MassBike Boston Bikepath Snow Plowing Report
Thursday-Friday, March 13, 2003

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. Paths with significant foot traffic become unskiable within a day, and remain a mess for everyone if they are not plowed while the snow is still soft.

Boston got only a couple of inches of snow on Thursday, but it started out wet and froze, and then got dry and drifted. During the Thursday evening commute, all of the paths were pretty ridable, but there was a lot of ice on Friday morning. No paths were really clear on Friday morning, but drifting snow made parts of the Jamaicaway path unridable.

Please send updates and reports on the conditions of other paths in Massachusetts to Doug Mink dmink@massbike.org.

Arnold Arboretum
1.5 miles of park roads which are mostly closed to automobile traffic with no intersections
Boston Parks and Harvard University
The roads were plowed, but threr was loose snow on top of ice. I made the hairpin turn at the bottom of Bussey Hill, but I did it slowly. Some of the sunnier places were starting to thaw in Friday's bright sunlight.
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 path was plowed once during the storm, though not always along the pavement, but it drifted shut along Daisy Field and also had a lot of snow drifted across along Jamaica Pond. Wednesday morning, when it was warm, I used my new collapsable avalanche shovel to make a path between the infamous Pinebank bollards, and I removed the fresh snow piled there by the plow on Friday morning. The bollards still need to go. The path along Daisy Field was impassable due to deep drifted snow.
Olmsted Park Paths
3/4-mile of mostly bike/ped-separated paths built over Riverdale Road, across Leverett Pond from the Jamaicaway.
Brookline Park Department
This path wasn't plowed on Friday morning, but if it gets plowed it will be a good alternative between Route 9 and Willow Pond Road.
Muddy River Path
12-foot-wide 0.6 mile shared bike/ped path with no intersections
Brookline Park Department and DPW
Plowed on Thursday night, but very icy on Friday morning.
B.U. Bridge
The bridge road lanes are narrow, and the sidewalks are wide and relatively unused by pedestrians.
The sidewalk was icy on Friday morning, but bikable.
Charles River Bikepath
Narrow, shared bike-ped path with few intersections
Metropolitan District Commission
The MDC plowed the path at some point, but the ice had already set, so the path was pretty challenging on Friday morning, but ridable.
Southwest Corridor Bikepath
Separated Bike/Ped path with poorly-designed intersections
Metropolitan District Commission
I'll try this on Saturday morning.
Melnea Cass Bikepath
Separated Bike/Ped path
Boston Parks or Transportation Deparment
Not checked yet.
Neponset Trail
Mostly paved Bike/Ped path
Metropolitan District Commission
This path isn't plowed, but discussions are under way as to whether the entire path should be plowed.
Cambridge Bike Lanes
Striped lanes of varying widths on major and connecting streets
City of Cambridge
Cars are parking further and further out from the curb with each storm, so bike lanes are less than their full width and should be selectively avoided.
Fresh Pond Bike Path
Parallel to Fresh Pond Parkway in Kingsley Park
City of Cambridge
Not checked yet.
Red Line Linear Park
Over the Red Line from Alewife Station to Cedar St.
Cities of Cambridge and Somerville
Not checked yet.
Minuteman Bikeway
From Cambridge through Arlington and Lexington to Bedford
Each town
This path is not usually plowed, except sometimes from Lake St. to Alewife Station.