Bike Paths
As of February, 2009, there are no destination-oriented bike paths in Newton.
Pieces of the Charles River Path pass through Nonantum on the Newton side of the Charles; however, much of these sections are either too narrow to facilitate much more than recreational biking, or in poor repair, or both. Many bikers have said that the section along Nonantum Rd. is dangerous: too close to high-speed traffic, in disrepair, and narrow. Road crossings are poorly marked.
There are the old aqueduct trails (occasionally interrupted walking paths that follows the old aqueducts from the Charles River to Newton Center), but apparently some abutters have objected to the occasional biker using the paths, in spite of some Newton Conservators documents that list bikes as potential users. You can find a map here.
There is at least one initiative to start a rail-trail project in Newton Lower Falls here that would ultimately connect a business district in Wellesley (via an old rail bridge, slated to be repaired) to Newton Lower Falls and possibly the Riverside T station. There is some local community pressure against this plan, as there often is with rail-trail plans. However, the plan is a good one, and has backing from Bike Newton, the Newton Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force, Newton Conservators, Wellesley Trails, CRWA, and the DCR (who owns the bridge and the land on which the trail would go.) In fact, if a Wellesley Trails plan to connect the Charles with Medfield gets beyond the planning stage, this rail-trail project could be a key connection.
Alderman Amy Sangiolo is working on an alternative proposal, that would focus on linking various pieces of DCR land along the Charles River, with the ultimate aim of linking to the Charles River path. [Link to map]
There is another initiative in Nonantum to link the Albemarle Park with the Charles River Path. Contact: gro.elrameblafosdneirf|ofni#gro.elrameblafosdneirf|ofni. [Need more info here.]
Bike Lanes
As of February, 2009, there are no bike lanes in Newton.
The roads dept. has begun, starting in late fall '08, to erect a number of "Share the Road" signs on Walnut Street, Beacon Street, Winchester Street, Nahanton St. and Parker St.
Credit goes to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Task force for getting that project rolling. A number of these streets have also seen the addition of somewhat wider shoulder-striping, though a series of winter storms ('08-'09) has begun to wipe out a lot of that striping. In a number of locations (Walnut between Homer and Commonwealth, Beacon just east of Newton Center) the shoulder-striping is so wide that it causes confusion for drivers: they often think the shoulder is another travel lane. Caution is advised.
None of these wide shoulders have painted markings indicating their use, other than as shoulders. In fact, many of the shoulder stripes curve into side-streets, making their use as a bike travel lane seem entirely accidental. The very wide shoulders on Beacon east of Newton Center have recently been outfitted with striping and signs that prohibit driving on the shoulder; drivers, however, still seem to use the lanes, especially eastbound after the light at Hammond Pond Parkway.
The Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines on bike lanes) discourages the use of shoulders as bike lanes, and encourages less ambiguous signage, such as pavement markings and signs that clearly indicate a bikes-only travel lane.
The long-standing problem in Newton has been on-street parking. Put simply, parking has a voice in Newton government, and biking doesn't. The width of roadways in Newton does not allow for both on-street parking on both sides and bike-only lanes. So far, parking concerns have won out over biking safety concerns. There was a particularly disappointing outcome in Newton Highlands in 2007, when a waiver to the Paulsen Bill was granted for road repairs in order to preserve on-street parking on Walnut St. at the expense of a bike lane. (The Paulsen Bill mandates that state-funded road construction and repair must provide bicycle facilities; however, waivers to this law seem to be granted with some regularity.)
The difficulty with parking is that we need to change people's mentality. People share the common misconception that the answer to insufficient parking is to add parking spaces. However, what usually happens when more parking spaces are added is that more people drive. The real answer lies in making existing spaces more useful to more people by encouraging turnover. How to encourage turnover? Variable pricing. Calibrate the price of parking on each street or area to achieve a 15% vacancy rate. In high demand areas, parking will be more expensive than in low-demand areas. This way, a certain number of spaces will always be available for people who need them. This theory, developed by UCLA researcher Donald Shoup, has been tested in some areas (San Francisco is currently redesigning its entire parking policies around and are quite successful. The cost of does not need to be raised very high.
Because parking is free on many city streets, many streets become parking lots, with cars staying all day. For instance, Walnut Street from Lake St. to Hillside Rd. is often parked in by commuters who have parked for the day to take the T, making biking along that stretch of Walnut difficult and dangerous. There has been a lot of wrangling between cyclists and the Highland businesses over that stretch of road. The missing information, though, is where these drivers are coming from, and why they are driving to this particular T station. If they are coming from a particular neighborhood or area, perhaps the city could offer a shuttle service. It would be interesting to add these commuters' needs to the mix, to see if there are viable alternatives to on-street parking. Is anyone interested in surveying them?
There is a lot at the Eliot station that holds about 75-100 cars. The per-day charge for parking there is $5.50. It seems reasonable to charge people parking along Walnut Street near Highlands a similar rate, which amounts to about 50 cents an hour. It wouldn't eliminate cars on that stretch of Walnut, but at least it would generate revenue, which could be used to improve bike facilities in other ways.
Discuss Bike Lanes and Paths