Upcoming Meetings Focused on Transportation

MassDOT Moving Together 2010

Join us for the Commonwealth's annual statewide walking and bicycling conference, focusing on GreenDOT and GreenDOT's core emphasis on healthy transportation. GreenDOT is the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's bold new initiative that will establish MassDOT as a national leader in promoting sustainability in the transportation sector. Central to GreenDOT is the promotion of the healthy transportation modes of walking, bicycling and transit. Jeffrey B. Mullan, Secretary and CEO of MassDOT, will deliver the conference keynote highlighting what GreenDOT means to transportation in the Commonwealth. Registration fee is $50, which includes conference registration, continental breakfast, refreshments, lunch, and conference materials. (Registration fee is $60 at the door). Learn more and register here.

October 13
Marriott Courtyard Downtown Hotel
275 Tremont St, Boston

Two Opportunities on Shared Streets with Ben Hamilton-Baillie

Can you imagine streets that cars, trolleys, cyclists and pedestrians all share? Are you interested in traffic, transportation modes, and what makes an enjoyable street or square? Join Ben Hamilton-Baillie, a Harvard University Loeb Fellow Alumnus and principal of Hamilton-Baillie Associates in England, for a talk on shared streets and how to reconcile traffic movement with good urban design. Mr. Hamilton-Baillie's work is creative, his expression is whimsical, and his practice is forward thinking.

October 6 @ 6:00pm
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
60 Temple Place, Boston

Sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, MetroFuture, and the MA Smart Growth Alliance. Attendance is free but space is limited. Please click here to register.

October 7 @ 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Lincoln House
113 Brattle Street, Cambridge

Sponsored by the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy. The event is free, but pre-registration is required. Contact lincolninstitute@resource-plus.com or call (888) 845-8759 to register and for directions. Register online.

Transportation for America with James Corless

Join us for an event with James Corless, Director of Transportation for America (T4A). Mr. Corless has over 15 years of transportation and campaign experience including support of transit oriented development, environmental justice, and reduction of transportation demand through smart growth strategies. Come hear how he is leading Transportation for America, a coalition of over 400 organizations, to promote a new, transformative federal transportation policy that is smarter, safer, cleaner, and provides more choice. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and MetroFuture. Attendance is free, but registration is required and space is limited. Please click here to register.

October 13 @ 6:00pm
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
60 Temple Place, Boston

Connector Path Photos!!!

We have several pictures of the recent progress made on the Charles River to Alewife Connector Path. You can see that they've paved large sections of it and there are a number of recognizable landmarks (such as the Panera Bread sign on Arsenal Street and the NECN Building behind the Arsenal Mall). Landscaping remains a going concern (large pathces of dirt lie alongside the path where grasses and benches will eventually live).



So far, I think everybody agrees that it looks great!

Community Path Video (92 seconds)

Students from the Tufts University Graduate School of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning created this video to accompany a presentation on the feasibility of a Watertown Community Path.

October 2nd :: Historic Bike Tour of Middlesex Canal

On Saturday, October 2, 2010, MassBike, along with the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission, the Middlesex Canal Commission and the Middlesex Canal Association will sponsor the 8th annual historic bicycle tour of the southern portion of the Middlesex Canal.

The Canal was the “big dig” of the end of the 18th century. Completed in 1803 after 10 years of construction, the Canal connected the Merrimac River in what is now Lowell with the Charles River at Sullivan Square in Charlestown. In many ways it served as a model for later canals including the Erie Canal. The Canal remained in operation for 50 years, providing both passenger and freight service, but could not compete successfully with the Boston and Lowell Railroad which began operation in the 1830’s.

The ride will meet at the Canal marker on the Sullivan Square MBTA station at 9:00am (take you bike onto the T if you need a lift to this Orange Line station).

From there we'll ride about 28 miles to the Historic Mill Village and Canal Museum on the Millpond in North Billerica. We'll make a lunch stop in Woburn, so we recommend that you bring a lunch. We should get to North Billerica in time for anyone who wants to catch the 3:07 train back to Boston. The ride will then follow the northern section of the Canal another 10 miles from North Billerica to Lowell and catch the 5:00 train back from there.

The route is pretty flat and level and we will average 5 miles per hour, so the ride will be easy for most cyclists. Along the way we'll stop at a number of remnants and restored sections of the Canal, as well as the Mansion of Loammi Baldwin, the chief engineer of the Canal (who discovered the Baldwin apple while building the Canal), the two remaining aqueducts (which carried the Canal over rivers and brooks), and the northern end of the floating towpath that carried horses over the Millpond.

The ride will be led by Dick Bauer of the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission and the Middlesex Canal Commission, Robert Winters of the Middlesex Canal Association, and Bill Kuttner of the Shirley-Eustis House. Steady rain cancels. For more information, contact

Dick at dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu (857-540-6293)
Robert at robert@middlesexcanal.org
Bill at bkuttner@ctps.org

For more information about the Middlesex Canal go to the MCA website.