Links
Other Communities Plow. Why Not Arlington?
For an example of a successful and popular trail maintenance policy, simply look to Cambridge and Somerville. Both communities provide year round access to their sections of the Minuteman Trail. Cambridge also maintains the path around Fresh Pond and Boston's DCR administered paths are cleared all year as well. For more information about local paths in general and extension of the Minuteman Trail to Boston in particular, check out the website of the Friends of the Community Path.
MassBike, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, has dedicated a page on its website to up to date status reports on multi-use paths around the state. For current conditions on the path near you, click here.
The group Local Motion in Burlington, Vermont is lobbying the city to plow it's section of the popular Island Line Rail Trail. View details of their progress at www.localmotion.org
For an example of a successful and popular public policy, you need look no further than Northampton, Massachusetts. The city decided to begin plowing the Ryan Bikeway, aka the City of Northampton Bikeway, over the winter of 2003-4. According to advocate and trail guru Craig Della Penna, "The city has realized that not plowing the trail and allowing it to remain snow covered for limited user groups such as cross-country skiers is unwise public policy." Details in PDF format here.
Do you know of other trails that are maintained year round? Email us.
