Bicycles and bike paths – Belmont Citizens Forum

Bicyclist Rides the Henry Knox Trail

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Historic Preservation, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

By David Webster When I lowered my bicycle on the grassy bank of the Sudbury River in Wayland and stared at the granite marker and historic broken Stone Bridge, time froze. The marker identified this place as being on the Knox Trail. I imagined steam rising from sweaty horses and oxen and then evaporating into the frigid winter air as the straining animals pulled their heavy loads of captured cannons across the bridge towards Boston. This winter marks the 250th anniversary of an extraordinary Revolutionary War event that was pivotal in forcing the British evacuation of Boston in 1776. During [READ MORE]

How Rail Trails Can Serve Public Housing

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 172025

How Rail Trails Can Serve Public Housing

Drake Village, Arlington, and Lessons from Across the Northeast By Jeffrey North & Vincent Stanton, Jr. Development of the Belmont Community Path is proceeding in two phases. Phase I is close to the 100% design threshold. Planning for Phase 2, which will run from the Clark Street Bridge to the Waltham border, started in late 2022 when the town hired Pare Corporation and Toole Design. The Pare team studied the route options during winter and spring 2023 and recommended a final route to the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC) in May 2023 (see “Belmont Community Path Route Take Shape, BCF [READ MORE]

Town Meeting OK’s Community Path Right of Way

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, November/December 2025, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Oct 312025

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. On October 22,Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to approve two warrant articles that clear the way for the town to assemble the right of way (ROW) for the community path. Article 5 authorizes the Select Board to acquire the land necessary for the community path. That land totals 265,805 square feet, and most of it is owned by public or nonprofit entities: 45.2% by the MBTA, 40.3% by the Belmont Citizens Forum, and 8.9% by the Town of Belmont. The Belmont Citizens Forum has communicated to the town its intent to donate the 107,172 square foot parcel [READ MORE]

Belmont Community Path Hits Major Milestone

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, November/December 2025 Comments Off

Oct 312025

Belmont Community Path Hits Major Milestone

By Holly Muson and Jeffrey North On September 10, the design team led by Nitsch Engineering delivered the 75% design submission to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). This submission marks a significant step forward for Phase I of the Belmont Community Path. The 75% design stage means that detailed plans are now largely complete. The submission covers alignment, grading, drainage, fencing, landscaping, and structural components such as the underpass, retaining walls, and other supporting features. This level of design provides MassDOT with the comprehensive materials needed to move the project toward final review, permitting, and construction. With this milestone, [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Roundabouts

Bicycles and bike paths, January/February 2025, Newsletter, Traffic Comments Off

Jan 032025

To the Editor: I am looking at the September/October BCF Newsletter article, “Town Works to Make Streets Safer for All,” with plans for the roundabouts on Concord Avenue at Winter and Mill Streets. I favor roundabouts for the sake of traffic safety, and so I am in favor of most of the project. The drawings, however, show a bikeway along the southwest side of Concord Avenue, narrow at the ends and widening as it passes two roundabouts, where there are crosswalks, and ending on Mill Street. The bikeway serves only eastbound bicycle traffic. A sidewalk is shown on the northeast [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Student Bikers Cut School Traffic

Bicycles and bike paths, November/December 2024 Comments Off

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]

Community Path Could Have Bridge, Box

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

Jan 032024

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Last May, the consultants hired by Belmont to design Phase 2 of the Belmont Community Path (extending from the Clark Street Bridge to the Waltham border) recommended a final route to the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC), which endorsed the recommendation and sent it on to the Select Board (see “Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape,”September/October 2023 Newsletter, for details). The Select Board asked for more details on the right of way, which is the focus of current work. The Pare Corporation-Toole Design team proposed two audacious Phase 2 design choices: a new bridge over the [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]

MBTA Rethinks Tunnel Construction

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Construction and Housing, July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. The MBTA recently changed its position regarding the preferred construction method for the new tunnel under the Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line at Alexander Avenue. Now the plan is to use “cut and cover” construction rather than tunnel jacking. The change will lower the cost of constructing the Belmont Community Path by an estimated $5 million, shorten the construction timeline, reduce the construction footprint, and be less disruptive for nearby residents, the Belmont middle-high school community, and Fitchburg Line riders. The cut and cover approach will also permit a wider tunnel, which is preferable given the anticipated [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]

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