The Somerville Esplanade

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

I love the bike path, particularly the bit from Davis Square to Cedar Street. I walk from Willow to Davis several times a week on that path, and I love its green, quiet stretch through the bustling city. I have often thought, wouldn't it be great to have a café or a restaurant on the path, someplace with tables out on a patio opening onto the path. It would be the only place in metro Boston where you could have streetside service without having to compete with noise and fumes from cars and buses. It would be, dare I say it, positively Parisian, and I bet people would flock to it.

Well, the Carli Fence property is for sale, a long, thin stretch of land on the north side of the bike path, extending from Willow towards Davis Square almost to the artists' lofts. It's currently an industrial mess, all paved, a long, brick warehouse with its back to the bike path, and lots of chain link fence (after all, it was Carli Fence!) From Google Maps, it looks like the property is T-shaped, with the top of the T along the bike path and the leg of the T ending at Morrison Avenue.

I would love to see this property redeveloped as a cafe or restaurant which opens out onto the bike path, creating a destination on the path. It could have parking on the Morrison Avenue side. The north side of the path is residential, so I suppose there will be noise concerns, but with smart design that could be handled.

What I really don't want to see there is more luxury condos with a parking lot up against the bike path; or the brick back of a minimall. I'd like to see a development that takes the bike path seriously as a way to get around the city, and that celebrates the quiet, green space in the midst of a noisy, crowded city.

Comments

Re: MURP murp murp.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

I'm not really clear on this - why would they call it the Minuteman Bikeway if it is a MURP? Doesn't its official name make it legally a 'Bikeway'?
I don't feel that the Minuteman has been 'promoted' as a bike path. For me, its name tells me that it's a bike path. I understand that it's also a MURP, but wasn't the original reason for building the Minuteman was for it to be a bike superhighway? I guess I'm wondering where it (or who) says that these paths are legally termed as MURPs, and why would that be if they've already name it a Bikeway.
I'd really like to understand this, specifically regarding the Minuteman, because I totally agree with you that there is tension between the 'bike path' users and the 'community path' users.
Also, I think there's a difference between a bike path and a bike lane. I use a bike path as a MURP and follow the rules (share the path, etc) and I use a bike lane as if I were a vehicle (bicycle traffic only). Where does it legally say that a 'bike path' is for bicycle traffic only? Is my understanding of 'bike path' vs. 'bike lane' incorrect?

Re: MURP murp murp.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Well, the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway is called that probably because the bicyclists who worked so hard to get it built wanted to encourage bicyclists to use it to commute, so they used "bike" in the name. But a bikeway is not legally a bike path. The distinction is verbally subtle, but legally vast.

And by "promoting" the Minuteman Bikeway as a bike path, I completely include the misleading name itself. Using the term "bike" at all is confusing in this case, as it makes it sound like bikes are supposed to have the ultimate right of way, but this is not legally true - the reality is that pedestrians have the ultimate right of way.

The legality of these things is determined by a number of different entities, most involving government funding, with others involving legal issues such as access and maintenance. I'm not absolutely sure about the Minuteman, because it was a somewhat pioneering, and unusual type of facility, but the vast majority of non-motorvehicle paths are funded and regulated under recreational (not transportational) departments of the federal, state, and local government, which is why they often suck for serious bicycle travel by their very design (including bicyclists being legally required to stop at all intersections, the path being closed after dusk, and low speed limits).

And you are absolutely right that there is a difference between a bike path and a bike lane. A bike lane is a travel lane in the vehicular roadway that is exclusively for bikes. A bike path is a seperate road unto itself (seperated from other paths and roads by physical barriers like curbs, landscaping, railings, and so on).

It is very confusing, isn't it! Traffic engineers and planners as well as lawyers and legislators all have a language unto themselves...

By the way, all these legal definitions are available in the Massachusetts State Laws (http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90e-1.htm), and also often in professional highway (meaning "roadway", not just "limited access superhighway") design organizations such as AASHTO.