Author: WalkMassachusetts

Presenting the 2025 Golden Shoe Awards!

Presenting the 2025 Golden Shoe Awards!

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Our Golden Shoes Awards recognize individuals, agencies, municipalities and companies exemplifying the ideals of WalkMassachusetts’ mission. The winners accept their award during our Annual Celebration on April 9th, which will be in-person starting at 5:30pm (and live streamed starting at 6:30pm) from the Venture Cafe @ 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142. Register here to join us in celebrating & honoring their work! (link will be sent to virtual attendees early afternoon on 4/9).

This year’s Golden Shoe Awards go to…Direct Vision Study, Samuels & Associates / Lyrik, and our keynote speaker Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj. Congrats to all the winners!

Direct Vision Study

Direct vision refers to a driver’s ability to see outside their vehicle without relying on indirect vision devices like mirrors or camera displays. We’ll be recognizing the project team that published this report and performed measurements of fleet vehicles across the Commonwealth.

We especially appreciate this section of the report website:

“MassDOT has adopted a Safe System approach to roadway safety. This means we are interested in all the various components that contribute to — or detract from — roadway safety. One of those components is Safe Vehicles. As stated in our 2023 Strategic Highway Safety Plan, we intend to take an active role to affect change in vehicle design, features, and use. Safe vehicles are a core component of a Safe System Approach, as vehicle sizes and designs affect the occurrence and severity of collisions.

While vehicle design is usually thought of as a federal responsibility, we believe we have a role to play at the state level to improve the safety of vehicles that travel on state highways and roads in our cities and towns. This study on direct vision will help us better understand which vehicles we should purchase in the future to achieve better safety outcomes.”

Samuels & Associates / Lyrik

Samuels and Associates are the developers behind the Lyrik building project over the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston’s Back Bay, an air-rights project that created new public space in an area that was once a windswept overpass between Newbury and Boylston Streets. The organization’s commitment to placemaking and community engagement in their developments has played a pivotal role in creating more walkable and connected urban spaces. We’ll be recognizing the project team that helped create this site.

Keynote Speaker: Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj

Etel Haxhiaj is a Worcester City Councilor who was recently selected for the T4MA Transportation Justice Institute, joining other elected officials from across the Commonwealth. She has been a dedicated advocate for Complete Streets, lowering speed limits to 25 mph, establishing safety zones in high-risk pedestrian areas, and championing zero-fare transportation.

We hope to see you on April 9th!

The winners accept their award during our Annual Celebration on April 9th, which will be in-person starting at 5:30pm from the Venture Cafe @ 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142. Register here to join us in celebrating & honoring their work! Can’t attend in person? Register for the livestream that will begin when the program itself starts at 6:30pm, or make a donation as part of the event that will help support WalkMassachusetts’ work throughout the year.

To read about previous Golden Shoe winners, click here.

A Walk Audit Academy on the North Shore

A Walk Audit Academy on the North Shore

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Residents of at least eight communities joined WalkMassachusetts staff for a half-day Walk Audit Academy training seminar on the North Shore on January 25, organized with the Beverly Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).

Carl Kooyoomjian, chair of BPAC, brought together local advocates who had collaborated before on bike lane and resurfacing projects that crossed municipal boundaries. Participants learned about improving walkability and creating safer, more accessible communities.

Building on feedback from past Walk Audit Academies in Worcester and Springfield, the North Shore training included a demonstration walk audit in downtown Beverly, so all participants could get hands-on experience before preparing to lead their own walk audits.

BPAC intends to complete a series of ward based audits informed by incident data, routes to schools, and councilor input on residents’ concerns. The goal is to materially complete the audits by early May and have a formal City Council review in late May. The initial schedule has been planned to coincide with budget discussions for the remainder of the year.

A special thank-you to Gentile Brewing for hosting us! We look forward to seeing the results of BPAC’s efforts and to collaborate more in the future.

If you’d like to follow steps on how to lead your own walk audit, check out our Walk Audit Academy series and supporting materials at https://walkmass.org/waa.

Links we promised to share: 

North Shore Walk Audit Academy Training Seminar, 1/25/25 – 10am

North Shore Walk Audit Academy Training Seminar, 1/25/25 – 10am

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This post has been updated on 1/21/25 with the tentative route.
Please RSVP at bottom of page!

Join WalkMassachusetts this winter to learn how to lead a walk audit with a North Shore Walk Audit Academy program! We’ll start things off with a walk audit training at 10am on January 25, 2025 in Beverly, MA, which will include a demonstration walk audit in downtown Beverly starting at Gentile Brewing Company. Thank you to our convening partner, the Beverly Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

What is a walk audit?

Walk audits are a tool for getting community input about walking conditions based on observation and your own lived experience. This firsthand information can add important detail to more technical information, and help improve traffic safety in your area. 

What: Walk Audit Training hosted by WalkMassachusetts
When: Saturday 1/25/2025 10am – 1pm
Where: Gentile Brewing Company, 59 Park Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Process: Group session, 1 mile walk audit Rantoul & Cabot Streets, Group Debrief.

This training will familiarize you with existing walk audit materials and protocols which will enable you to conduct audits in your own community. Learning materials and videos are also available on WalkMassachusetts’ website. 

WalkMassachusetts’ Walk Audit Academy training uses a ‘flipped classroom’ style; after the kick off meeting, participants review materials/training videos on their own. Any time spent on Zoom together is used to react to the materials, answer questions, and bring up locations on maps for discussion in preparation for leading your own walk audit.

Route for the walk audit

The route is one mile and passes eight locations where there were pedestrian vs motor vehicle incidents, and two bicycle vs motor vehicle incidents. This is a very good area to study because of the concentration of incidents in a relatively small area. It also happens to be an area where pedestrian use has increased and the infrastructure is fairly new. This is a link to the map and the described walking route from the brewery is below.

  • right out of the front door up to Federal St
  • right again to the intersection with Rantoul St
  • right onto Rantoul St
  • right on Railroad Ave
  • left on Park St
  • right on Pleasant St
  • right on River St
  • Right on Federal St
  • Right on Park St
  • Gentile Brewery on the left

For any questions that are not answered above:

Beverly Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee:
Carl Kooyoomjian – ckk@kooyoomjian.com

WalkMassachusetts: Brendan Kearney – bkearney@walkmass.org

WalkMassachusetts is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to make walking safer and easier in Massachusetts, to encourage better health, a cleaner environment, and more vibrant communities; consider supporting their efforts with a donation. Whether you’re part of a municipal bike/ped committee or just interested in making your community on the North Shore safer for walking, we’d love you to join us on January 25th! Please RSVP below.

MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment Comment Letter

MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment Comment Letter

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January 6, 2025
Re: MBTA Draw One Bridge Replacement Project NEPA Draft Environmental Assessment 
Sent via email: drawone@mbta.com

Dear project team,

My name is Brendan Kearney, and I’m co-executive director of WalkMassachusetts, a statewide pedestrian advocacy organization previously known as WalkBoston. We have followed the slow progression and implementation of the New Charles River Basin Master Plan for decades. The North Station Draw 1 Bridge Replacement project is an important component to the multimodal network of the Boston region, and we want to ensure this location includes the proposed pedestrian and bicycle connection.

The drawbridge crosses over the Charles River directly behind North Station. It currently has two moveable spans with four tracks. Existing piers are supporting the spans already in place. The new drawbridge will have three moveable spans with additional tracks. We are concerned that the current draft of the design for the bridge does not include a pedestrian path, the 2nd of three important pedestrian connections within the Master Plan. This crucial pedestrian and bicycle connection was a commitment by the Commonwealth as part of the Central Artery project mitigation. It should be restored to the project and built on the same timeline as the rail crossing. 

If that is deemed unachievable at this time, please commit to advancing the design and construction plans as well as a funding plan for this important pedestrian/bike connection during the 8-year construction timeline for what is now solely a train drawbridge. 

WalkMassachusetts would like to remind the MBTA, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and MassDOT that the North Bank bridge which connects Cambridge and Charlestown and passes underneath the Zakim Bridge was also dropped at one point roughly 20 years ago. At the time, officials were sympathetic, but said the holdup was simply due to lack of funding. As we now know, that bridge is a heavily used, beautiful and well-loved part of the Charles River Reservation.

We should not make the mistake of leaving out the connection between the North Point Park and North Station which will also become a heavily used, and well-loved part of MassDCR’s Charles River Reservation.

Thank you,

Brendan Kearney
Co-Executive Director, WalkMassachusetts

A bilingual community walk in East Boston

A bilingual community walk in East Boston

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WalkMassachusetts and GreenRoots Caminatas Verdes participants gather for a photo prior to embarking on a 1 mile walk along the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway.

WalkMassachusetts and GreenRoots Caminatas Verdes participants gather for a photo prior to embarking on a 1 mile walk along the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway.

On Tuesday, August 6, WalkMassachusetts and GreenRoots co-hosted a one-mile walk through East Boston, joining Caminatas Verdes (“Green Walks”), a group of local residents who gather weekly to be physically active and create community. 

This was our first-ever bilingual community walk, with English interpretation provided by GreenRoots. It was an opportunity to highlight a partnership with GreenRoots that has been made possible by a grant from Boston Children’s Hospital.

The event began in the amphitheater of the Bremen Street Community Park, where WalkMass’ bilingual Program Manager Jonny Gomez-Pereira welcomed participants and highlighted some of the topics that would be discussed along the walk. Noemy Rodriguez, a 2024 WalkMassachusetts Golden Shoe Recipient, described how the Caminatas reflect some of East Boston’s rich cultural diversity, with multiple languages and nationalities represented and participants of different ages and abilities.

Attendees of this walk then had the opportunity to hear from Sandra Nijjar, the Founder and Executive of the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen, which operates twice a week in order to provide families in East Boston with nutritious food. Sandra’s current work highlights the need that exists within the community and some of the challenges that families face when trying to access food.

After hearing from opening speakers, participants embarked on the walk along the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway which connects the Jeffries Point neighborhood in East Boston to Orient Heights via a car-free shared use path. During the first stop of our walk along the Gove St. entrance of the Greenway we were able to hear from Caminata participant and East Boston resident Beatrice who bravely shared some of her experience with the Caminatas. She has participated in the walk for over 8 years, and found the community she built in this space empowering as she recovered from COVID-19 complications. Beatrice spoke to the power of moving together and being in community and affirmed her participation going forward.

As the walk made its way further south toward the coast, participants had the opportunity to hear from another Caminata participant and Eastie Resident, Rina, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. Rina shared some of her memories of what the East Boston coastline used to be and how it has rapidly transformed in recent years. She noted some of the challenges that have come along with the rapid development of the coast including the exponential growth of housing costs in the once affordable neighborhood and the resulting displacement that Caminatas participants organize around. She noted that organizations such as City Life / Vida Urbana work with residents in the area to challenge displacement, which has become common.

Lastly, the group made its way towards Piers Park, walking through the recent expansion of the MassPort property where attendees had the opportunity to hear from John Walkey, GreenRoots’ Director of Climate Justice & Waterfront Initiatives. John was able to provide some context of some of the programmatic work that GreenRoots achieves throughout East Boston. He shared a brief history lesson on how chapter 91 has evolved from providing access to colonial era subjects to the harbor to fish and clam, to its current existing form where new developments along the Boston Harbor provide public amenities to the communities that host them such as public restrooms. John also noted that green spaces such as Piers Park are essential, especially as Boston Logan Airport abuts the community and negatively impacts air quality. 

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