Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee - Jun 18th, 2025

Meeting held via remote participation. Materials were available from https://www.arlingtonma.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/36638/18.

These notes cover a subset of agenda items.

COBWEB Officer Report

(Officer Kelly, Arlington Police Department) Officer Kelly says the police department has a pamphlet they use to promote bicycle safety. He offers to send a copy to the committee for feedback. ABAC has previously endorsed this pamphlet.

Planning Department Updates

(John Alessi, Transportation Planner) Mr. Alessi says the town just finished appraisals for the property that needs to be taken for the Stratton Safe Routes to School program. This will come before the Select Board, to approve the order of taking.

Arlington was awarded a \$1.1M grant for a complete streets redesign of Broadway. 11 firms responded to the RFP for the design work, and the planning department will select four to interview. They hope to finalize consultant selection by the end of July. Town Meeting approved matching funds for the grant.

(Jonah Silberg, ABAC) Mr. Silberg asks what a complete street is.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says it's an approach where roadways are designed for all modes of transportation. The goal is to make Broadway a more of a multi-modal corridor, and to improve the area in conjunction with the multi-family zoning passed for MBTA Communities.

Arlington has a Parking Advisory Committee. We're interested in getting more people involved in the committee, which decides how money is spent with the parking benefits district. Right now, they're looking at improvements around the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington Center.

(Scott Smith, ABAC) Mr. Smith notes that we have two community organizations that are interested in the Broadway corridor: Everywhere Arlington Liveable Streets and the Broadway Neighbors Coalition.

(Anton Rapetov, ABAC) Mr. Rapetov asks about the parking committee.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says the committee hasn't been very active historically, but there's an effort to revive it. Applications can be submitted to the town manager's office.

(Matt De Remer, ABAC) Mr. De Remer asks about the Eversource transmission line replacement, as a portion of their preferred route goes along Broadway.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says the Broadway project is being funded with federal dollars, and will have to follow all of MassDOT's standards. It will probably take multiple years, possibly 3--5. Construction won't start until after Eversource completes their work.

(Matt De Remer) Mr. De Remer asks whether the state or town owns Route 3.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says that Arlington owns the road, even though it's designated as a state road.

There are two new Blue Bikes stations installed in town: one at Mass Ave and the Alewife Brook Parkway, and the other at Mystic and River Streets. Mr. Alessi is still working on where the third station to go. The Stop and Shop on Mass Ave is one possibility.

(Anton Rapetov) Mr. Rapetov asks why the town is the one who determines where the stations are installed.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says the town owns the bikes and the stations. Lyft runs the program and maintains the equipment.

(Anton Rapetov) Mr. Rapetov asks if the town has a set of maintenance requirements for the equipment.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi isn't sure. He has a monthly meeting with Lyft, and can ask.

(Christopher Tonkin, ABAC Chair) Mr. Tonkin says that Arlington is a smaller player in the Blue Bikes system. Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville are the major ones.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says that MassDOT is working on a contract for the Minuteman to Mystic River connector. We'll contract with Stantec for the design work.

The decking on the Minuteman Bridge (near the Alewife T Station) was recently replaced. (Town Engineer) Bill Copethorpe oversaw the project. We ran into some bureaucracy with the MBTA.

(Matt De Remer) Mr. De Remer says he's heard positive feedback about the bridge reconstruction.

(Jack Johnson, ABAC) Mr. Johnson says he's used the new bridge. From his perspective, the project seemed to go smoothly, and was done in less than a week.

(Jonah Silberg) Mr. Silberg asks about the route of the Minuteman to Mystic connector.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says it will run from Mill Street, to Summer St, to the Mystic Valley Parkway, then connect to a path that DCR will construct.

(Anton Rapetov) Mr. Rapetov says it took a very long time to get approval to do the work.

(Christopher Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says he was asked to write a letter of support for a 250th anniversary memorial garden. The garden will be located in the vicinity of Uncle Sam park.

TAC Report

(Scott Smith, TAC Liaison) Mr. Smith says the town is resurfacing several streets this summer: Harlow, Marathon, and Mass Ave between Medford Street and Pond Lane. He doesn't believe this will provide an opportunity to add bike lanes on that section of Mass Ave.

(Christopher Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says that getting sharrows in the right place would be an improvement.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says he'll ask DPW to think about travel lane width.

(Christopher Tonkin) On the subject of painting, Mr. Tonkin notes that the center line on the Minuteman Bikeway needs to be re-done. He suggests painting "Stop" on the path, near intersections, along with fog lines where the edge of the path creates a drop-off.

Courtesy Signs for the Minuteman Bikeway

(Christopher Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says that Lexington installed courtesy signs along their section of the bikeway. ABAC bought several of them and these will go up along the Arlington portion. DPW will do the sign installation.

(John Alessi) Mr. Alessi says that Mr. Johnson provided a map of suggested locations. He'll work with DPW on the installation process.

Bikeway Maintenance

(Christoper Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says he received a letter about the condition of the bikeway -- root heaves and such. He suggests meeting on the bikeway with the Town Manager and DPW, to get a first-hand look at areas that need attention.

Bikeway Block Party

(Christoper Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says that Lexington organized the bikeway block party last year. There was one location in Arlington, but we'll have two locations this year: Whittemore Park and Uncle Sam Park. There may be musicians and art displays at these locations.

Bedford Depot Redevelopment

(Christopher Tonkin) Mr. Tonkin says he received a letter from a contact in Bedford about the redevelopment of the Depot Park.

(Jack Johnson) Mr. Johnson says Bedford is looking for input about how to expand the park. There's a VFW building that's gone defunct, and the town acquired it. They plan to level the building and expand the park. There have been discussions about more trees and better wayfinding. There's some tension between Bedford town officials and the Friends of the Depot Park over how to program the space.