Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Lane

 

A family of cyclists heads east on the Commonwealth Ave. Carriage Lane prior to the Carriage Road improvements.

While we’ve never been able to measure it, the number of drivers using the residential Carriage Road to bypass intersections with street lights significantly decreased with the introduction of the two-way for bicycling, and the many new stop signs; the roadway essentially returned to a “local traffic only” status.  Newton’s Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Culture subsequently planted many additional new varieties of trees along the miles of green berm.  Since COVID, it has become abundantly clear how much this “two way for bicycles” roadway has contributed to the Newton community and how much of a community resource it had become and continues to be.