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Minuteman Bikeway

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(Redirected from Minuteman Bike Path) Rail trail in Massachusetts, United States
Minuteman Bikeway
The Minuteman Commuter Bikeway in Lexington, with abandoned tracks from former use as a rail line
Began construction1991
Completed1998
UseBicycling, walking, jogging, inline skating, cross-country skiing
DifficultyEasy
SeasonYear-round
SurfacePaved
Right of wayformer Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad, former Middlesex Central Railroad
Maintained byBedford, Lexington, Arlington, Cambridge
Websitehttp://minutemanbikeway.org/
Trail map
Minuteman Bikeway
Legend
to Reformatory Branch Rail Trail
South Road
Bedford Depot Park
Narrow Gauge Rail Trail
Elm Brook
Wiggins Avenue
Bedford
Lexington
Hartwell Avenue to Hanscom AFB
I-95.svgMA Route 128.svg I-95 / Route 128
MA Route 4.svgMA Route 225.svg Route 4 /
Route 225
Bedford Street
Revere Street
Camellia Place│Hancock Avenue
Lexington Depot
Woburn Street
Pierce's Bridge (Maple Street)
Arlington’s Great Meadows trails
Sickle Brook/Mill Brook
Lexington
Arlington
Drake Road
to Arlington Reservoir Area
Park Avenue
Lowell Street
Forest Street
Ryder Street
Brattle Street
Grove Street
US 3.svg
US 3
Massachusetts Avenue
Spy Pond Field
Spy Pond
Linwood Street
Lake Street
Alewife Brook Greenway
MA Route 2.svg Route 2
Arlington
Cambridge
Fitchburg Cutoff Path
Alewife Linear Park
Alewife station
MBTA  Red Line 

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" (actually located in Lexington), the Battle Green in Lexington, and Hanscom Air Force Base.

At its Cambridge terminus, the bikeway connects with four other bike paths:

The Somerville Community Path was extended to downtown Boston in the summer of 2023, creating a much larger continuous bikeway accessible from the Minuteman.

At the Bedford end, the Minuteman Bikeway connects with the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail and the Reformatory Branch Rail Trail.

History

Map from 1946, where Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M) passes along the route of today's Minuteman Bikeway

The path comprising the current Minuteman Bikeway has a long history. The trail closely approximates the route that Paul Revere took on his famous ride in 1775, which heralded the beginning of the American Revolution.

Along the way to becoming a railroad, the path's right-of-way (ROW) was laid out east of Lexington in 1846 by the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad and west of Lexington in 1873 by the Middlesex Central Railroad. Part of the original track can be seen in Arlington, near Uncle Sam Plaza in front of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum.

Railbanking of the line was first proposed in 1974, three years before passenger rail service was discontinued, and a full seven years before rail service was discontinued altogether (in 1981). In 1991, the final plan for the conversion was approved, and construction started on the original section of the bikeway. The Arlington–Lexington section of the path was dedicated in September 1992; the Lexington–Bedford segment was delayed by water main construction and opened in May 1993. In 1998, the bikeway was extended a short distance from East Arlington to Alewife station in Cambridge.

In 2002, it was repaved in Arlington and in 2004, the Bedford Depot Park Enhancement Project was completed at its western terminus. In 2008, the bikeway was the fifth inductee into the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The property is currently owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and leased to the municipalities through which it passes on an interim basis as the ROW is railbanked. The MBTA at one point planned to use this ROW to extend the Red Line to Arlington Center and Arlington Heights.

The crossing of the path through Arlington Center was rebuilt in 2017 to be less discontinuous.

Uses

Area residents use the bikeway for a host of activities, including bicycling, walking, jogging, and inline skating. The main use of the path, however, is for casual biking. In the winter there is often enough snow on the bikeway for cross-country skiing. However, it is now plowed from Alewife Station to Bedford. No motorized vehicles are allowed except for powered wheelchairs and emergency vehicles.

Future possibilities

New connections under contemplation include one from Lexington to the Battle Road Trail and one to the Charles River bike path via Fresh Pond Reservation and the abandoned Watertown Branch Railroad. The Watertown Cambridge Greenway was completed in 2022.

In April 2014, state officials announced that the Somerville Community Path would be extended alongside the Green Line Extension, creating a continuous 4.5 mile route from the Minuteman Bikeway to Boston’s Charles River Bike Path. Officials had contemplated abandoning the path portion of the GLX in order to save costs, but after hiring new management, a contractor agreed to the parallel path while still cutting costs. The extension was completed in the summer of 2023.

Gallery of views along the bikeway


See also

References

  1. Some sources list it erroneously as 11 miles. The confusion arises because the mile marker at the beginning of the trail in Bedford is 1 instead of 0. Misplaced Pages editors have measured the distance as shown on maps and in Google Earth, and it appears to be 10 miles to within a few hundredths of a mile. For further verification, see: Project for Public Spaces Archived 2006-07-19 at the Wayback Machine or About the Lexington Branch
  2. "Alewife Brook Greenway Corridor Improvement Project". Town of Arlington, MA. July 11, 2012. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  3. "Patrick-Murray Administration Obligates 100% of ARRA Highway Funding One Month Ahead of Schedule". 2010-02-10. Archived from the original on 2010-02-16. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  4. ^ "Somerville's Community Path Extension Is Open - Streetsblog Massachusetts". mass.streetsblog.org. 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  5. "Rail-Trails at Bedford Depot Park". www.bedforddepot.org.
  6. ^ Viser, Matt (2007), "Rage on the bikeway", The Boston Globe, Volume 272, Number 1, 2007-07-01, p.A1.
  7. Hall, Ann (September 27, 1992). "Minuteman bikeway to open with salute". Boston Globe. pp. 35, 42 – via Newspapers.com. (second page) Open access icon
  8. "Lexington bikeway nearing completion". Boston Globe. April 4, 1993. p. 55 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. "Bikeway segment ready to go". Boston Globe. May 17, 1998. p. 294 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. "Bikeway-Hall of Fame". www.minutemanbikeway.org.
  11. Rails to Trails Conservancy (2006-01-06). "Railbanking and Rail-Trails, A Legacy for the Future" (PDF). New York State Government. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  12. "Minuteman Bikeway – America's Revolutionary Rail-Trail". Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  13. "The Red Line Stops in Arlington and Lexington". 13 February 2014.
  14. Sofio, Petru (2021-07-01). "Arlington Safe Travel Project Bike Counts - 4 years after Implementation". Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  15. "Project Update: September 25, 2014".
  16. Map of Preferred Alternative - Arlington Center Safe Travel Project, March 21, 2013
  17. Gilsdorf, Ethan (June 29, 2008). "Popular bike trail gets even better". boston.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  18. Parker, Brock (24 January 2010). "On winter's path, seeing their way clear" – via The Boston Globe.
  19. Farooq, Iram (2022-06-01). "Watertown-Cambridge Greenway". City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  20. Conway, Abby Elizabeth (30 April 2014). "Somerville Bike Path To Extend To Boston". WBUR. Retrieved 3 May 2014.

External links

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