Future Boston Bikeways and Trails

Charles River Bikepath Harbor Extension

The Charles River Bikepath can be extended downstream to the Charles River Dam, at least on the north side. It could then connect to a Charlestown Waterfront Path to the north and the Boston Redevelopment Authority's proposed Harbor Walk to the south. Information about the so-called New Charles River Basin is available online.

Charles River Upstream Extension

The Charles River Bikepath can be extended upstream from Watertown to Brook Farm in West Roxbury and to the Mother Brook in Dedham. The MDC is working on the first stage, to Newton Lower Falls. Their plans are available online.

Boston Harbor Path

The MDC is working on a continuous pathway from Castle Island in South Boston to Neponset Circle in Dorchester. The path is complete from Castle Island around Columbia Point, except for 100 feet of grass next to the Kennedy Library, and south along Morrisey Boulevard, though not all of it is in good shape. Some of the best water views of Boston are available from the north side of Columbia Point. There is a bit of path at Victory Road Park, and the MDC is negotiating for an easement across Boston Gas property which would link this to the Morrisey Ave. drawbridge, bypassing some awkward expressway ramps. The path picks up at Tenean Beach in Port Norfolk, and back streets connect it to the harbor end of the Neponset River Greenway.

Boston Harbor Walk

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has studied an almost continuous public walk from the North End to South Boston. The new Northern Avenue bridge over Fort Point Channel will have a bike lane, unless the state Highway Department eliminates it from the plans. The MDC is working on a continuous pathway from Castle Island in South Boston to Neponset Circle in Dorchester. The path is mostly complete around Columbia Point, with the Kennedy Library remaining a major obstacle.

Charlestown Waterfront Bikepath

We have the beginning in the Paul Revere Landing Park, which is fairly easily connected to the USS Constitution and the Charlestown Navy Yard, through which bikes, but not cars, can pass. Now the Boston Redevelopment Authority has to reserve waterfront space to get bikes and pedestrians to the Broadway (Route 99) Bridge over the Mystic River.

East Boston Greenway

An abandoned railroad right-of-way, donated to the Boston Natural Areas Fund in 1996, connects marshes, beaches, playing fields, Logan Airport, MBTA stations, and residential areas throughout the East Boston community. In 2006, ISTEA enhancement money is funding construction a connection from the completed southernmost half-mile of the trail from Boston Harbor north to Logan Airport. In the future, the greenway will be extended to Belle Isle Marsh, on the northern edge of Boston, next to Revere, largely on MDC-owned land.

Emerald Necklace Greenway

MassBike is working on reconnecting Frederick Law Olmsted's original Emerald Necklace of parks and park ways so bicyclists and pedestrians do not have to take their lives in their hands as they try to cross the heavy traffic of the "parkways" along and across this park system which currently includes closed roads in the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park, the Jamaicaway Bikepath and the Muddy River Bikepath.

Neponset River Greenway

This MDC-owned greenspace includes a railroad right-of-way which extends from the harbor in Dorchester to Central Avenue in Milton. It has been paved and is currently ridable from Port Norfolk to Central Avenue in Milton, with a wider replacement for the bridge over the river in Dorchester Lower Mills which was resurfaced by volunteers and the MDC in December 1997. It includes marshes and the Pope John Paul II Park along the Neponset Estuary, and connects through Port Norfolk to the MDC's Harbor Path. The DCR is looking at ways to extend this path up the Neponset to Readville, where a side spur could easily connect to the Blue Hills, though bike lanes on the Truman and Neponset Valley Parkways might be the best way to go. Check out our Neponset River Greenway page for more information and additional links.

South Bay Harbortrail

This 3.5-mile trail will access Inner-City Boston to the Boston Harbor via Melnea Cass Boulevard and the southern Central Artery and Fort Point Channel corridors, connecting recreational and employment opportunities within the emerging South Boston Waterfront District. The South Bay Harbortrail Coalition, composed of area businesses and institutions as well as community groups and other non-profit entities, is working to coordinate construction and design of new highway infrastructure along the southern reaches of the Central Artery Project. An ISTEA grant is being used to assist in the planning and development of the trail alignment.

Adopted as a pilot project of the "Campaign for the Water's Edge", more information about Harbortrail is available through Save the Harbor Save the Bay of Boston, www.savetheharbor.org or (617)-451-2860. Groups or individuals interested in joining the SBHT Coalition may inquire by calling either SHSB or Michael Tyrrell (project founder and planning chair) at 617-441-7739.

West Roxbury Linear Park [Map] [Boston Open Space Plan]

Also known as the Belle Avenue Corridor, this disused railroad right of way ran from the Star Market on Spring St. to the Dedham border, very close to the Dedham Mall, until the MBTA sold it off to abutters in 2006.

Originally, the Dedham Secondary Branch of the Providence and New Haven line, it was closed in 1941 and later bought by the MBTA, probably at the same time as they acquired what is now the Needham Commuter Rail line. It was nearly intact in the city except for a missing bridge over Spring St. At the Dedham end, it runs into the Super Stop and Shop and is buried y the parking lot there. The bridge over the Mother Brook is long since gone, as is the right of way to Dedham Center. The location of the Dedham station is now the terminus of two trails planned by the Town of Dedham. The line originally continued on to Providence, but the next part of the right of way is now buried by US 1. In early 1998, after the Boston and state park departments refused to by the land, the MBTA expressed interest in selling off part of the line to developers, but no developers were chosen.

Winthrop Greenway [Map]

This greenway will be on MDC land along the Winthrop side of the Belle Isle Inlet, eventually connecting the East Boston Greenway to the ocean at Short Beach. The greenway is currently a footpath, and paving is not planned, but it is interesting due to its connections.