Boston area - Arlington to Cambridge?

OughtFour wrote:
"Chuck Anderson" wrote in message
. ..

Is anyone familiar enough with Arlington and Cambridge (MA) to suggest a
bike route from Arlington Heights to Harvard Square? The Minuteman Trail
looks like a good start, but it ends at the Alewife subway station. Are
there any good routes from Alewife to Harvard Square?


I take it you don't like Mass. Ave. Here are some alternative routes, all
from Russell Field on the Cambridge side of Alewife.

(Another poster has described how to get to the Cambridge-Somerville Linear
Park that runs from Alewife to Davis Square. The big playing field that you
go clockwise around to get there is Russell Field.)

#1 From Davis Square, continue on Elm St. past the Porter Square Shopping
Center to Mossland. Go right on Mossland and then in quick sucsession left
(Somerville Ave.), Right over a RR bridge (Beacon St.) and then straight
(onto Oxford, Beacon turns left). These are busy intersections but are
controlled by traffic lights. Oxford Street takes you down by the Science
Center.


Okay, I see all that on a Google map.

Note that the Linear Park does not cross Mass Ave. in an easy way, so
proceed with extra caution until you are familiar with it.

#2 Cut across Russell Field to Dudley Street and go straight to Clay St.,
right on Clay, left on Rindge, and right onto Sherman St. Sherman
eventiually becomes Garden St., which comes into Harvard Square from the
north.

That is probably how I would go most of the time.


This also looks like the way I would want to try first.

I got a good suggestion for this route in email from someone that
suggested cutting through the Danehy Park parking lot and then the path
separating it from St. Peters Field to get to Garden Street (he
mentioned that Sherman was narrow and busy there).

#3 Follow #2 above as far as the intersection where Sherman becomes Garden
St. and turn left onto Huron Ave. Cross Concord Ave. and head down a short
hill; at the bottom where Huron elows right turn left down Sparks St. Follow
Sparks across Brattle Street to Mt. Auburn Street and go left on Mt. Auburn,
which will take you to Harvard Square from the west. (I used to go this way
when I commuted down town.)


Again, I can easily see all of this at Google Maps. Thanks.

Replies to an email I sent to Massbike.org have also suggested variants
of #2 and #3.

Someone also suggested taking "a cycling skills class and to get
comfortable riding on Mass Ave.", ... but I still feel like that's
throwing the dice. It's a busy commercial route and someone is bound to
not see you one day and .... @!*(^&Ò¿Ó&#!*


Note that for #1 and #3 one-way streets will mean finding slightly different
ways back. #1 is particularly tricky--you might prefer going back on #2.


To add to all this (and leave a track for future Google searches), here
is a link to a very nice bicycle map I found on the City of Cambridge
web site. http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/et/bike/bike_map.pdf

According to that map, your #3 route has the most sections with a bike lane.

All replies to the this post have been very helpful and very much
appreciated. Thank you very much. It looks like there are a lot of fine
options. I see and understand these routes so well that now I want to
rent/borrow a bike when I go there in late august so I can ride them.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
*****************************

"CA" == Chuck Anderson writes:

CA Someone also suggested taking "a cycling skills class and to get
CA comfortable riding on Mass Ave.", ... but I still feel like that's
CA throwing the dice. It's a busy commercial route and someone is
CA bound to not see you one day and .... @!*(^&Ò¿Ó&#!*

Sure, but IMO she should have the skills; she'll be far, far safer on
ANY of the proposed routes if she does. Many routes that _look_ safer
than Mass Ave really aren't; she needs the skills to gauge the
difference, and to know what to do to protect herself.

That said, I'd choose the route that winds up on Brattle -- it's
really pleasant, shaded, and broad, and has no buses to dodge; it goes
past a number of historic colonial-era houses, including the
Longfellow House, which has a splendid open-to-the-public formal
garden in back, always nice to wander in.

And I bet she could find a bike rack at the Harvard Div. School, which
is right where Brattle becomes one-way coming *out* of Harvard Square.
A much nicer, safer place to lock a bike than right in Harvard Square.

--
Patricia J. Hawkins
Hawkins Internet Applications
www.hawkinsia.com