together to legally open it and everyone just goes ho hum.
We're all moving from accepting mediocrity to almost celebrating it.
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I feel like Mayor Ballantyne needs to declare: “Tear down this fence!” ;)

Either who, a little chain link hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the path!
 
Ruairi said:
this ties perfectly in with the conversation in previous posts. I just have no idea what other developed country would let this happen... for a bike path.
It's mind bending.
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Slightly off topic, but there are even worse examples than this, of bike infrastructure being put on hold because it's just not seen as an actual value beyond window dressing. The new off street cycle track on Beecham St. in Chelsea will be great when they get around to finishing it. But right now, it is somewhat dangerous because they haven't re-located the utility poles. Every time you get to a pole, you have to fit through a narrow gap between the pole and a fence or mud zone. My initial inclination was to not use it until they finished the job. But ironically, building it in the first place, required narrowing the street, which is no longer so safe to ride on due to lack of buffer between curb and cars. Half finishing the bike project has effectively made the corridor more dangerous for bike riders than if they hadn't done anything at all. But to the casual observer, there is this amazing (and expensive) bit of infrastructure -- why do those entitled bike riders still complain? This is the reality in the United States.
 
HenryAlan said:
Slightly off topic, but there are even worse examples than this, of bike infrastructure being put on hold because it's just not seen as an actual value beyond window dressing. The new off street cycle track on Beecham St. in Chelsea will be great when they get around to finishing it. But right now, it is somewhat dangerous because they haven't re-located the utility poles. Every time you get to a pole, you have to fit through a narrow gap between the pole and a fence or mud zone. My initial inclination was to not use it until they finished the job. But ironically, building it in the first place, required narrowing the street, which is no longer so safe to ride on due to lack of buffer between curb and cars. Half finishing the bike project has effectively made the corridor more dangerous for bike riders than if they hadn't done anything at all. But to the casual observer, there is this amazing (and expensive) bit of infrastructure -- why do those entitled bike riders still complain? This is the reality in the United States.
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yea, I saw photos of that path, it would be hilarious if it wasn't real but it is.
The CPX was the ultimate "keep everyone happy" gesture and now that it's 99.9% done, there's no political will to get it over the line.
I cant stand city counselors saying "i know as much as you" or "i agree, we really need to get this done" or "we have to wait to hear from X, it's out of our hands" and then expecting a pat on the back for holding an AMA.
OK, so there's no opening date in sight for the community path behind the high school and library, then maybe mill and resurface highland in that area as it's literally breaking my bike to pieces
 
Ruairi said:
OK, so there's no opening date in sight for the community path behind the high school and library, then maybe mill and resurface highland in that area as it's literally breaking my bike to pieces
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This is a lose-lose for the city. Highland is in a shitty state, but doing anything to fix it now would just be waved around as waste given that it would just get torn up again for the sewer separation projects. The city can't do shit until the lawyers sign off on everything, otherwise somebody gets hurt and everybody gets sued as opposed to just one entity getting sued. It sucks, but this one ain't on the elected officials.
 
I think I’m enjoying the public art at East Somerville Station? Don’t totally get this one. But it is by a high profile architect, Nader Tehrani (he did the MIT grad dorm in Kendall, Macallen Bldg in Boston) so it’s bound to get attention.

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so is the whole path open then? or is this just small sections at a time?
 
Charlie_mta said:
It looks like in some of the above photos that the railing isn't complete on the Path. Also, it was mentioned above that the City and MBTA are still negotiating over administrative stuff.
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Thanks!

Hopefully they figure it out soon cause it seems like summers here early and I wanna check it out
 
DAVE said:
so is the whole path open then? or is this just small sections at a time?
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only the section between lowell and central is open. Everything else is fenced off, though the sections between central and sycamore, and sycamore and school look like they're 100% complete.

edit: the lowell and central portion is not open yet.
 
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I’d suggest visiting your nearest entry point and figuring out how much chainlink fence that you’re comfortable pushing aside. Some is already propped open, some is wired shut. All of the paving is there and ready for walking. Some ready for biking and rolling.
 
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