By Friday morning, we all knew that the winter blizzard christened "Nemo"
by the Weather Channel was bearing down on Boston set to drop more that
two feet of snow on our fair city as moist air coming up the coast from
the south collided with cold air coming from the west. By Saturday mid-day,
my sidewalk was covered by somewhere between two and two-and-a-half feet
of white stuff. Streets and bikepaths were covered, too. After I shoveled
a path from my front door to the street, I skied around my neighborhood and
through our two cemeteries, St. Micheal's and Forest Hills. Sunday, I put
my skis on my bike and met friends at George Wright Golf Course in Hyde
Park, the next neighborhood over, then biked, without the skis, to a play
and a concert. By afternoon, the DCR had already plowed the Southwest
Corridor paths. Monday, I biked to work and found that other paths were
not so good, which was still the case on Tuesday, though conditions were
improving.
Arnold Arboretum
1.5 miles of park roads which are mostly closed to automobile traffic
with no intersections
Boston Parks and Harvard University
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By Tuesday, I still haven't ridden through, but I have heard that it is
clear, and with the warm temperatures, I would expect mostly wet pavement.
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Blackwell Footpath
A half-mile gravel path connecting the Forest Hills MBTA station and the
South St. Arboretum entrance
Boston Parks and Harvard University
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I didn't check it, but Laura Smeaton said that it was bikable on Monday when still frozen.
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Washington St. Bike Lanes
A mile of bike lanes on both sides of Washington St. from Forest Hills
to Roslindale Square and beyond on Belgrade Ave.
Boston Public Works Department
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By Thursday night, the bike lanes were pretty clear, but cars had started parking in them.
They were pretty clear by Monday evening where there would have been
parking had a ban not been in effect. Once cars start parking on the
street, the lanes might go away again. Where there was no parking lane,
the bike lanes were ususally covered with snow.
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Arborway "Bike Lanes"
1 mile of wide paved shoulder which is unmarked but usually clear of
parked cars during rush hour
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
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Not very clear on Wednesday evening, but the parallel sidewalk, which I now
use most of the time, was dry pavement for its full width from the main
Arboretum entrance to the Forest Hills ramp.
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Franklin Park Roads
Much of the park loop road is closed to motorized traffic
and there are bike lanes on the main road.
Boston Parks and Public Works Departments
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I've heard that they've been plowed, but I don't know how much
pavement is showing.
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Centre/South Bike Lanes
A mile of bike lanes through the heart of Jamaica Plain from Jackson
Square and the Southwest Corridor to Forest Hills./I>
Boston Public Works Department
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By Thursday, they were clear sometimes, but totally blocked simetimes.
Still mostly covered by snow on Tuesday night.
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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
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By Wednesday night, the Eliot St. crossing was clear, but there were three
places where the plow totally missed the path which are now deep mud:
near the Eliot St. light, just south of Willow Pond Ave., and at the north
end of Leverett Pond.
Not really cleared until Tuesday. I tried to ride it Monday morning
and there was too much snow in serveral places: the boathouse, the hill
between Perkin St. and Willow Pond Ave., and at the north end of
Leverett Pond. By Tuesday night, it was clear south of Perkin St.,
though the Eliot St. crossing was not plowed at all and it was sort
of hard to reach the push button to change the light.
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Perkins St. Bike Lanes
1.5 miles of mostly bike/ped-separated paths paralleling
a busy 4-lane parkway; two intersections with traffic lights
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Barely showing on Tuesday night, but pretty clear by Wednesday night.
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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
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More ridable than the Jamaicaway path, but only with studded snow tires.
The path can be pretty icy.
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Parkway and Netherlands Rd. Contraflow bike lanes
Two one-block contra-flow lanes plus and contraflow cycle
track
Brookline Park Department and DPW
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The bike lanes are not visible and the cycle track at the intersection
of these streets is totally buried.
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Muddy River Path
12-foot-wide 0.6 mile shared bike/ped path with no intersections
Brookline Park Department and DPW
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Pretty clear by Wednesday night.
Plowed but icy. It's clearer than the Olmsted Park Path, but not by much.
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Commonwealth Ave. Bike Lanes
Connecting the B.U. Bridge to Boston University
Boston Transportation Department
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Clear around the B.U. Bridge by Monday morning, but not everywhere else.
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Brookline Bike Lanes
Town of Brookline
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Harvard St. bike lanes come and go, often covered with snow or displaced
parked cars. I would expect the Beacon St. lanes to be similar.
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B. U. Bridge Bike Lanes
Boston to Cambridge
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
Plowed By Mass. Highway Department
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Half clear by Tuesday morning.
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B. U. Bridge west sidewalk
Boston to Cambridge
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
Plowed By Mass. Highway Department or B.U.
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The sidewalk was clear on the bridge, but the approaches were covered
withsnow and hard to bike through. I got off and walked on Tuesday morning.
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Harvard (Mass. Ave.) Bridge bike lanes
Cambridge to Boston
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
Plowed By Mass. Highway Department
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No report, but probably clear
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Longfellow Bridge bike lanes
Cambridge to Boston
Department of Conservation and Recreation,
Plowed By Mass. Highway Department
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Totally clear by Wednesday evening.
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Charles River Bikepaths
Narrow, shared bike-ped path with few intersections
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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The Cambridge-side path was plowed from the B.U. Bridge to Western
Ave. on Monday morning, and there were three Bobcats shoveling snow
off the stretch from there to JFK St. That stretch was clear by Tuesday
morning, but the path was still mostly a mess upstream from JFK St.
Aaron Pikcilingis reports:
The Boston bank of the Charles River path was cleared beautifully in front
of BU (at least from the Silber way footbridge) and upriver to the BU
bridge on Monday afternoon, but not paved upriver from the BU bridge for
as far as I could see. It may have been plowed since, but it would be a long
haul to carry around that long bend in icy, choppy snow.
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J.F.K. Park
Wide, shared bike-ped path from river to Harvard Square
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Plowed by Monday morning, though I didn't ride it until Tuesday night
when it was totally clear, except for the curb cut at Bennett St.
on the north end, where there was a huge pile of snow.
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N. Harvard St. bike lanes
Boston
Boston DPW
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Pretty much entirely covered with a few feet of snow.
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Lincoln St. to Cambridge St. MassPike Bridge
Bike/Ped connection from Harvard Square to Allston's Harvard Ave.
district via Franklin St.
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
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Totally clear, though the sidewalk on the south side along Cambridge
St. to Harvard. Ave. was unplowed and difficult.
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Southwest Corridor Bikepath
Separated Bike/Ped path with poorly-designed intersections
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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On Thursday night the path was clear and fairly dry all of the way from
Ruggles to Forest Hills.
David Wean reported on Wednesday, February 13:
Though the SW Corridor has been plowed, last night it was VERY wet,
and I expect that it will be icy this morning, and at least a few mornings
to come as the melt/freeze cycle continues.
Totally clear by Sunday night [before later thawing].
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South Bay Harbor Trail
Bike/Ped path from the Federal Court House up Fort Point Channel
to the Southwest Corridor
City of Boston
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Not checked yet.
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Neponset Trail
Mostly paved Bike/Ped path
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Not checked.
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Somerville Community Path
Wide rail trail from Davis Square to Cedar St.
City of Somerville
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Not checked, but I've heard that it was plowed promptly after the storm
and clearer than most Somerville streets.
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Red Line Linear Park Path
Alewife MBTA station to Davis Square over Red Line
City of Cambridge
City of Somerville
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Not checked.
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Danehy Park Paths
City of Cambridge
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Not checked.
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Cambridge Bike Lanes
Striped lanes of varying widths on major and connecting streets
City of Cambridge
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Mostly under a lot of snow, but clear sometimes, especially on less
major streets.
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Vassar St. Cycle Track
Buffered bike lanes from Main St. to Memorial Drive (almost)
City of Cambridge
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Not checked.
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Fresh Pond Bike Path
Parallel to Fresh Pond Parkway in Kingsley Park
City of Cambridge
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Not checked yet
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Concord Ave. Cycle Track
Buffered bike lanes from Belmont to Fresh Pond Parkway
City of Cambridge
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Nick Gofee reports on Wednesday, February 13:
The eastbound Concord Ave sidepath between Blanchard Rd and the rotary
is pretty well cleared, except a few small piles of slush here and
there.
The westbound path looked impassable last night in the dark, but I
looped back and rode it this morning for the sake of science (or
something). It was just possible to ride without dismounting anywhere
but not what I would call reasonable. The full width of sidewalk +
bike path is cleared almost nowhere; instead there's an approximately
two-pedestrian-wide path cleared that winds from the bike path portion
to the sidewalk portion and back, and quite a few piles of snow/slush
at intersections. At one intersection the snow forces a cyclist to
ride over a low curb.
On Monday night the path adjacent to Fresh Pond Pkwy on the east side
of Fresh Pond was flooded and icy, but I haven't been back to it.
Bruce Kulik reported on Tuesday, February 12:
Bicycle lanes in Belmont were reasonably clear on both sides, except
where the parking lane was not plowed and cars parked in the lane. Probably a
half dozen places.
Inbound track/sidewalk in Cambridge appeared to be plowed, but there were
a few large snow boulders remaining in the path.
Outbound track haphazardly cleared. Did not appear passable via bicycle.
Roadway was clear in and dry in both directions for the full length.
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Alewife Parkway Bridge Sidewalk
Connection from Minuteman Bikepath to Fresh Pond and beyond
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Not checked yet.
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Minuteman "Commuter Bikeway"
Towns of Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford
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Peter Davis reports on Wednesday, February 13:
I rode the Minuteman for the first time since the blizzard this morning,
from near the Lexington line to Alewife. There's quite a few icy patches,
probably from yesterday's melting. There are also a couple of mounds of
frozen, hard-packed snow that will probably require getting off and even
lifting the bike over the blockage. Note also that the whole cleared area
of the trail is quite narrow compared with its normal state, so watch out
for other path users.
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Upper Charles Reservation
Watertown, Newton, Waltham
4+ miles of paved and unpaved bikepaths
Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Not checked.
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Stony Brook Reservation
Hyde Park
4+ miles of paved bikepaths
Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation
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These paths aren't plowed because they get relatively little transportation
use and because they are used by cross-country skiers like me. There
are marked narrow bike lanes on Enneking Parkway through the
reservation which are probably clear.
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Former Metropolitan State Hospital
Belmont, Waltham
paved bikepaths
Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Not checked yet.
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Assabet River Rail Trail
Hudson and Marlborough, so far
Town of Hudson, City of Marlborough
(so far)
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Not checked, but probably not plowed.
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Northampton Bikeway
East-west across the City of Northampton
City of Northampton
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Craig Della Penna, who lives next to the path, has reported that
it is the intention of the DPW to make it passable ASAP after a storm.
If the storm is significant, then they plow it repeatedly --sometimes
10-12 times during the course of the storm to ensure its usability.
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Norwottuck Rail Trail
Northampton to Amherst
Department of Conservation and Recreation
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No report.
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