Bicycles – Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont’s Student Bikers Cut School Traffic

Oct 282024

Belmont’s Student Bikers Cut School Traffic

Test and photos by David Chase This fall, we solved a school crowding problem by moving two grades from the middle school to the new combined middle and high school. However, with almost 50% more students arriving every morning, this move aggravated an already-bad traffic problem on Concord Avenue. The new combined school has 2,128 students. If each one of them traveled in a car through the single-lane Goden Street entrance, the line would take over an hour to clear. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen; many students carpool, many walk, many get dropped off a short distance from the high school [READ MORE]

Concord Bike Lane May be Increasing Cycling

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, July/August 2024, Traffic, Transit Comments Off

Jun 252024

Concord Bike Lane May be Increasing Cycling

By Dan Eldridge This August will mark two years since the restriping of Concord Avenue, a project that repainted the lines on the road to switch the positions of the biking and parking lanes. Separated (sometimes called protected) bike lanes are against the curb and are usually separated from traffic by bollards, islands, or raised platforms: there are no plans to install bollards on Concord Avenue. In each case, a barrier is created so cyclists will encounter fewer vehicles and feel more secure. In the case of Concord Avenue, separation is indicated by painted lines and parked cars only. Separated [READ MORE]

E-Bike Library Lets Locals Take a Spin

Bicycles and bike paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

By Sarah Firth Inae Hwang was torn: Should she buy a new electric bike? “I’ve been looking at e-bikes for six months straight, really looking to purchase one,” Hwang, a Belmont resident, said. Then, a friend referred her to the Camberville E-bike Lending Library, which Somerville resident Christopher Schmidt runs out of his Porter Square home. Hwang decided to take one of the e-bikes for a spin. “I was like, ‘Oh, I should totally borrow one because then I will know what it feels like, and how well it does or doesn’t work for me,’” she said. Hwang was hooked; [READ MORE]

BCF Asks Path Experts Three Questions

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

To prepare for the upcoming Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path, the BCF asked three Community Path experts about what they think about the Community Path project today. We spoke to Mark Paolillo, Select Board member; Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Project Committee; and Will Brownsberger, Massachusetts state representative. BCF Since you succeeded Russ Leino as chair of the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC) last year, you have had a ringside seat as this project advances. What has most surprised you about the mechanics of advancing the project? Are there lessons from Phase [READ MORE]

MassDOT Rep Discusses March 7 Path Hearing

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

MassDOT Rep Discusses March 7 Path Hearing

By Jarrod Goentzel The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will be hosting a Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path on Thursday, March 7, at 7PM at the Beech Street Center Multipurpose Room, 266 Beech Street, Belmont. You can watch the meeting at home on Belmont Media Center GovTV, Ch 8 Comcast or Ch 28 Verizon, or belmontmedia.org/govtv. Visit www.mass.gov/orgs/highway-division/events for more information. The project consists of a new paved shared-use path along the Fitchburg Commuter Rail and a new concrete underpass beneath the railroad tracks at Alexander Road to provide a connection from Channing Road [READ MORE]

What’s in a Name? Walking and Biking

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032024

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Data from various retrospective observational studies show that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure enhance residential property values (reviewed in the article “Impact of Bike Facilities on Residential Property Prices” and in Chapter 6 of the Belmont Community Path Advisory Committee report). However, some of the most persuasive evidence comes from the simple observation that real estate agents—who are paid to market properties effectively and knowledgeable about what works—consistently mention paths when they are nearby. The easiest way to measure that practice is to scan the 100 to 150 word property descriptions near the top of listings. An [READ MORE]

Bike Cameras Could Make Riding Safer

Bicycles and bike paths, Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

By Sumner Brown Bicycling is not perfectly safe. Belmont’s approach to handling bicycles on roads is evolving, and some bicycle riders could improve their habits. But there is another problem that I have been thinking about after I spent three weeks in hospitals recovering from a hit-and-run bike incident: bicycle cameras. While I was confined to Spauldingz Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, I concluded that my mistake was that I did not have a camera on my bicycle that could have recorded what happened and the license plate of my attacker. (Incidentally, you can tell you were attacked during road rage [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Bike Safety

Bicycles and bike paths, Newsletter, September/October 2023, Traffic Comments Off

Sep 012023

My home is in Waltham, and my dentist’s office is in Arlington. I have occasion to ride my bicycle through Belmont on the way there and back. Today (May 22, 2023) I was waiting for the red light at Cross and Brighton Streets when a car approaching in the opposite direction got a green light, but the light remained red for me. I had to run the red light to get through the intersection and I had no way to know when the red light for the cross traffic would turn green. The same thing happened a second time on [READ MORE]

Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Newsletter, September/October 2023, Transit Comments Off

Sep 012023

Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. How should the Belmont Community Path get from the Clark Street Bridge to Waverley Square? How might it cross Waverley Square? How should it connect to residential neighborhoods? These and related questions have been under study for Phase 2 of the Belmont Community Path. In December 2022, Belmont hired Pare Corporation and Toole Design Group to design Phase 2, which extends from the Clark Street Bridge to Waverley Square. Amy Archer and Kathleen Fasser, the project leaders of the Pare-Toole team, led the 2016–2017 Belmont Community Path feasibility study, and more recently designed the Waltham segment [READ MORE]

Belmont School Traffic Needs Attention

Bicycles and bike paths, Parking, September/October 2023, Traffic Comments Off

Aug 312023

By Larry Link The figures still catch my breath. A 2018–2019 pre-HS/MS construction study documented nearly 2,000 cars traveling down Concord Avenue from the snarl at the underpass (by most experienced hands, “unsolvable”) in Belmont Center to the High School-Middle School site opposite Goden Street, in just the morning 7 to 9 AM rush. Of all vehicles clocked in that special Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) study using automated license plate reader information, 75% entered and left Belmont within 15 to 20 minutes but were registered/garaged in other towns! While we don’t have a new count yet, many Goden Street [READ MORE]

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

Bicycles and bike paths, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Apr 302023

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

An unauthorized bike route off the Hillside Trail on the Lone Tree Hill, Belmont Conservation Land (LTH) property was reported on April 21, 2023. The route goes down a hill, over a rock ledge and lands below on a very steep hillside. The builders of the route cut down trees, broke branches, removed rocks and vegetation (trees and native perennial trout lily) from the hillside and excavated dirt by digging and leaving dangerous pits. There has been earlier unauthorized bike activity at Lone Tree Hill, but this is the most dangerous and damaging. At the ninth annual LTH volunteer day [READ MORE]

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

Bicycles and bike paths, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

By David Sobel If you’re a casual bike rider who likes 10- to 15-mile rides on backroads around New England, I encourage you to check out my new book, Best Bike Rides in New England: Backroad Routes for Cycling the Northeast States. I’m 73, and my wife is 63, so we’re into reasonable, not ardent, exercise. And we aspire to doing some outdoorsy sport four or five times a week—biking in the summer, skating, Nordic and downhill skiing in the winter. The book includes descriptions of 30 bike loops in all six New England states. I originally wanted to write [READ MORE]

Farewell to Royal Road’s Dirt Jumps

Bicycles and bike paths, January/February 2023, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jan 032023

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. In late July 2022, the town dismantled the dirt bike track built by Belmont teens on town land between Royal Road and the Fitchburg Line (see “Whither the Royal Road Woods?” BCF Newsletter, January/February 2022.) The bike track, originally constructed in 2020 shortly after the parks were closed because of the pandemic, was expanded in 2022 by a different group of teens. After winter and spring storms, which eroded the earthen jumps, it needed a complete rebuild. The 2022 bike track network at one point extended across the wetlands at the bottom of Royal Road (a [READ MORE]

Waltham Preps Rail Trail Segment

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January/February 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032023

By John Dieckmann The city of Waltham issued the notice to proceed with construction of the central Waltham segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) in May 2022. This segment runs 2.7 miles from Beaver Street by the commuter rail crossing west to Main Street at the Market Basket store. By mid-September, the tracks and ties had been removed and grading of the right of way had largely been completed with the exception of the short stretch from Linden Street to Beaver Street. As of early December, the first course of paving was complete from the Garden Crest apartment [READ MORE]

Belmont Community Path Phase 1 Funded

January/February 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032023

By Jarrod Goentzel and Sara Smith The Belmont Community Path is becoming a reality. Full funding was secured for Phase 1 construction. Phase 1 includes the MBTA underpass from Alexander Avenue to the Belmont Middle and High School campus. Design is underway for Phase 2 that completes Belmont’s two-mile segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT), which will eventually connect Boston and Northampton via 104 miles of off-road paths. The Belmont Community Path will help fill a critical gap along the MCRT as construction east and west of Belmont actively moves forward. Belmont’s TIP Funding This spring the Belmont [READ MORE]

Letters to the Editor: Belmont Hill Plans, Bike Trails

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Climate Change, Environment, November 2022, Open Space, Parking, Plants Comments Off

Oct 312022

To the Editor: New England in the fall is renowned for its beauty—the trees are blazes of color, birds, squirrels, and other animals are busily preparing for winter, and the occasional whiff of woodsmoke floats in the air. Driving up Prospect Street, one is met with the pleasant sight of the pristine lawns and stately brick buildings of the Belmont Hill School—a self-described educator of “men of good character,” where “boys are expected to collaborate and become part of something larger than themselves.” Which is why it’s such a shame that the Belmont Hill School is apparently ignoring its own [READ MORE]

Mass Central Rail Trail Continues Expansion

Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 202022

Mass Central Rail Trail Continues Expansion

By John Dieckmann Progress continues on the Wayside section of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) from I-495 to Boston. Two paved segments were recently completed: five miles, from the Waltham-Weston town line to Route 20 in Wayland at Russell’s Garden Center, and approximately three miles from Brighton Street in Belmont to Lowell Street in Somerville. In addition, two major segments are under construction. The Somerville-Cambridge section being constructed along with the Green Line Extension will open in late summer and will complete the MCRT from Brighton Street to Boston in the vicinity of the TD Garden. Construction has [READ MORE]

Belmont Community Path Costs Explained

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, May/June 2022, Newsletter Comments Off

May 082022

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. The Belmont Community Path is approaching an important milestone—a potential construction funding decision by the Boston region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Although municipalities, including Belmont, are responsible for funding path design and for securing the path right of way, state and federal governments fully fund path construction via the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Construction costs are generally about 85% of total project costs. TIP funds are allocated to cities and towns in the greater Boston area via a competitive process administered by the Boston MPO, which receives about 80% of its budget from the federal highway [READ MORE]

Royal Road Dirt Jumps Made Lives Better

Bicycles and bike paths, Board of Selectmen, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Erik Rosenmeier My whole life I have walked, biked, and driven by a plot of land on Royal Road. I would see it on my way home from school, practice, or rehearsal, but, like most other people in the town, it never occurred to me that it could have any utility. That is, until the summer of 2020, when my friends and I brought our shovels, rakes, facemasks, and buckets down to that plot of land to build dirt jumps on which to ride our bikes. Most of us spent four to five hours a [READ MORE]

What is the Future of the Royal Road Woods?

Environment, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

What is the Future of the Royal Road Woods?

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Skip to Bonus Material In 1844, when the Fitchburg Line was built, the Clark family owned a triangular lot bounded by the new train line, Common Street, and Clark Street. Wellington Brook ran along the north side of the triangle, just south of the Fitchburg Line. Royal Road and Dunbarton Street did not exist. After more than a century of Clark descendents the land was sold in 1931 to the Glendower Trust, a vehicle of real estate developers John Hubbard and Donald Kenyon. Hubbard and Kenyon laid out plans for Dunbarton Street and Glendower Road (shortly [READ MORE]

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