Better biking in Dorchester

Franklin Park

Information

DotBike is working closely with the Franklin Park Coalition and other neighborhood bike groups to push the Parks Department to make quick, easy and relatively low cost changes that will immediately improve conditions for cyclists in the park.

Website: http://franklinparkcoalition.org
Location: Dorchester & Jamaica Plain, MA
Members: 5
Latest Activity: Aug 1, 2011

Making the Park More Bike Friendly

No Bikes Law is No More

Did you know that unenforced law that prohibited bicycling in Franklin Park was on the books until recently. This rule remained even though there are many paths in the park that are great places for cycling - especially for young learning cyclists, and several cycling events that take place in the park each year.

In 2010 Dot Bike teamed up with the Franklin Park Coalition, JP Bikes, Rozzie Bikes and other neighborhood groups to identify a network of paths in the park that would be appropriate for cyclists to share with other park users. The proposal was accepted the parks department, making cycling on nearly all paved paths legit.

Can you help out?

A task to add pavement markings to indicate pedestrian priority areas remains as part of the agreement to allow biking in the park.

Also, we had a successful volunteer night to remove sand from areas of bike paths that presented hazards to cycling. Have you seen any new sandy areas expanding on bike paths?

We plan to continue working with the Franklin Park Coalition and others to increase the usability and accessibility of Franklin Park for cyclists and all users.

Construction Ongoing

As you may have seen for yourself or gleaned from the emails from Phil and Adam there is construction in progress in Franklin Park. This construction is some of the first steps that resulted from the commitment of the Boston Parks Department to use capital funds to make improvements to some of the many entrances and pathways in Franklin Park. There were two community meetings regarding this project; the first to gather initial community input and the second to present plans and gather more feedback. It is great to see that the work is actually starting.

However, during this work some of the more convenient paths and access points to the park for cyclists may be fenced off and require alternate routes or some 'cross country' forays to get around them. As Adam indicated in his email and I can attest having done so today it is possible to exit or enter at Glen Rd. via a dirt side path and then at Pierpont going across some grass to get around the fence but especially for those on skinny tires you may want to take another route. In addition, the access point at the corner of Blue Hill and American Legion is closed although one can get to circuit drive via another entrance although there is a short 3 step stair and some grass to negotiate.

As Phil and Christine suggest good alternative routes to avoid the Pierpont/Glen Rd. construction would be to either go around the golf course loop and through the arch or through the club house lot to closed Circuit drive and down past Scarborough pont and then out Williams St, past English HS to the SW Corridor and beyond.

If you want to see the areas affected you can download a pdf with some of the slides from the second community meeting here: FranklinParkReconstructionPlan

Christine and the Franklin Park Coalition have requested updates on the construction schedule and have been told that the work is supposed to be completed by late fall. We'll keep you updated if we learn more.