Charles River Bike Path | |
---|---|
Length | 23 mi (37 km) |
Location | Boston, Massachusetts to Auburndale, Massachusetts |
Trailheads | Boston Science Museum, Norumbega Park |
Use | Bicycling, inline skating, walking, paddling, rowing [1] |
Difficulty | easy |
Season | year round, some parts not plowed in winter |
Hazards | street crossings, narrow passing |
Maintained by | Department of Conservation and Recreation |
Website | https://www.mass.gov/locations/charles-river-reservation |
The Charles River Bike Path is a mixed-use path in the Boston, Massachusetts area. A portion of the trail is named after the cardiologist Paul Dudley White, a prominent advocate of preventive medicine. His research led him to proclaim frequently "I'd like to put everybody on bicycles." [2] In 1955 White served as president Eisenhower's cardiologist and prescribed his famous patient bicycle therapy after his 1955 heart attack.
The path follows both shores of the Charles River from Boston, Massachusetts to Norumbega Park in Newton, passing through Watertown and Waltham. [3] The path consists of several segments in the Charles River Reservation separated by road and bridge crossings and forms part of the planned East Coast Greenway, the 3,000-mile trail system connecting cities from Maine to Florida.
The Paul Dudley White Bicycle Path runs on both sides of the river within the Charles River Reservation. From the Museum of Science on the Charles River Dam Bridge, they run on sidewalk or striped asphalt path to Watertown Square (Galen Street/Route 16 bridge), a loop of 17.1 miles (27.5 km). [4] The paths run along the edge of Cambridge and Watertown on the north; and the West End, Back Bay, and Allston-Brighton neighborhoods of Boston on the south side. [5] [6]
Part of the path will be turned into a river boardwalk as part of the straightening of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The portion between the Longfellow Bridge and Boston University Boathouse on the Cambridge side was rebuilt in 2015-16. [7] In 2019, DCR started soliciting public comments for a planned rebuild on the Cambridge side from the Boston University Bridge to the Eliot Bridge.
In 2004, a $9M master plan to extend the path westward from Watertown Square to Norumbega Park in Newton was completed. [3]
The path continues along the north side of the river from Watertown Square to Bridge Street, there crossing back from Watertown to Newton. This segment was completed in 1997. [8]
The riverwalk then continues along the south bank, crossing back to the north bank at the Blue Heron Bridge, built 2004 just for the path, and continuing to Moody Street in Waltham, near the Charles River Museum of Industry and Waltham Common. The route extends upstream with a combination of paths and streets, to Auburndale, the Newton neighborhood where Norumbega Park is located. [9]
There are plans to extend the path upstream along the curving river to Needham, Dedham, and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. [3]
Bike recreation opportunities continue to the east with North Point Park in Cambridge, and Nashua Street Park on the Boston side. There are discontinuities near North Station and the Zakim Bridge before the Boston Harborwalk continues on both sides of the harbor.
The Somerville Community Path extension connects the Boston end of the Charles River Path to the network of mixed-use trails to the northwest.
Sequential connections heading north starting at the Watertown Branch Rail Trail, the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, the Fresh Pond Bikeway, and the Alewife Brook Parkway Path, also connects to the network of mixed-use trails to the northwest.
The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, shared-use paths; as of 2021, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of the route (35%) meets these criteria. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.
The Minuteman Bikeway, also known as the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, is a 10-mile (16-kilometre) paved multi-use rail trail located in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. It runs from Bedford to Alewife station, at the northern end of the Red Line in Cambridge, passing through the towns of Lexington and Arlington along the way. Also along the route are several notable regional sites, including Alewife Brook Reservation, the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum, Spy Pond, "Arlington’s Great Meadows", the Battle Green in Lexington, and Hanscom Air Force Base.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is "To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all." The agency is the largest landowner in Massachusetts.
The Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) is a partially completed rail trail between Northampton, Massachusetts and Boston along the former right-of-way (ROW) of the Massachusetts Central Railroad. It currently has 59 miles (95 km) open, and 94.5 miles (152.1 km) are open or protected for trail development. When complete, it will be 104 miles (167 km) long through Central Massachusetts and Greater Boston, forming the longest rail trail in New England. Many sections of the trail, including the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail and the Somerville Community Path, have been developed as separate projects but serve as part of the complete Mass Central Rail Trail. The Norwottuck Network, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports the build and operation of the MCRT, maintains interactive maps of the MCRT and rail trails that connect with the MCRT, and other Massachusetts trails.
The Coyote Creek bikeway is a Class 1 bike path in Los Angeles County that runs adjacent to the Coyote Creek flood control channel for approximately 9.5 miles. The bike path is controlled by Caltrans. The path begins in Santa Fe Springs on the North fork of the Coyote Creek and extends south into Long Beach where it joins the San Gabriel River bicycle path at the trail bridge just South of Willow Street/Katella Avenue.
The Charles River Reservation is a 17-mile-long (27 km) urban preserve and public recreation area located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton, Massachusetts. The reservation is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Blackstone River Greenway is a partially completed 48-mile (77 km) paved rail trail defining the course of the East Coast Greenway through the Blackstone Valley from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island in the United States.
The Old Connecticut Path was the Native American trail that led westward from the area of Massachusetts Bay to the Connecticut River Valley, the first of the North American trails that led west from the settlements close to the Atlantic seacoast, towards the interior. The earliest colonists of Massachusetts Bay Colony used it, and rendered it wider by driving cattle along it. The old route is still followed, for part of its length, by Massachusetts Route 9 and Massachusetts Route 126.
The Claire Saltonstall Bikeway, also known as the Boston to Cape Cod Bikeway, is a 135-mile bikeway marked as Bike Route 1 that starts on the Charles River Bike Path near Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts and winds along Boston's Emerald Necklace, using mostly back roads and bike paths with occasional stretches of secondary highways. It ends in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The bikeway was named on July 17, 1978, in memory of Claire Saltonstall, the daughter of Senator William L. Saltonstall. Claire was killed by an automobile in 1974 while she was riding her bicycle. Senator Saltonstall was a sponsor of bicycle safety legislation and was instrumental in developing the bikeway. Dual signs were erected along the route shortly after the bikeway opened, one with a picture of a bicycle in a green background and the green number 1 below the picture, and another rectangular sign with the words Claire Saltonstall Bikeway below that. Few of the original signs survive today, however, and new signs were erected in the summer of 2018.
North Point Park is an 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) park located along the left bank of the Charles River on the border of Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, created as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of the Big Dig.
The Charles River Reservation Parkways are parkways that run along either side of the Charles River in eastern Massachusetts. The roads are contained within the Charles River Reservation and the Upper Charles River Reservation, and fall within a number of communities in the greater Boston metropolitan area. The Charles River parks extend from the Charles River Dam, where the Charles empties into Boston Harbor, to Riverdale Park in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Most of the roadways within the parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a unit, although Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive are listed as part of the Charles River Basin Historic District.
The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown and the City of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as an independent short line railroad; it also serviced the Watertown Arsenal. The line has been formally abandoned and portions have been converted into a rail trail, the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway. A section from School Street to Arlington Street in Watertown was completed first. A small portion in Waltham has been converted into a park called Chemistry Station Park after the railroad station once located there. Construction of an extension to Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge began in the summer of 2018 and was completed in June 2022.
The Upper Charles River Reservation is a Massachusetts state park encompassing portions of the banks of the Charles River between the Watertown Dam in Watertown and Riverdale Park in Dedham and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. It includes land in the communities of Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Weston, Wellesley, Needham, Dedham, and Boston. Some of the Charles River Reservation Parkways also fall within the park boundaries. The Charles River Bike Path follows the river through much of the reservation.
The Los Angeles River bicycle path is a Class I bicycle and pedestrian path in the Greater Los Angeles area running from north to east along the Los Angeles River through Griffith Park in an area known as the Glendale Narrows. The 7.4 mile section of bikeway through the Glendale Narrows is known as the Elysian Valley Bicycle & Pedestrian Path. The bike path also runs from the city of Vernon to Long Beach, California. This section is referred to as LARIO, or more formally, the Los Angeles River Bikeway.
Los Angeles River Bikeway, also known as LARIO, is a 29.1 mi (46.8 km) bikeway along the lower Los Angeles River in southern Los Angeles County, California. It is one of the completed sections of the Los Angeles River Bicycle Path planned to run along the entire 51 miles (82 km) length of the LA River.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operates subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service in the Greater Boston region. Boston has some of the highest rates of non-motorized commuting in the United States, including high bicycle usage. The MBTA offers certain provisions for riders wishing to make part of their trips by bicycle. The agency allows bicycles to be carried on all fixed-route services except the Green Line and the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line light rail lines, although they are restricted on the commuter rail and heavy rail subway services at peak hours. Bicycle storage areas are offered at many stations, with "Pedal and Park" locking bicycle cages at certain high-usage stations.
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