November: trails update

As we head in to the eating season of Thanksgiving & December….good news:

  Trails--Off Road:  

Monday, Council approved $50,000 in Community Preservation funds to finish design of the Pigeon Hill Trail, one of several in Newton’s famed Lake District—if you only drive through the MassPike/128 interchange you probably missed some of the region’s best scenery—touted by landscape architect Charles Eliot, among others.
 
Hard work by the Riverside Greenway Working Group to raise and leverage multiple sources of funding, take residents on walks of future trails and create a vision of a connected network of hiking and biking trails is paying off.
 
You can help leverage more funds for this work by donating via the Newton Conservators at the website linked above.
 
The Conservators will also accept your donation to the Friends of Cold Spring Park, which with Parks & Recreation has created a plan and raised funds for improvements to the Fitness Trail. About half of the soggy, rocky parts of the trail are scheduled for rehabilitation this spring. You can help! Donate via the web page.
 
To learn more about the ecosystem of Cold Spring Monday, Nov. 25th. Eric Olson and Alan Nogee will be talking about this “Green Oasis in the Heart of Newton” at 7 pm at the Newton Free Library.

And Save the date—I am holding a late afternoon reception and fundraiser for the Friends at my house Sunday, February 9. You are invited! RSVP to me for details.
 
Nearer to Ward 5, the Sudbury Aqueduct south of the T tracks is ready to be permitted. Once that step is started, neighbors will start a second MWRA permit to get permission to build stairs over the Stanley-to-Canterbury Road section, enabling all-season access to the Eliot T stop and the late school buses.
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  ...and on-road:

New lanes this year: Hunnewell Hill in Newton Corner, bike lanes and parking are calming Washington Street east of the MassPike entrance. The length of Nahantan Street in south Newton got striped, 1.1 miles The shoulders on Walnut Street by Newton North High School, which have been striped for some time are now formally bike lanes At Newton South, painting and posts outline a safer route for students on foot or on bikes through the Wheeler lot Braeland Avenue, the street behind Newton Center station, just got a wider lane for pedestrian traffic (the sidewalk is very narrow) as well as a bike lane—calming the entire stretch between Langley and Herrick. In the works for 2020: The Department of Conservation and Recreation is finally ready to unveil its plans for multi-use trails on either side of Hammond Pond Parkway. Look for a public hearing this winter Parker Street is due for repaving, and new paint will mean the city will look for new opportunities to calm traffic and enable safer biking on this heavily-used street.