Photos: New Bike Path From Belmont to Alewife Opens

What a view. All bike path photos provided by State Senator William Brownsberger

The long awaited bike path from Belmont to Alewife finally opened, and no one is more excited than State Senator William Brownsberger. He bikes everyday from his home in Belmont to the State House for work, and the new path makes for a safer and more beautiful ride. Brownsberger is no biking rookie, either. Easily the most fit politician in the Commmonwealth, he completed two Ironman Triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and 26.2 mile marathon) and he’s also biked across the country—3500 miles—which took 41 days.

Brownsberger notes on his blog that the overall project is still in its final phase of construction, with the connections to Cambridge Park Drive (which he says was previously open as a detour) and into the marsh is currently closed. But, he says, you can cycle straight down from Belmont to Alewife now. The final segment includes a new bike/pedestrian bridge across the Alewife Brook (see below).

Brownsberger says that the project had two major components: First, building the actual bikepath, which most of the work was completed a couple of years ago, but, he says, “a major segment was closed pending construction of a drainage swale to accommodate storm water surges because of Cambridge’s separation of its storm and sewer systems.” Brownsberger says on his blog that the project has huge local benefits, including reducing the frequency of sewage overflows into the Alewife.

The entire route should be open later in the fall and there will also be an opening ceremony. “My predecessor in the state legislature, Anne Paulsen, deserves enormous credit for initially pushing to create a bike path from Belmont to Alewife and the City of Cambridge deserves enormous credit for moving forward with such a lovely restoration project,” Brownsberger says on his blog. “My role in the project was to bird-dog funding and land acquisitions to finally get the bike path moving.”