Everett's Bike Boom: A Path to a Cycler's Utopia

Boston Bike Blog visited a fantastic transportation event in Everett on Saturday, June 8. Billed as the “What Moves Everett Transportation Fair,” it occurred at 7 Acre Park at the Northern Strand trail from 11 am to 3 pm. The event was organized jointly by the Green Streets Initiative and the City of Everett Transportation and Mobility Department. There was a lot of fun packed into those four hours, including music, free food from local food trucks, a raffle for bike gear, information booths, a kiddie bike parade, arts and crafts for families, and more.

A beautiful day for a transportation fair at 7 Acre Park.

From Left: Eric Molinari (Everett Transportation Planner and fellow Bos/treal rider), Vivian Ortiz (Boston's Bike Mayor and Safe Routes to School Activist), Jackie Gong (Bos/treal rider), Jacob (Jackie's friend), Amy Shen (Bos/treal rider).

The bike ride from downtown Boston to Everett is, for the most part, great fun—over the Longfellow Bridge, north along the Charles, then along Main Street in Charlestown. However, once you reach Sullivan Square, you are taking your life in your hands. There are faint traces of a faded bike lane along the Alford Bridge as cars speed by at 50 mph, and only the most confident and daring bikers should attempt it. But eventually, you come to a crosswalk that brings you into the grounds of the Encore casino, with its fancy esplanade on the Mystic River that connects to the Northern Strand. This connection was just completed a couple of months ago and is a nice gateway into the City of Everett, which is gradually transforming itself into a biker’s and walker’s paradise.

For those who haven’t been lucky enough to explore the Northern Strand—it’s a 10-mile, completely traffic-free, and nicely paved bike path from the Mystic River to Lynn Beach. I discovered the path during various training rides in preparation for the Bos/Treal ride, and I urge you to explore it this summer.

The beginning of the spectacular Northern Strand.

At the transportation event, I was primarily interested in learning more about what’s happening with the bike infrastructure in Everett. Luckily, I arrived just in the nick of time to join a bike tour of the Northern Strand with Eric Molinari (transportation planner for the City of Everett) and Jay Monty (the Transportation Director). The weather was perfect—sunny, with occasional clouds, and an invigorating breeze that reminded us we were never too far from the ocean.

We got the scoop on some big plans in the works for Everett:

• Mass Trails Grant: The city applied for a Mass Trails grant (a state program) to design east/west extensions of the Strand. The idea is to extend west toward Santilli Circle (a heavily trafficked rotary near the Revere Beach Parkway) and east toward Sweetser Circle (another rotary). The connection west would be great because it would allow bikers to access the Malden River, where there are little-known river trails and greenspaces on both the Everett and Medford sides of the river. Especially on the Medford side, there is the Wellington Greenway, a strip of greenspace bordering the Wellington T station, with great views down the Mystic River toward Assembly Row and Charlestown. We all hope that the city will get this grant because these short additional paths will be a boon to all fresh air lovers in greater Boston.
  

• Reconnecting Communities Grant: Everett has already secured a $1.2 million planning grant from the Federal government, called the Reconnecting Communities Grant. Transportation planner Molinari explained that the Sweetser Circle rotary, first built in the 50s, essentially divided Everett into two regions—a northern residential area and a southern industrial area. Since the opening of the Encore casino in 2019, there has been more momentum for residential development in the southern section, and this grant would help to bridge the gap so that Everett “is not a tale of two cities.” If you want to learn more about the background of this grant and what it can do for Everett, I suggest you read Christian MilNeil's excellent coverage of this issue in Streetsblog Mass here.

• Mystic River Pedestrian/Biker Bridge: Jay Monty gave us an update on the long-planned pedestrian/biker bridge that would span the Mystic River from Everett to Assembly Row—a distance of about 1,000 feet. The bridge had been designed, the money from MassDOT was appropriated, and construction was ready to go, until there were last-minute disagreements about the design. So it’s back to the drawing board, and he estimates this will delay the bridge by 3-5 years. One of the disappointed bikers present asked, “What can we do to support it?” Monti suggested advocating via legislators, going to meetings of the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and working with other biking advocates to agree on a final design.

• Active Transportation Committee: Finally, Molinari announced that Everett is proposing to create an Active Transportation Committee and invited people who live and work in Everett to contact the city council to support its creation and to join if interested.

The Everett river trail along the Malden River

A new raised bike lane under construction on Ferry Street in downtown Everett