trackhub

The Friends of Forester will love this article. Note: The Boston Globe typically does not leave stuff posted on-line for very long, so read fast.

The link to the article

This does indeed highlight some of the problems, but basically it boils down to lack of common sense, civil decency, and courtesy. The same reasons people get into fistfights over parking spaces, or who has too many items in the Fast-checkout line at the grocery store.

When I use the Minuteman, it's very early on weekday mornings, and I never have any of the problems mentioned in the article.

8bit

The Minuteman is a minefield on weekends. People bring out very small children and don't expect that they'll have to abide by good traffic behavior "because it's a bikepath". After having too many close calls and runs into the ditch thanks to the 'little miracles' and their handlers, I'll stick to Mass. Ave. from now on. Also, why do I see idiots every time with unleashed dogs on the bikepath?

JohnBrooking

Doesn't sound like a good route to make time on.

JeffB502

Sounds familiar, heh.

Then they go on to say:

Seems like they should work out the problems they have on the path before connecting to other paths, which would only increase traffic and the amount of problems. Widening the path and marking lanes should be their first priority.

Maybe the police department could start patrolling on bicycles? Is the 15mph speed limit a law or just a suggestion somebody thought they would put on a sign that looked official?

CB HI

Why would you make this statement?

pityr

Full article:

[quote BostonGlobe]
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | July 1, 2007

LEXINGTON-- Frank Corsino walks nimbly, a cane in his left hand, a transistor radio in his right. He wears a driving cap and a wide grin, and for years along the peaceful, tree-lined Minuteman Bikeway, the 84-year-old man found solace after his wife and former walking partner died.


But these days it is a different story. Instead of the spirit-restoring stroll he used to enjoy, he finds himself going into combat mode, dodging torrents of joggers, cyclists, stroller-pushers, dog-walkers, and roller bladers who have flocked to the 11-mile trail in mind-boggling numbers.

Community leaders who oversee the trail say its popularity is higher now than in any of the 14 years it's been open, and the Washington-based Rails-to-Trails Conservancy estimates that there are 2 million annual users, making it the second-busiest trail of its kind in the country.

But as thousands each day compete for space on the trail's 12-foot-wide strip of asphalt, passing through meadows, suburban town centers, and manicured backyards, confrontations have become increasingly common. Police have been called out so often to resolve angry, and sometimes bizarre, disputes that they have coined a new term.

"We have road rage," said Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan. "And now we have bikeway rage."
In a 3-mile stretch in Arlington , police have filed 18 reports over the past year -- more than the previous two years combined -- that have ranged from bike-on-bike accidents to a woman who received unwanted sexual advances one afternoon while push ing her baby daughter in a stroller. Some men have been spotted running naked, others urinating in the bushes.

In one instance several years ago, a bicyclist kicked a Jack Russell terrier and yelled at the dog's owner, "Get the [expletive] over to the right!" as he passed by. Police tracked down the bicyclist and, after he apologized to the dog owner, did not press charges.

"It's a good thing that it's used so much," said David Watson, executive director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. "But in some ways I guess you can call it a victim of its own success."

The Minuteman Bikeway -- running from the western edge of Cambridge and through Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford -- was completed in 1993 as part of a rails-to-trails movement that has been converting inactive railroad corridors into leafy recreational paths. There are 28 such trails in Massachusetts, but people flock to the Minuteman because it is one of the few in the Boston area.

There are cyclists in full-body spandex suits, aerodynamic helmets, and titanium bikes that go fast enough to leave roadkill in their wake. There are roller bladers, swaying back and forth to music playing on headphones. There are dog-walkers, stroller-pushers, and frequent choruses of "On your left!" screamed by cyclists as they whiz by pedestrians.


There's a woman who walks a pet llama on a leash. A man used to ride his bike with a live parrot on his shoulder. Snapping turtles have been known to slow traffic to a standstill.

On weekdays, some subway commuters take the trail to Alewife Station in Cambridge. Pedestrians can be seen reading books as they walk, and a few cyclists chat on cellphones, one hand on the phone and another gripping the handlebars. On weekends, recreational users and families pour in from the suburbs, packing the parking lots near the path.

"My favorite part," said 6-year-old Jessica Poulin last week, "is stopping for ice cream."

Others were less sunny.

"The roller bladers are too wide," said Rachel Shanley, a biker, referring to the weaving stride of inline skaters. "They take up the whole path."
Message Board YOUR VIEW: Your experience on the path?
MORE INFO: The Minuteman Bikeway's official website
Globe graphics:
Pop-up One hour on the trail
Pop-up Minuteman timeline
From Explore New England:
Photo Gallery 15 great bike tours from Cape Ann to Newport
Cape Cod trail kicks into high gear Photo Gallery Photos

Similarly, inline skaters complain: "The bikers have this supremacy about them," said Peter Roy as he slid on a pair of roller blades. "They're pushing 30-35 miles per hour. They hit us, we're toast."

Other popular rail trails, such as the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Virginia, have posted speed limits of 15 miles per hour and several dozen volunteers along the trail hand out warnings to speedsters. Newer trails are often wider than the Minuteman, and have separate lanes for walkers and joggers.

Construction to revamp the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail was completed last month , adding amenities and traffic-easing measures including a bicycle round about, seating area, and information kiosks where several trails converge. That trail is now cited as a model trail in Massachusetts, though it has fewer users.

The Minuteman trail, which sits on a former MBTA railbed and roughly follows part of the route where Paul Revere rode in 1775 to alert the countryside of the imminent British invasion, is maintained by volunteer committees in each of the four communities the trail passes through. Police departments respond to reports along the path by sending armed officers out on mountain bikes.

The committees say they don't have the money to widen the path, create new traffic lanes, or monitor the speed and behavior of the people who use it. Plans are afoot to repave the Lexington section of the path, and officials are considering posting more signs to encourage users to slow down and be more courteous of others. About two years ago, blue and white signs went up saying, "Keep Right, Share the Path," though some of those were stolen, and others tagged with graffiti.

The committees also have stuck to a philosophy of ensuring the Minuteman is accessible to all; they'd rather it be crowded than exclusionary, officials say. They have only one hard-and-fast rule, that there can be no motorized vehicles, unless it's a wheelchair.

"Basically, stay to the right and be happy," said Jack Johnson, chairman of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee. "If you don't like it, go find another path. It wasn't designed for one person or one type of person. It was designed as a multi use system."

Though there are no plans for widening or other improvements to the trail, local officials are hoping to make the Minuteman longer. Lexington residents recently approved funding for a $125,000 master plan to create a 2-mile connector between the Minuteman Bikeway and the Battle Road Trail. Local officials also hope to one day connect the Minuteman to other paths, such as the Central Mass. Rail Trail and the trails along the Charles and Mystic rivers.

Corsino has been trimming the weeds outside his house, which abuts the trail, to encourage people to walk on the grass, out of the way of fast-moving bikers and roller bladers. He said he's seen so many spills that he carries a fistful of bandages in his pocket for first aid.

He has had his share of encounters, too. He recalls one day when a troop of Boy Scouts on bicycles came barreling by and he was hit by one.

"I went flying," he said. "The boy who hit me fell off the bike, his helmet went flying. He was just spread-eagle out there."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com

[/quote]

Cyclaholic

Sounds like lots of congestion at peak times, just like you'll find on any road, but unlike the roads nobody is killing anyone else in the process.

Daily Commute

There's a nice bike path I can take too and from work. It increases the commute time from 20-25 minutes to 30-35 minutes, so I don't take it every day, and I avoid it on nice afternoons because it's filled with too many idiots. Not too many people. Too many idiots--people who don't know how to deal with traffic. I'm a foul-weather bike path rider.

Too many peds on bike paths think they're on a sidewalk. They don't realize that they're basically walking on a road. Instead of maintaining a straight line to and remaining aware of their surroundings, they meander to and fro and where MP3 players. Sometimes they are especially careless with their kids.

On the other and, too many cyclists fail to understand that the overtaking vehicle has the duty to pass only when it's safe. My fellow cyclists rarely signal their approach. One day when I didn't feel well and was riding really slowly, I was passed dozens of times, and only had one fellow cyclist signal a pass.

And I agree with Cyclaholic, they shouldn't improve access to the path until they deal with the congestion that's already there.

baiskeli

Ironically, I use the bike path all the time (I used to use it to get to work and also on easy days) and I have rarely had a problem. I ride my road bike and rarely go over 18MPH and usually move into the other lane if I need to pass and give plenty of warning and room. There are pedestrians, joggers, roller-bladers, other cyclists etc and most of the time they get along fine (its about compromise and cooperation)

However, a couple of days ago my wife and I were riding on it and saw a bunch of pedestrians on the other side taking up the whole left lane (which is fine, its not like they were taking the whole path) and some 'serious' looking biker dude came flying from behind them and yelled 'MOVE!' very loudly and rudely. Now, all he had to do was cross the middle line (and also to be honest, if you are flying at 25+MPH on the bike path during its busiest time you need to get on the damn road. I am a roadie and I can't stand roadies who use the bike path as their own personal space to do interval training (its the same way I feel about drivers who feel that they own the road).

Dahon.Steve

The West Side Bike Path in New York City is exactly the same. There's no way you're going to do 18 mph for any length of time on that path. It's more like a 10-12 mph path and when groups of people are walking, the pace can slow to 5 mph!

This summer, someone was placing tacks on the pathway causing cyclist to get flats. That was road rage on a bike path. The person was never found.

trackhub

I haven't seen (or experienced) any thumbtacks, but I have noticed a fair number of smashed bottled on various MUPS around the Boston area this year. As you ride along the MUPS, you always see the various Bud bottles and Heineken bottles in the bushes by side of the trail. But this season, there a lot of smashed bottles right in the middle of the MUPS, suggesting the bottles were smashed right there on purpose.

remsav

+1 , I had 7 flats in 7 days in one route, 99.999% sure it was broken bottles in the underpass ... I noticed the parks rec guys finally came out and broomed it... no more flats. My guess would be guys who drink while playing frisbee/golf in that area that are doing it.

wabbit

same old story,....they call it a bikeway and it ends up being used for everything but...and the people actually ON the bikes are seen as Panzer tanks, bent on death. But the cyclists are the only ones who actually seem to look where they're going. Essentially, on weekends i just avoid the path as much as possible.

slagjumper

Cyclists and Peds have a lot in common. Rather than battle it out between each other, we should work together to make more and improve bike/ped ways. The overwhelming popularity of the Minuteman trail demonstrates the success and benefits of having these trails. Why don't more cities support these efforts?

The problems that arise from the trails existence are nothing in comparison to not having the trail at all. Some might call these "good problems".
There will always be narcissistic idiots who only care about the things that they value and will do almost anything, be it aggressive or passive aggressive, to play out their mixed up and a-social reality. But there seems like there is a real load issue here. Not only do you get pets, kids, a variety of cyclists, skaters and crazies but you get a lot of them. And you must have many passing events, each one a potential for an accident. If this where a congested road, they'd start to widen and expand it.

baiskeli

You know, I never thought about this but I've noticed a lot of smashed bottles on the Minuteman trail (meaning at least 2-3 per ride end to end). Last year I noticed none.

Hoz

Same thing happening here on the Monon Trail. Peds complaining bicyclists are rude, unsafe and hazardous to their health. All the while they are walking two to 4 abreast.

They even complain about the simple "on your left" most cyclists call out as a warning.

Roughstuff

I always share this bike path conundrum.

When I was in Belchertown, Mass., some landowners opposed a bike path because 'it would be used by drug dealers.'

When I was in Colombia on my world tour, some drug cartels opposed bike paths because they feared 'it would be used by the police.'

roughstuff

Blue Jays

Serious cyclists belong on the road. Bikepaths are incredibly dangerous for people on bicycles. Bikepaths should only be used by walkers, runners, dogwalkers, and rollerbladers.

EnigManiac

Seems odd to me that folks who walk or rollerblade are complaining about bikes on something called a BIKEWAY.

Cars have highways and expressways, pedestrians have sidewalks and we have bike lanes (aka bike paths / bikeways). Would the pedestrians and rollerbladers walk in a bike lane and then object to bikes in the bike lane? The logical solution is to tell these folks that they are on a bike path and should not only respect bicycle traffic, but yield to it as well. Or maybe stay off it.

Denny Koll

You stay on the road if you want to but don't put everyone else in the same boat as you. Should cyclists give up their rights to tax supported facilities such as this? If you want to...fine...but don't speak for anyone else but yourself. If MUP users would simply follow the rules....stay to the right(what's so hard about that?) eveyone could use the trails.

invisiblehand

Guess it depends on whether a path is "designed" to be a bikepath or a MUP.

The quotes signify that few recreational facilities are actually designed with much thought as opposed to laying out a path and decreeing it a {fill in the blank}.

-G

EnigManiac

Maybe they shouldn't call them bikepaths then, hmmm?

Not everyone is a 'serious' cyclist. Some are slowly, gradually working toward being 'serious' cyclists, others are content to be part-time, recreational cyclists. And it's reasonable to expect that someone who is learning their skills or chooses a pleasant BIKEPATH for a leisurely ride could actually use something called a bikepath.

Roughstuff

HUH? Am i reading correctly? Let me snip and snap as I have done before, and put the foo on the other shoot:

Would the cyclists ride in a car lane and then object to cars in the car lane? The logical solution is to tell these folks that they are on a roadyway and should not only respect automobile traffic, but yield to it as well. Or maybe stay off it.

"Lets's you and him support mutiple use facilities. As for me, get out of the way!"

roughstuff

genec

I have never seen a bike path that wasn't ever used by peds.

Roughstuff

Or geese. Goose poop is everywhere on the Ashwilticook trail in the berkshires, and it makes a goosey strip up your back if you don't have a fender or a solid rack above your rear wheel!

roughstuff