Now that the days have become cooler, the nighttime temperatures have started to drop, and the water at Crystal Lake is too cold for even a quick dip, here’s some  unexpected good news to warm you up. This past week Newton took a big step forward on the proposed plan for legalizing two-way bicycling on the Commonwealth Ave Carriage Lane.

You might think, “Isn’t the Carriage Lane already two-way?” Actually, it is not. And you may be one of those cycling eastbound, toward Boston, not realizing that vehicular traffic, including bicycles, is legal westbound only. But that is about to change.

The 5.6 miles of the CR has long been a popular route for cyclists of all ages. Cyclists, runners, dog walkers and pedestrians travel both eastbound and westbound on the CR. Yet, drivers at the crossroads look only in the direction where they expect travelers to be coming from: the east. Not looking to the west endangers everybody and has resulted in more than one eastbound runner or cyclist up on the hood of a traversing automobile.

City councilors of ages past dreamed of making the CR a promenade. In 2016, then Alderman RuthAnne Fuller, a member of Traffic Council, asked at one meeting when the topic came up for discussion, “Is there a way for (contra flow on the Carriage Lane) to become legal? Can appropriate signs be installed informing all users?”

Fast forward to last Spring, when the City commissioned consultants to make formal recommendations for the first phase of this project: striping and signage. Those recommendations will be publicly unveiled at the 2nd Public Discussion, run by Transportation Planning, led by Nicole Freedman, date to be determined. (Check with Transportation Planning’s “Projects” page.) The scope of this first phase is from Lyons Field to Mt. Alvernia Road.

How did all this happen? Pointed attention to the Carriage Road (CR) safety began in 2012, when I walked into Mayor Setti Warren’s office and handed him a 30-page illustrated booklet that my husband Phil and I had created, which included photos of each intersection along the CR, and, from the point of view of a bicyclist, a runner and a pedestrian heading west, what needed to happen for it to be safer for all – including drivers. Some may recall that stop signs used to be located 50 feet east of the intersections, so drivers didn’t have to actually stop at the intersections – and they didn’t. Over time, we managed to get numerous stop signs relocated to be right by the intersection. Then there were those locations where there were no stop signs at all. With no fanfare, we were successful in getting five stop signs approved and installed along the CR itself before the north/south intersections and at least thirteen installed on crossroads before the CR intersections. Sometimes a second sign on the other side of the road was also required.

Each stop sign request had to be docketed and then approved by Traffic Council. Councilor Andreae Downs, an enthusiastic supporter of bicycling and CR safety, was our reliable ally in all this, with initial boost from Councilor Emily Norton. To our delight, drivers were now stopping and looking both ways before they proceeded. The 2019 addition of a bike lane and bike box at the Washington Street crossing was also a part of this effort. Parks and Recreation chipped in by trimming, heavily pruning, and selectively removing  bushes that impeded visibility and walkability, and that maintenance has continued.

In November, 2019, Mayor Fuller took a giant step forward by formalizing the project. She took the initiative and arranged for a meeting between us and the Planning Department, arranging for Phil and me to make a formal presentation to Transportation Planning (TP). While we had initially focused our proposal on making the CR safe in one direction, with the recommendation of DPW’s Transportation engineer Jason Sobel, and the support of Barney Heath and Nicole Freeman, the idea of legal two-way was born. Councilor Downs, then Co-Chair of Public Safety and Transportation, brought this idea for discussion to the Committee in 2019 and 2020; it was co-docketed by numerous city councilors and broadly approved.

This slow but steady progress has resulted in the CR becoming safer for all. Drivers drive more slowly and mindfully of pedestrians. The CR is no longer used as a short cut or way to avoid traffic signals on Comm Ave. Pedestrians and cyclists feel safer just as the Pandemic has dramatically increased their use of the CR, use which is expected to continue. In addition, we successfully petitioned, again with Councilor Downs’ support, for a section of the CR between Bristol and Chestnut to be permanently closed to vehicular traffic but left open to pedestrians, bicyclists and runners only.

You may notice the old cobblestones at some intersections – praised for their aesthetics but decried as a hazard for strollers, joggers, and bike tires – finally being replaced with much safer asphalt. Steps like this make the CR safer for all its constituencies, including people with disabilities, and complement the effort to legalize two-way bicycle traffic on the CR.

Future phases are planned, involving funding more ambitious moves such as changing intersection geometry, adding bike signals to signalized intersections, and much more.

Though it is still too early to celebrate, it’s a great to know that improvements in neighborhood connectivity and safety and are in the pipeline for “the Carriage Road.”

(For more information, go to CommonwealthAveCarriageLane.com)