The mayor’s newsletter today just announced two new projects in the works that will improve the Upper Falls Greenway and surrounding area.
The state’s Massworks program just awarded a $396K grant to the city for the design and engineering for two different projects.
1. At the moment, the Upper Falls Greenway ends at National Lumber. If you continue from there, you go down the very short Easy St and are dumped into one of the busiest intersections in the area – Needham & Winchester St. When the mile-long Upper Falls Greenway park was created a few years ago, we had hoped that it could be continued behind National Lumber and end by the route 9 underpass on Winchester. This would provide a much better and safer route to/from the Highlands. This new grant will fund the design and engineering work for exactly that project.
2. Revamping Pettee Square (aka Chestnut & Oak St). The ‘front door’ of the Greenway is by the Depot Coffee Shop at the corner of Oak and Chestnut St. The other half of the grant is intended for a complete redesign of Pettee Square – with new sidewalks, paving, drainage, landscaping, ADA ramps, traffic lights.
Governor Baker and Lt Governor Polito are coming to Upper Falls on Thursday morning for the official announcement of the projects. The public is welcome to attend at 1234 Chestnut St., at 9:15 a.m, across the street from the Greenway
I hope they bring one of those giant check – I love those 😉
It would be even nicer if the bridge across the Charles to Needham could be renovated, wouldn’t it?
Item #1 details the design + engineering work to continue the path in back of National Lumber.
Has National Lumber already given an easement to the city for the path to run on their property or is an eminent domain on the horizon?
This is fantastic news!
Is it too late for this to be coordinated with the MassDOT work on Winchester & Needham Streets?
Assuming that this work would extend the path out onto Curtis Street, the dream scenario would be a bidirectional cycle track on that same (western) side of the Route 9 underpass and then up the Route 9 onramp to Floral Street (by finally making the Route 9 onramp fully one-way for vehicular traffic).
Newton’s success with the Upper Falls Greenway, and the capture of significant state funds for its continued improvement, ought to bring some measure of shame to the Needham Select Board, which has been happy watching its corresponding segment of the old railroad tracks rust away and become overgrown with weeds, providing zero value to the community for the last 20 years.
@NewtonResident_, the old railroad tracks which preceded the Upper Falls Greenway went all the way through to (and became) the present-day Green Line tracks.
The Newton GIS map – http://gis.newtonma.gov/browser.html – shows that the full width of the old tracks’ ROW is still intact past National Lumber’s parcel, so the current mess at that end of the Greenway is actually encroachment on the railroad right-of-way.
@Michael is mostly correct. The tracks retain the ROW, but National Lumber has a deal with the MBTA to use that land, so it’s not, as far as I understand, encroachment. I believe that the intent of the design is to look for options in terms of using the full width of the ROW that may make it possible for both uses to happen at the same time.
These improvements are a huge deal and part of what’s possible when this city starts to look at how to grow properly. MassWorks grants generally help support transportation and housing to spur economic growth and a city that is standing still can’t make that case.
Continually voting down development makes getting this kind of infrastructure improvement nearly impossible.
@Jerry. This is great news and you deserve a lot of the credit for pushing this project front and center many years back. Confession. I didn’t think the Greenway would be nearly as successful as it has been when the idea first surfaced. I thought it was a goner on two occasions; first, when the rail bridge to Needham over 128 was destroyed, and second, by the demise of the company that was going to recycle for sale the old steel rails in exchange for completing the Greenway.
@Chuck,
The 2013 MAPC report commissioned by Needham and Newton (“Needham/Newton Rail Right-of-Way Transit Concept”) characterized it as encroachment – has something changed recently?
http://www.mapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Needham-Newton-FINAL-Report.pdf
@Bob Burke – there were a lot of people that worked to create the Upper Falls Greenway.
I seem to remember one Bob Burke going door to door, talking to abutters,and explaining the virtues of the project
As an occasional bike rider between home and my office on Needham Street, this would be a game changer. That short stretch from Easy Street onto Winchester is harrowing to this inexperienced rider. If I could avoid that corner, I’d ride to work a lot more often.
Congratulations and thanks to Jerry, Mayor Fuller and everyone else who made this happen!
I’ve been a lurker for a long time on Village 14 but this time I have to speak up. Good for you, Mayor. You’re out there working for Newton — lining up money from the state for Upper Falls if there is a “Yes” vote.
This project is a great start, but more needs to be done. To circumvent the stretch of Winchester Street through the Route 9 underpass to the Centre Street/Walnut Street corner altogether, hell on wheels though I do bike it, there ought to be a path through the DPW lot from the Greenway to Elliot Street (that’s the correct spelling). From there a pedestrian or cyclist could reach the Eliot Street stop (right again- thanks, Bob Burke!) via the pedestrian bridge over Route 9. Or the cyclist could cross Route 9 at Elliot/Woodward for an easy ride to the Highlands village and Green Line stop.
The Elliot/Woodward crossing at Route 9 could also become safer for pedestrians and cyclists with some simple, inexpensive improvements.Then passage from Oak Street to the Highlands would improve immensely for pedestrians and cyclists. If Newton means to go green and healthy, we need better pathways for those on foot and bicycle.
Finally, amen to repairing the railroad bridge into Needham and continuing the Greenway southward. If Somerville, Arlington, Lexington, and Concord have survived the through traffic on the magnificent Minuteman Trail, why not Newton and its neighbors?
…and I plan to attend the ceremony at Pettee Square tomorrow morning. See you there!
@Michael I’m not sure if something had changed or if MAPC mischaracterized the relationship. I just know that when I asked the Newton Planning Department about it I was told that they had some kind of agreement with the MBTA.
Yes, a lot of others worked for years to create the Greenway, such as George Kirby (Newton Bicycle/Pedestrian Task Force) and John Rice.
https://newton.wickedlocal.com/news/20160920/after-delays-newton-celebrates-rail-trail-opening
It’s great to see the Mayor developing this even further to reach its great potential.
… and Jim Lerner
The main obstacles to connecting the greenway to Curtis Street involve the national lumber “encroachment” but also the state’s own power station and access road. This grant could provide the pressure needed for all parties to cooperate
The stretch of Winchester at route 9 will be improved by the Needham street project. Still not great, but with a new set of signals and minimal bike lanes I suspect it will be a much easier and flatter bike route than crossing route 9 at Woodward or Eliot. Woodward has already been made more “pedestrian friendly”. Don’t expect it to get any better.
The timing of this project is good. I hope some momentum from this MassDOT study will lead to more tweaks to the plans for Winchester and beyond. Imagine a bike lane up the route 9 on-ramp and contraflow lane up Floral Street all the way to the Highlands.