Minuteman Bikeway

The Minuteman Commuter Bikeway in Lexington, with abandoned tracks from former use as a rail line

The Minuteman Bikeway is a 10-mile (16-kilometre)^[1] paved multi-use rail trail located in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. It runs from Bedford to Alewife station, passing through Lexington and Arlington along the way.

Route

Legend In Bedford: Railbanked line to Concord Reformatory South Road Bedford Depot Park to Billerica Elm Brook Wiggins Avenue in Lexington: Hartwell Avenue to Hanscom Air Force Base Interstate 95 Bedford Street (Routes 4, 225) Revere Street Hancock Street Lexington Depot Woburn Street Site of B&M's Munroe station Pierce's Bridge (Maple Street) Arlington’s Great Meadows Site of B&M's East Lexington station in Arlington: Site of B&M's Arlington Heights station Park Avenue Lowell Street Site of B&M's Brattles station Site of B&M's Arlington Centre station Massachusetts Avenue (U.S. Route 3) Spy Pond Site of B&M's Lake Street station Lake Street to Alewife Brook Greenway Massachusetts Route 2 in Cambridge: to Fitchburg Cutoff Path to Alewife Linear Park Alewife station MBTA Red Line

The Minuteman Bikeway runs from Bedford to the Alewife station at the northern end of the Red Line in Cambridge. It passes through the towns of Lexington and Arlington on the way. Also along the route are several notable regional sites, including Alewife Brook Reservation, Spy Pond, "Arlington’s Great Meadows" (actually located in Lexington), the Battle Green in Lexington, and Hanscom Air Force Base.

At its Cambridge terminus, the bikeway connects with four other bike paths:

• the Fitchburg Cutoff Path
• the Cambridge Linear Park which, in turn, leads to the Somerville Community Path.
• the Alewife Brook Greenway, a connection to the Mystic River bike path, following Alewife Brook.^[2] The Alewife Brook extension received $4M from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as the "Minuteman Bikepath Connector" project.^[3]
• a sidewalk path to Fresh Pond Reservation.

Plans are underway to extend the Somerville Community Path to downtown Boston, which would create a much larger continuous bikeway accessible from the Minuteman.

At the Bedford end, the Minuteman Bikeway connects with the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail and the Reformatory Branch Rail Trail.^[4]

History

Map from 1946, where Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M) passes along the route of today's Minuteman Bikeway

The path comprising the current Minuteman Bikeway has a long history. The trail closely approximates the route that Paul Revere took on his famous ride in 1775, which heralded the beginning of the American Revolution.

Along the way to becoming a railroad, the path's right-of-way was laid out east of Lexington in 1846 by the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad and west of Lexington in 1873 by the Middlesex Central Railroad.

Railbanking of the line was first proposed in 1974, three years before passenger rail service was discontinued, and a full seven years before rail service was discontinued altogether (in 1981). In 1991, the final plan for the conversion was approved, and construction started on the original section of the bikeway. The path was dedicated in 1992 and completed the following year.^[5]

In 1998 the bikeway was extended from East Arlington to Alewife station (in Cambridge). In 2002 it was repaved in Arlington and in 2004 the Bedford Depot Park Enhancement Project was completed at its western terminus.^[5]

In 2008, the bikeway was the fifth inductee into the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.^[6]

The property is currently owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and leased to the municipalities through which it passes on an interim basis. The MBTA at one point planned to use this right-of-way to extend the Red Line to Arlington Center and Arlington Heights.^[7]

Beginning in Spring 2015, the crossing of the path through Arlington Center is expected to be rebuilt to be less discontinuous.^[8][9]

Uses

Area residents use the bikeway for a host of activities, including bicycling, walking, jogging, and inline skating. The main use of the path, however, is for casual biking.^[5] In the winter there is often enough snow on the bikeway for cross-country skiing. However, it is now plowed from Alewife Station to Bedford.^[10][11] No motorized vehicles are allowed except for powered wheelchairs and emergency vehicles.

Future possibilities

New connections under contemplation include one from Lexington to the Battle Road Trail and one to the Charles River bike path via Fresh Pond Reservation and the abandoned Watertown Branch Railroad. A portion of the latter path, at the Watertown end, has been completed and design work on the remaining section to Cambridge is expected to be finished in 2016.^[12]

In April 2014, state officials announced that the Somerville Community Path will be extended alongside the Green Line Extension, creating a continuous 4.5 mile route from the Minuteman Bikeway to Boston’s Charles River Bike Path.^[13]

Gallery of views along the bikeway

• 

  Bedford Depot Park, with old B&M RDC

• 

  In Bedford, near Wiggins Avenue

• 

  Lexington Depot

• 

  Spy Pond, Arlington

• 

  Snow on the path, Arlington

• 

  In Cambridge, near Alewife station and the junction with the Fitchburg Cutoff Path

• 

  Bike parking at Alewife station

• 

  Connector to Cambridge Linear Park

See also

• Minutemen
• Uncle Sam Memorial Statue

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minuteman Bikeway.

• Minuteman Bikeway - official website
• Video chronicle of plowing the Minuteman Bikeway in Lexington
• Friends of the Community Paths
• Depot Park at the Bedford terminus
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
• High-speed video of entire trail south to north
• Virtual cycling video of entire trail round trip.
• 1870s railroad maps of what is now the Minuteman Bikeway
• Friends of Lexington Bikeways website
• Map with popups of old maps from the 1870s showing each section of the bikeway
• Friends of Arlington's Great Meadows