I came across this handsome flock along the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway in Watertown during a 22-mile bike ride this afternoon.
Tag: Watertown
Not visible by car: Near Watertown Square along the Charle River bike paths. Photo (cc) 2022 by Dan Kennedy.
Has any urban area in Greater Boston been harmed more by our cultural addiction to cars than Watertown Square?
I come through the square semi-regularly by bike; sometimes I turn around in the square, sometimes I keep going to Waltham. Today I drove because we needed an oil change and our garage is there. Not only is the volume of cars and other motor vehicles nightmarish, but the traffic pattern is insane, and the lovely architecture you see in older homes and other buildings is all but obliterated.
Sure, there are plenty of other places where car culture has had a harmful effect. I live in Medford, and the constant crush of traffic is a real obstacle to efforts to revitalize Medford Square. But I can’t think of any place that’s worse than Watertown.
We need a different way of thinking about cars, both for the environment and for our sanity. I’d start with fleets of electric buses and widespread bans on private passenger vehicles.
Twenty-three-mile ride along the Charles out to Waltham and back. On the way home, I ran into about two dozen bikers from the Appalachian Mountain Club. I’m a member, so I’m going to have to check out their events. Anyway, I rode with them to Alewife Station before splitting off to head back. Great people, plus they showed me the best connection between the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway and the river.
AMC riders near Fresh Pond
On Saturday I rode my bike from Soldiers Field Road, across from WBZ-TV, to the end of the Charles River trail in Waltham center. I hadn’t previously made it past Bridge Street in Watertown, so I had no idea that, as you keep traveling west, you’re largely in the woods, riding on dirt paths and elevated wooden sections. It was hot — low 90s by the time I got back — but mostly shaded and not that humid. I did a 15-mile loop; next time, I’ll try riding from home, which might bring it up as far as 25 miles.
Looking south from the Eliot Bridge. Nineteen-plus miles along the Minuteman, Alewife and Charles River bike paths to Watertown Square and back. It was a beautiful day for a ride.
Click on image for a larger view
Here’s a good story idea: the Watertown Tab & Press wanted to publish the names of the town’s top 10 parking scofflaws. Town officials, you will not be surprised to learn, declined to turn over the information in its entirety. Now the state has ordered the town to cough up.