Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Lane

Two-way for Bicyclists

Everyone would probably agree that if Newton can lay claim to a gem of a roadway, it’s Commonwealth Avenue. It is bordered by beautiful houses, parks, and City Hall, and it is part of the annual route of many walk-a-thons and, of course, the Boston Marathon. The central strip of grass, shrubs, and trees is inviting to joggers, and since the State-sponsored roadway re-design about a decade ago, the carriageway has become a destination for walkers, parents with baby carriages, and bikers of all ages and skill levels.

Though walking, jogging, and biking in both directions has become a tradition, the street was formerlyu marked as one-way, and there were no signs or markings to indicate this common practice of joggers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. For example, there were no signs before the crossroads to warn southbound drivers to look right (or northbound drivers to look to their left).  The carriageway stopped abruptly before some street crossings and this often forced bicyclists to enter and ride with heavy traffic.

This recently changed, however, as a proposal to legalize two-way bicycle travel on sections of the carriageway had the support of the Public Safety and Transportation committee, the Planning Department, and Mayor Fuller. The proposed changes came about through several years of advocacy work from local citizens Jane – Steering Committee member – and Phil Hanser. In 2012, Jane and Phil Hanser also set out to document many of the safety problems of the Carriage Lane and propose solutions of their own, many of which have been realized. For example, many roads crossing the carriageway formerly had no stop signs or signals and now all do. Over the years the Hansers had numerous successes, and all today benefit from those simple and inexpensive improvements. BikeNewton was a proud sponsor of the ribbon-cutting celebratory event.(Click HERE to read about it.)

Read more on their blog: CommonwealthAveCarriageLane.com.

The initial changes under this proposal to legalize two-way bicycle travel on sections were inexpensive, and have been amply tested in many cities in Europe and the U.S. and shown to increase bicyclist and pedestrian safety. With a minimum of effort and expense, we have helped Commonwealth Avenue achieve in safety what it already achieved in aesthetics, while also significantly improving the aesthetics.

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.