MassBike Boston Bikepath Snow Plowing Report
January 21, 2000

Bikepaths are an integral part of the bicycle transportation network, and these reports are provided to encourage their use by bicyclists who might otherwise not venture out in the snow, and to encourage their proper maintenance (which includes snow plowing) by the responsible agencies given in bold type below.

Our second snow of the winter of 1999-2000 started on the afternoon of January 20. This morning, I biked to work around 10:00 am and the paths I use were all plowed, but some were drifted pretty badly. Please send updates and reports on the conditions of other paths in Massachusetts to Doug Mink dmink@cfa.harvard.edu. (Updated January 24)

Arnold Arboretum
1.5 miles of park roads which are mostly closed to automobile traffic with no intersections
Boston Parks and Harvard University
Plowed to packed powder. There was pretty good traction for my road bike tires, but there was occasional ice.
Jamaicaway Bikepath
1.5 miles of mostly bike/ped-separated paths paralleling a busy 4-lane parkway; two intersections with traffic lights
Boston Parks Deparment
This was all plowed, but drifting was impassable between the Boathouse and Perkin St. (the parallel footpath was clear enough to ride) and downwind of Daisy Field, north of Willow Pond Ave., where I managed to ride through. A second pass with a plow is needed.
Olmsted Park Paths
3/4-mile of mostly bike/ped-separated paths built over River Road, , across Leverett Pond from the Jamaicaway.
Brookline Park Department
This didn't look plowed.
Muddy River Path
12-foot-wide 0.6 mile shared bike/ped path with no intersections
Brookline Park Department and DPW
Plowed to packed powder and a salt/sand mixture was melting that.
B.U. Bridge
Icy approaches, with bare pavement on the sidewalk over the water. There was some drifting on the Cambridge side.
Charles River Bikepath
Narrow, shared bike-ped path with few intersections
Metropolitan District Commission
The Cambridge side was plowed from the B.U. Bridge to Hawthorne St. (west of Harvard Square) There was some drifting, but I rode through the drifts, sometimes with my feet down for a step or two. There was very little clear pavement; it was mostly a thin layer of snow over rough ice.
Southwest Corridor Bikepath
Separated Bike/Ped path with poorly-designed intersections
Metropolitan District Commission
no report yet