Answer
Oct 14, 2020 - 09:23 AM
Wonderful! Biking is a great way to get exercise and reduce your emissions. And yes, biking and public transit are outstanding ways to get around, and are much more environmentally friendly than driving. Please ask us any questions you have about these topics as well!
Bike Newton is a great resource for you. It is a non-profit whose mission is to promote biking in Newton. The group's website (www.bikenewton.org) has a wealth of information on biking in Newton. Click on the Bike Maps link at the top to view 6 recommended rides of different lengths.
In addition to their routes, other good places to ride that are light on traffic and have safe bike paths include:
- The Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Lane: The Carriage Lane is a separate lane that runs the entire 5.5 mile east/west length of Newton starting from its border with Brookline all of the way to Auburndale by the Newton Marriott. The direction of vehicular travel is westbound only, and the Carriage Lane is local traffic only, which make it popular with bicyclists, runners, and pedestrians. Numerous sections of this lane, particularly around the large signalized intersections, are even closed to motor vehicle traffic.
- Beacon Street from Newton Centre to Brookline: This 2.5 mile east/west stretch of Beacon Street has an extremely wide bike lane with few parked cars along the side so you don't have to worry about drivers opening their door into you. Plus, there are an additional 3.1 miles of bike lane from Centre St in Newton Centre to the border with Wellesley currently under construction.
-Newton’s first protected bike lane, a sidewalk level bike lane in the southbound direction, was recently installed along Walnut Street at Washington Street, next to the Washington Place development; it runs and brings cyclists safely from north side of Washington St., over the MassPike Bridge, to Austin Street.
-Additionally, now that the paving of Washington Street is finished, a new eastbound buffered bike lane has been painted along Washington Street from Kempton Place to Lowell Avenue.
-Completed in 2020 is a 0.4-mile eastbound bike lane along Waltham St., a newly paved road surface, which runs from Waltham to Crafts Street (and past Albemarle Field) in Nonantum. Parking regulations were changed, and chicanes created, to keep the on-street parking away from the new bike lane, and to slow vehicular traffic, which make this a desirable road for cycling.
- Nonantum Road/Soldiers Field Road: Starting at the corner of Galen Street and Nonantum Road in the village of Nonantum, there is a bike path that runs almost uninterrupted to Harvard in Cambridge.
- Commonwealth Avenue: The main vehicular artery has a series of westbound bike lanes where road width allows. This includes a 1.8-mile stretch from Walnut St to Arapahoe. It is generally used by faster riders who want to connect to Weston, to points north and south.
For a list of the many bike lanes currently under construction or in the planning stages, please see the City of Newton’s Dept. of Transportation Planning webpage: Projects.
For additional information about bicycling in Newton, please see the Dept. of Transportation Planning webpage: Bicycling.
