The Minuteman Bikeway, also known as the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, is a 10-mile (16-kilometre) paved multi-use

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

located in the

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

area of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It runs from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Alewife station Alewife station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line (part of the MBTA s ...

, at the northern end of the Red Line in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, passing through the towns of Lexington and Arlington along the way. Also along the route are several notable regional sites, including Alewife Brook Reservation, the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum, Spy Pond, " Arlington’s Great Meadows" (actually located in Lexington), the Battle Green in Lexington, and Hanscom Air Force Base. At its Cambridge terminus, the bikeway connects with four other bike paths: *the Fitchburg Cutoff Path going west *the Alewife Linear Park which, in turn, leads east to the

Somerville Community Path The Somerville Community Path is a paved rail trail in Somerville, Massachusetts, running from the Alewife Linear Park at the Cambridge/Somerville border to East Cambridge via Davis Square. The first portion opened in 1985 along part of the form ...

. *the Alewife Brook Greenway going northwest, a connection to the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal ...

bike path following Alewife Brook. The Alewife Brook extension received $4M from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

as the "Minuteman Bikepath Connector" project. * a sidewalk path going south to Fresh Pond Reservation and the Watertown Cambridge Greenway The Somerville Community Path was extended to downtown

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the summer of 2023, creating a much larger continuous bikeway accessible from the Minuteman. At the Bedford end, the Minuteman Bikeway connects with the Narrow Gauge Rail Trail and the Reformatory Branch Rail Trail.

History

The path comprising the current Minuteman Bikeway has a long history. The trail closely approximates the route that

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

took on his famous ride in 1775, which heralded the beginning of the American Revolution. Along the way to becoming a railroad, the path's right-of-way (ROW) was laid out east of Lexington in 1846 by the

Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad The Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad was a railroad company chartered in 1845 and opened in 1846 that operated in eastern Massachusetts. It and its successors provided passenger service until 1977 and freight service until 1980 or early 1981 ...

and west of Lexington in 1873 by the Middlesex Central Railroad. Part of the original track can be seen in Arlington, near Uncle Sam Plaza in front of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum. Railbanking of the line was first proposed in 1974, three years before passenger rail service was discontinued, and a full seven years before rail service was discontinued altogether (in 1981). In 1991, the final plan for the conversion was approved, and construction started on the original section of the bikeway. The Arlington–Lexington section of the path was dedicated in September 1992; the Lexington–Bedford segment was delayed by water main construction and opened in May 1993. In 1998, the bikeway was extended a short distance from East Arlington to

in Cambridge. In 2002, it was repaved in Arlington and in 2004, the Bedford Depot Park Enhancement Project was completed at its western terminus.Viser, Matt (2007), "Rage on the bikeway", The Boston Globe, Volume 272, Number 1, 2007-07-01, p.A1. In 2008, the bikeway was the fifth inductee into the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. The property is currently owned by the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

and leased to the municipalities through which it passes on an interim basis as the ROW is railbanked. The MBTA at one point planned to use this ROW to extend the Red Line to Arlington Center and Arlington Heights. The crossing of the path through Arlington Center was rebuilt in 2017 to be less discontinuous.

Uses

Area residents use the bikeway for a host of activities, including

bicycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...

, walking,

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

, and

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

. The main use of the path, however, is for casual biking. In the winter there is often enough snow on the bikeway for

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

. However, it is now plowed from Alewife Station to Bedford. No motorized vehicles are allowed except for powered

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

s and emergency vehicles.

Future possibilities

New connections under contemplation include one from Lexington to the Battle Road Trail and one to the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

bike path via Fresh Pond Reservation and the abandoned

Watertown Branch Railroad The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown and the City of Waltham, Massachusetts, Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County ...

. The Watertown Cambridge Greenway was completed in 2022. In April 2014, state officials announced that the Somerville Community Path would be extended alongside the

Green Line Extension The Green Line Extension (GLX) was a construction project to extend the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line (MBTA), Green Line light rail system northwest into Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville and Medford, Massac ...

, creating a continuous 4.5 mile route from the Minuteman Bikeway to Boston’s

Charles River Bike Path The Charles River Bike Path is a mixed-use path in the Boston, Massachusetts area. A portion of the trail is named after the cardiologist Paul Dudley White, a prominent advocate of preventive medicine. His research led him to proclaim frequently ...

. Officials had contemplated abandoning the path portion of the GLX in order to save costs, but after hiring new management, a contractor agreed to the parallel path while still cutting costs. The extension was completed in the summer of 2023.

Gallery of views along the bikeway

File:Bedford Depot Park.jpg, Bedford Depot Park, with B&M RDC File:Minuteman Bikeway in Bedford, August 2007.jpg, In Bedford, near Wiggins Avenue File:Minuteman Bikeway at the Lexington Depot, MA.jpg, Lexington Depot File:Spy pond arlington massachusetts 050322.jpg, Spy Pond, Arlington File:Minuteman Bikeway Lake Street Intersection (1).jpg, At Lake Street Intersection, Arlington File:Uncle Sam Plaza 20210213.jpg, At Uncle Sam Plaza File:Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum, Arlington MA.jpg, Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum, Arlington MA File:Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington Center (Massachusetts).jpg, At Arlington Center File:Minuteman Bikeway, Cambridge.jpg, In Cambridge, near

and the junction with the Fitchburg Cutoff Path File:AlewifeBikeParking.agr.2001.JPG, Bike parking at Alewife station File:Trail connector along Alewife Station Access Road, February 2010.jpg, Connector to Cambridge Linear Park

References

External links