Originally Posted by Marc40a

Hi All,

Having moved to the North shore 3+ years ago, I'm a bit out of touch regarding the current state of of the metro bike paths and their connectivity.

Is there currently any way to get from North Station to the Charles River bike path (preferably the Cambridge side but either is fine) via bike path only? I ask because my wife has limited bike experience and urban street riding is probably too daunting at this point.

I know there's some proposed paths in the works but it does appear that there might be a way via the Charleston locks? Is that correct? If so, what about the near the Museum of Science - could one conceivably go from Charlestown to the bike path there without using the roadway?

Thank you,
Marc

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…I had promised myself as I did last year, that I would not take the participants out onto the streets of Boston, since I live downtown. A well-used urban bike path with nice city views follows the Charles River and would IMO be a fine, safe, and pleasant introduction to Boston. Recently though, this post suggested a short, interesting detour from the MUP.

…As mentioned, Dick had come with a low-riding recumbent trike, from Fairborn, Ohio, small, probably rural town I imagined, and now at the end of the Path we were facing the busy mean streets of downtown Boston at rush hour. I myself had never ridden most of that on-street route to the Navy Yard, but I knew we could take sidewalks, Dick, as he was during the entire weekend, said “Fine, you lead the way.”

So we made our way, mostly on crowded sidewalks with some hazardous street crossings. Eventually I had to give up and go onto the \streets. Dick had no problems with street riding, and actually seemed to prefer it. Later he said it’s really no problem, and has cycled streets around the world such as Munich and London, so I realized. “What’s Boston?”

Originally Posted by sherbornpeddler

...I don't recall riding the Alford St. Bridge but do ride North Washington St across the Charlestown Bridge. The bridge is a little dicey with the metal surface, high curbs and slippery sidewalks. You can walk across the Charles River Dam just west of the bridge. Once across the bridge, jog east a block and take Main St. to go north to Alford St.

There is talk about adding bike paths to cross the river with the train tracks out of North Station but for now there is the beautiful crossing under the Zakim on the north side connecting to Paul Revere Park.