Bicycles in the park
Do you bicycle in Franklin Park? Are you a walker who is worried about being hit by a bicycler? Would you bicycle in the park if you felt safer?
As part of the transportation and park access study we have been asked to consider bicycle use - what deters it? Is it a problem? What can be done to promote and support bicycles? Where can children learn to ride a bike in the park? Do we need designated bike lanes on walking paths and roads?
My own pet peeve is having to carry my bicycle over the low stone walls and granite blocks at entrances when I bike through the park from the Stadium entrance to American Legion Highway (my route to work). I wish the entrances and granite blocks running along the roadways had wider spaces for a bicycle with side baskets to pass through.
I also think we need more bike racks. The only ones are at the Golf Clubhouse (and they're just a year old). I park my bike at the Playstead, at the Zoo, and at the Shattuck picnic area and usually lock it to a sign post, others use the trees for lack of anywhere better. Where would you like to see a bike rack?
Weigh in if you are a park bicyclist or a wannabee bicyclist! We may convene a small working group to look at bike access in the park. Want to be part of the discussion? Post on the blog and send an email to: mail@franklinparkcoalition.org
Franklin Park Coalition
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Reader Comments (6)
Compared to other area bike paths that I frequently ride in Boston and Cambridge, FP paths are blissfully wide. Even when it's crowded, there seems to be room to spread out - not the case at all on most other paths. Separate bike lanes there don't seem necessary. Even though the road is wide, car traffic can be pretty fast along the road. I wouldn't mind a bike lane, but it doesn't seem essential. That said, any sort of signage, whether painted on the road or on a post, would make bikes seem more welcome.
My pet peeve riding through the park is being chased on occasion by an off-leash dog. It can be pretty scary even if the dog is not that big! I wonder if there could be a sign to ask dog walkers to keep their dogs on a leash in high traffic areas where there are a lot of bikes and small children.
I would also add that the path in from the corner of Blue Hill and American Legion Highway was recently graded and graveled, which was wonderful, but they left a deep drainage cut at the end of the path where it joins the ring road, which is difficult for a bike to get across.
As far as mixed-use paths go, there is relatively little traffic now on the ring road, which is one of the main bike routes I take (the south branch, which is used by walkers and bikers). I have also seen very little conflict between bikers and walkers on other paths, as there are so few of either, at least at the times I have biked there (usually morning commute time).
David Duncan
I don't know if there are any paths or roads that need to be closed to bikes, but if there are, they are probably the narrower ones, particularly the paved path along the car road which runners use. And the Park should be closed to off-road or off-path bike use.
Mike Prokosch, Dorchester
From a posting above, a possible issue with increasing spaces between the large stones along paths/roads: would this make it more inviting to enter the path with motorized minibikes/scooters? (they may fit already) Baby carriage is important, too...
Thanks for the forum, and for listening.