Members of the Belmont Bikeway Planning Committee have continued to be involved with efforts to promote bicycle accommodation within the Town.
In May, several members of the Committee joined other Belmont residents at a public hearing held by the Mass Highway Department in Somerville concerning the bike path from Belmont at Brighton Avenue through Alewife to beyond Davis Square in Somerville. The construction is projected to move forward when right of way issues are resolved.
In July, a transportation bond bill passed the Massachusetts Legislature, with the support of Senator Steven Tolman and Representative Anne Paulsen, providing for $500,000 for the completion of the bike path from Belmont to Alewife Station in Cambridge. The Committee continues to hope that the Governor will release the funds for the project.
In September the Committee hosted an information table at the Belmont Environmental Fair. People demonstrated a great deal of interest in the plans developed by the Committee to fulfill its original charge: a bike/community path through the Town from Boston and Cambridge to Berlin and Northampton.
An important component of the bike/community path advanced by the Committee is the construction of a pedestrian underpass underneath the railroad tracks at Alexander Avenue. This concept has been discussed within the Town for over 20 years as a means to enhance safety and provide access to and from the High School and Winn Brook areas. Local interest in this idea was reactivated in 2004 by plans by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to construct a water main at the same location. The MWRA, however, was reluctant to add the underpass to its project due to the added cost. The project, which would be part of a major upgrade of the MWRA’s water delivery system in Belmont and eight surrounding communities, has been put on hold and may be rerouted because of the resulting destruction to trees and disruptions
within the Town.
Members of the Committee have attended several meetings of the Belmont Walks/Bikes group, which is trying to promote safe walking and biking in Belmont.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Livermore, Co-Chairman
Don Becker, Co-Chairman
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