On August 19th, WalkBoston participated in Boxaroo’s third annual City Scavenger Adventure event, The Dragons of Bostonshire. In front of our offices in Old City Hall (one of Boston’s most beautiful buildings!), we shared a table with Boxaroo and chatted with participants and provided them with walking maps and flyers describing our work.
Congrats to Fall River – the Quequechan River Rail Trail was selected as one of five finalists for the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Open Space Award! Read the ULI announcement and the local coverage from The Herald News: “What does Fall River have in common with China and Spain? A great park“!
In 2016, through a grant from the Department of Public Health, WalkBoston worked with 5 communities on wayfinding programs. In Fall River, over 130 wayfinding signs were installed connecting downtown, the newly opened Quequechan River Rail Trail and neighborhood destinations. You can learn more about the wayfinding project below.
RSVP now and save the date – September 12, 2018 5:30pm – join WalkBoston, the Charles River Conservancy, Charles River Watershed Association, and the Esplanade Association for a site walk of the Charles River path’s “Throat” area. We’ll meet at ‘BU Beach’ (grassy area on Boston University Campus near Marsh Chapel) in front of the pedestrian overpass to the Charles River path, before crossing over to the river side and gathering in an accessible location for very brief presentations. From there, we’ll walk to the first overlook to experience the narrow path and un-parklike existing conditions along the path and view the eroded river bank, before returning to the gathering area for questions and next steps.
This will give you a better understanding of why this narrow stretch has an outsized role in MassDOT’s Allston I-90 Interchange Project — and how it could help #UnchokeTheThroat in the years to come.
Green Line ‘B’ Branch – BU Central stop – the roundtrip walk from this location is 1 mile.
#57/57A Bus – Commonwealth Ave @ Granby stop
PLEASE NOTE: The pedestrian bridge from BU Beach to the Charles River Path includes stairs; accessible access to the path is at the Mass Ave Bridge (about 3/4 mile away). The #1 Bus has the closest transit stop to this entrance (~1 block away, Mass Ave @ Beacon stop).
More details to be added: RSVP below on Eventbrite or on Facebook
After the walk, make sure to attend the BPDA’s Allston Brighton Mobility Study Kick-off Open House (6-8PM, Jackson Mann Gymnasium, 40 Armington St, Allston, MA 02134). The purpose of the study is to identify measures to improve mobility for all modes – transit, bikes, pedestrians, and cars. MBTA and MassDOT staff will also be on hand to explain the Better Bus Study and the Allston Transit Improvement Study for Allston/Brighton and discuss other ongoing initiatives.
For more background on the “Unchoke The Throat” campaign and the Allston I-90 effort at large, see our project page!
On July 25th WalkBoston staff, board, and community members braved a stormy forecast for a Harvard construction walk that started in Cambridge and ended in Allston at a local eatery. During that time, everyone managed to stay dry while learning more about Harvard’s construction endeavors, and a little history along the way—Lowell House Bells, the origins of Weeks Bridge, tunnels under Harvard, and so much more! Thank you to Joe Beggan, Linda Kuczynski, and Ed Leflore for sharing your knowledge along the way with the group.
Make sure to join our mailing list to stay in the loop about future walks, or let us know where we should plan to lead a walk next (especially if you want to speak along the way)!
We’ve been thinking about writing about this issue for a while, but a little bird told us that fleets of dockless scooters were dropped unannounced into a few communities in Metro Boston today – which is why we’re publishing this on a Friday afternoon!
WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. New mobility choices are being introduced every day. Transportation options that are safe and get more people out of single occupancy vehicles can be positive additions to the mobility mix.
Sidewalks should be reserved for people walking or using wheelchairs. If users of micro-mobility devices are on the sidewalk, it is likely that the street is unsafe – and that needs to be fixed. We like how Walk SF framed this discussion: “The greatest threat to pedestrians is, of course, cars and trucks. The potential harm that automobiles can inflict on people is why Walk SF works every single day to make our streets and sidewalks safe – and make Vision Zero a reality.”
Smart phones have made on-demand mobility options easier to access.Cities and towns can most effectively respond by rapidly implementing safety improvements that work, while also looking for win/win opportunities to advance mobility goals:
We look forward to continuing our conversations with municipalities and other stakeholders as they update regulations to respond to a changing mobility landscape. We also look forward to hearing from you about how WalkBoston should be weighing in on this and other issues that impact people walking!
Curbed: Don’t ban scooters. Redesign streets. Cities are regulating mobility startups, but ignoring the real problem—there’s still too much space for cars. (July 13, 2018)
Walk SF: Walk San Francisco Stands Up for sidewalks – our stance on electric scooters (June 27, 2018)
Slate: Give the Curb Your Enthusiasm. Worth billions but given away for free, the curb is arguably the single most misused asset in the American city—and one that, more than any giant investment in apps, sensors, or screens, can determine the future of transportation. (July 19, 2018)
Metro: Self-driving car testing expands in Boston, to 14 other Mass. cities and towns. Officials cleared the way to allow companies to test their autonomous vehicles on more Massachusetts roads. (June 22, 2018)
NACTO: NACTO Releases Guidelines for the Regulation and Management of Shared Active Transportation As shared dockless bikes and scooters proliferate on city streets, guidelines aim to ensure the best outcomes for the public (July 11, 2018)
City of Boston: Autonomous Vehicles: Boston’s Approach (June 22, 2018)
Mass.gov: How to Test Autonomous Vehicles in Massachusetts (June 2018)
The Urbanist: Adaptive Signal System Kicks Pedestrians to the Curb (June 9, 2017)