Jane Hanser speaking to the crowd celebrating the Two-Way Bike Facility on the Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Road (photo: Jack Prior)
On the morning of May 13, bike enthusiasts and City employees and officials gathered for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the Two-Way Bike Facility on the Carriage Road paralleling Commonwealth Avenue. As Jane Hanser noted, this achievement is the result of work started in 2011 to improve bike safety along the Carriage Road and elsewhere in Newton.
Jane Hanser outlined accomplishments by all: overgrown bushes being cut back for visibility, laws being changed to allow eastbound travel on the Carriage Road, stop signs and bike-lane signs installed, fruit trees planted, cobbles removed, crosswalks and bike lanes striped, pavements repaved, Massachusetts Bicycle/Pedestrian priority roadways designated, and funding approved. Along the way, she learned new terms that would come in handy: Complete Streets and Linear Park.
Fueled by coffee, cookies, and bagels, the speakers acknowledged the efforts and collaborations of Jane Hanser, Mayors David Cohen, Setti Warren, and Ruthanne Fuller, the Bicycle Advisory Committee, Ed Olhava of Bike Newton along with founders Lois Levin and Helen Rittenberg, John Pelletier, Commissioner Jim McGonagle, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bob DeRubeis, Andreae Downs, Emily Norton, David Koses, Nina Wang, Director of Transportation Jason Sobel, Planning Department Director Barney Heath, Director of Transportation Planning Nicole Freedman, Jenn Martin, Scott Oran, Councilor Alicia Bowman, Â MassDOT Manager of Highway Safety Programs Bonnie Polin-Pomper, Traffic Engineers Isaac Prizant and Adrian Ayala, Ned Codd, City Forester Marc Welch,…