Minuteman Bikeway Crossing

The Minuteman Bikeway is one of the most popular and successful rail-trails in the country. It provides regional connections and serves both recreational and transportation demands. Surveys conducted by the Central Transportation Planning Staff indicated that this is the busiest bike path in the state. In fact, the bikeway is a part of the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame. The primary goal of this project was to improve safety at a busy Bikeway crossing located on Lake Street. Safety issues included conflicts between motorists and Bikeway users as well as poor lighting and visibility. These issues are exacerbated by the behavior of some bicyclists and runners who fail to slow or stop before entering the intersection. While traffic congestion and delay along Lake Street is primarily limited to weekday commuter peak periods, safety issues at the Bikeway crossing were always present.

Green provided engineering services to the Town of Arlington’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to evaluate alternatives and prepare final design to improve mobility and safety along the Lake Street corridor and, in particular, the Bikeway crossing at Lake Street. Green evaluated six improvement alternatives to meet the project’s goals and worked closely with the TAC to convey the benefits of each alternative and provided guidance to the TAC and the Town such that an informed decision could be made on the preferred improvements. Ultimately, the Town elected to install new traffic signals at the crossing. The project includes notable features such as automatic passive detection for bicycles, separation of pedestrians and bicyclists at the crossing to further enhance safety, upgraded pedestrian ramps to meet ADA standards, full signal replacement at Brooks Avenue intersection, and optimized coordinated signal operations along the corridor.