Bicycle Friendly Communities

Arlington, MA | Bronze Level

Recent bicycling investment: The transformation of a major roadway from a motor transportation corridor to one of Arlington's "Complete Streets" is underway. The project will include resurfacing the road and adding bike lanes, rebuilding sidewalks, and replacing outdated traffic signals. These improvements will make the corridor service a healthy balance between automobiles, bikes, pedestrians, and transit users. A second project, funded through a Clean Air/Mobility Program grant, will address the "break" in the Minuteman Bikeway, which prevents a continuous flow of cycle movement from the Bikeway to its continuation on the far side of a busy town intersection.

Bicycling highlights: In recent years, Town government officials have taken more concrete steps to support cycling infrastructure and policy initiatives, including adding more bike lanes and approving new bike paths/trails in Arlington. Arlington also hosts the widely popular Minuteman Bikeway, which the town celebrates and maintains (including snowplowing in winter), and the new Alewife Greenway trail is nearly completed and will open this spring. This new trail will connect to Minuteman Bikeway, Mystic River paths, and Alewife Station.
The Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee (ABAC) is one of the more active and effective bike committees in the state of Massachusetts. ABAC is involved with broad outreach to both town officials and the community at large to raise awareness of cycling issues, to propose better-biking solutions to those issues, and to encourage more participation. A committee member has attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., for the past dozen years and has shared inspirations, new ideas, and project issues with the local Bike Committee.
Recent counts indicate that Arlington has higher-than-average bicycling rates both on the popular Minuteman Bikeway and on its main streets. The Town has increased user counts in recent years  to quantify bicycling rates and to promote more and better cycling accommodation in current/future roadway plans. As a success story, the Minuteman Bikeway connects to the busy Alewife MBTA transit station at its eastbound terminus near the Arlington border, where several hundred bikes are parked/locked each day. Secure bike parking is free, while it costs $7/day to park a car in the station's garage, making bicycling a more economical and sustainable option for commuters into Cambridge, Boston, and beyond.

Percentage of arterial streets with dedicated bicycle facilities: 65%

Bicycling education in 50% elementary schools and 100% middle schools

Signature cycling events: BIKE-Arlington Tour: annual bike tour of town, held during Bike Week, organized by the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee with assistance from the Arlington Police Dept. ABAC Winter Social: Arlington's annual bicycling social, held in winter (usually February), with brief presentations on local cycling issues. Quad Cycles Club Rides: weekly group rides on weekends from local bike shop in Arlington, held on Saturdays and Sundays.

Some coming bicycling improvements: The State's Dept of Conservation/Recreation is developing a commuter and natural bike path which will occupy the Town's eastern border on State-owned land. The three Minuteman Bikeway communities have received a Recreational Trails Grant to develop a Bikeway Brochure and a design plan for way-finding and amenities along the Bikeway. An annual family-focused Bike-Arlington Tour is scheduled for the spring; as is also a spring cleanup, aided by local volunteers.