Update: Linden Street bridge on the bike trail is not yet open
UPDATE: It appears that the gate over the rail trail was opened unofficially in the photo above. It has been closed again. The end of the paved trail at Beaver Street is also closed. The Department of Conservation and Recreation confirmed that the bridge is not yet officially open. Signs on the fencing state the projected completion date is the end of 2025. “Please encourage people to respect the fencing, locks and signage,” said Ilyse Wolberg, DCR Deputy Communications Director
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Update, October 7. — the Linden Street Bridge is now closed again and this time there is a locked gate at each end.
FYI the Beaver Street end of the trail segment was open from the time the paving was complete in the fall of 2023 until just recently, and while the intersection with Beaver Street has not been improved, I know of no record of crashes there. For several months after that part of the path was paved, it was also possible to access the segment from the Linden Street end by riding through a small industrial area and up onto the trail on an unpaved ramp which construction workers had used. I created this RidewithGPS route to show how to use this as a detour pending completion of work on the Linden Street bridge. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45045949 . Then in the spring of 2024, a fence was erected along the side of the trail, blocking this access unless people were willing and able to climb over it — not convenient with a bicycle or for a disabled person, one with a baby stroller, etc. People have been using the path segment the whole time, if only to access it at Beaver Street and stroll along. Now for the first time, the segment is blocked at both ends and not only that, the bridge is blocked at both ends. I must ask, what reward are citizens getting for the funding that was spent on this? Folder at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Rr5Jb3ZF24YlAhEkUXoqV7eKyhQFvIO?usp=sharing now includes a photo (credit Jonathan lezak) of the bridge as of today.
I spoke with DCR about this. Sorry, the bridge was not opened with permission. It is now fenced off again. It’s coming soon.
Regarding the article indicating that the Linden Street bridge on the Rail trail is open: I confirmed that on Sunday. I expect that the bridge was opened “informatly”. The gate at Beaver Street is not open, though you can get around it if you are agile, with some small risk of falling into Beaver Brook. See photos at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Rr5Jb3ZF24YlAhEkUXoqV7eKyhQFvIO?usp=sharing
Why is there still a locked gate at the Beaver street end?
Thalassa!! Here’s a note I wrote in November of 2001:
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hi, I read your October 2001 update on the Wayside RailTrail at: massbike.org. Please add my name to your list of people interested in pushing for trail development. I am on the Board of Directors of the Waltham Land Trust — one of our goals is to develop a Greenway hiking loop through Waltham Lexington and Belmont. An essential segment to creating the loop, is a mile long section of the Wayside Rail in Waltham. I walked the section last Saturday, from Beaver Street west to Lyman Street — the poison ivy, even in its winter state, was waist-high in places. I was wondering about any updates since your October posting?
Best of luck,
Marc Rudnick
Waltham Land Trust
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Now, 24 years later, the Western Greenway hiking trail is in place, and the work of extending it through Bentley U and Lyman estate lands to the MCRT (aka Wayside) is ready to begin.