Minuteman Bikeway

The rhythmic scraping of in-line skates was slightly unnerving, prompting me to pedal faster. But no matter how hard I tried to escape the sound, it grew closer, louder. Turning to look, I heard a voice holler, “Thought I’d draft off you for a bit. Do you mind?’’ Surprised by the question, I wasn’t sure how to answer. Then I shouted back, “Happy to help.’’ We ended up drafting and chatting for several miles. On the Minuteman Bikeway, it helps to have a go-along, get-along attitude.

Bike lanes will be created on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington Center next year to improve access to the Minuteman Bikeway. Planning officials in Arlington have settled on the rough design for the bicycle lanes and other improvements slated for Arlington Center in an effort to ease congestion and improve safety at the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Route 60. The intersection has been a trouble spot for cyclists using the 11-mile bikeway running from the MBTA's Alewife Station in Cambridge through Arlington, Lexington, and into Bedford.

Bike lanes will be created on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington Center next year to improve access to the Minuteman Bikeway. Planning officials in Arlington have settled on the rough design for the bicycle lanes and other improvements slated for Arlington Center in an effort to ease congestion and improve safety at the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Route 60. The intersection has been a trouble spot for cyclists using the 11-mile bikeway running from the MBTA's Alewife Station in Cambridge through Arlington, Lexington, and into Bedford.

The rhythmic scraping of in-line skates was slightly unnerving, prompting me to pedal faster. But no matter how hard I tried to escape the sound, it grew closer, louder. Turning to look, I heard a voice holler, “Thought I’d draft off you for a bit. Do you mind?’’ Surprised by the question, I wasn’t sure how to answer. Then I shouted back, “Happy to help.’’ We ended up drafting and chatting for several miles. On the Minuteman Bikeway, it helps to have a go-along, get-along attitude.

The family friendly Bike-Arlington Tour will wheel its way around town next Sunday as part of the local celebration of National Bicycle Month. The annual tour, organized by the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, will travel on the Minuteman Bikeway and local roads and will make informational stops at such spots as the Thompson and Hardy schools, and the almost completed Alewife Brook Greenway path. The tour is free, but bicycle helmets are required. The tour will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the municipal parking lot behind the Jefferson Cutter House in Arlington Center.

The League of American Bicyclists has named Arlington a bronze award winner as a bicycle-friendly community. The national nonprofit organization, which is based in Washington, D.C., and promotes bicycling for fun, fitness, and transportation, announced the award May 14, with Arlington one of 214 municipalities across the country earning recognition. The league, which also awards silver, gold, and platinum awards, recognized Arlington for the Minuteman Bikeway, as well as its municipal bike rack installation program, plans to improve bicycle safety along Massachusetts Avenue in East Arlington, and plans to...

The town will hold a public meeting next month seeking feedback about proposals to improve the Minuteman Bikeway route through Arlington Center. Using a $290,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation, the town is hoping to ease the crossing for cyclists by installing bicycle lanes where Massachusetts Avenue and Route 60/Mystic Street intersect. The current arrangement frequently results in cyclists riding on the sidewalk, despite signs put up over the summer warning that bikes on the sidewalk must be walked.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent Lexington will install two electric-car charging stations in the town's center by the end of October. On Monday, selectmen approved the location of two dedicated parking spots for the charging stations in the parking lot along Grant Street near the Minuteman Bikeway. Lexington is one of 25 Massachusetts communities receiving electric car charging stations funded by $384,000 from a settlement by an Ohio-based power plant for pollution control violations, along with roughly $500,000 in federal grant money.

Planners are working on designs to install bicycle lanes in Arlington Center in an effort to improve the Minuteman Bikeway's route through town. The bikeway runs 11 miles from the MBTA's Alewife Station in Cambridge through Arlington and Lexington and into Bedford, but in Arlington Center cyclists are forced to cross busy Massachusetts Avenue to get from one leg of the path to the next. Using a $290,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation, the town is hoping to add bicycle lanes where Massachusetts Avenue intersects with Route 60/Mystic Street.

Most of the old Brigham's plant had been torn down by 2 p.m. today. Photo by Brock Parker By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent Demolition crews began tearing down the old Brigham's Ice Cream Co. production plant in Arlington this week, as work gets underway to erect a new apartment complex. The plant on Mill Street near Arlington Center has been vacant since Brigham's stopped producing ice cream and sold its assets and company name in June of 2008.

Scores of comments have poured into state transportation planners after the release of a draft assessment of the environmental impacts of the MBTA's proposed Green Line extension. The comments, posted to the Green Line project website, catalog continued displeasure by many residents, organizations, and officials at the delay of the project until 2018. Many comments also expressed dismay at the exclusion in the environmental report of plans to fully extend the Somerville Community Path to North Point.

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