Somerville Community Path

Five stars because the darn thing exists. We don’t have many such niceties in the car-​dominated concrete jungle hellhole known as Houston where I come from.
Now, it’s true that if you’re bike commuting and want to zip along at a good clip, you’ll encounter lots of oblivious and thoughtless pedestrians walking 3 – 6 astride and blocking the damn thing. I suggest honking (if you use shared pedestrian walkways you are STOOOOO-​PID not to put a bell horn on your handlebars) or yelling to get them to make way. If you’re in THAT much of a hurry, take your chances zooming along on Highland Avenue or Broadway then… I hope you have good medical insurance, or at least have the common sense to wear a helmet, flashing lights and/​or bright colors unlike some of these idiot cyclists you see wearing all black with zero helmets or lights.
Me, I mainly use this trail for running and it’s plenty good for that. In fact, from where the trail now starts (Lowell Street) I can actually get almost a full marathon distance (26 miles) running all the way through Alewife, Arlington, Lexington, and turning back around in Bedford where the commuter rail ends. During the summer I’d say a good 60−70% of it is shaded, which is great for those mid-​day runs if you are sun-​sensitive like myself. The parts of the trail between Lowell Street and Davis Square, and Davis Square to Alewife, often has nice 2 – 5 foot wide dirt/​gravel shoulders where you can do speedwork very enjoyably (sprinting on paved surfaces is a lot harder on your knees).

Pedestrians use the BIKE path like it’s their personal living room, not caring that others are using it to BIKE along. They’ll give CYCLISTS dirty looks while they congregate with their toddlers and strollers in the middle of the BIKE path and make it impassable, or use it as an open dog park letting unleashed dogs run around. It’s my belief it’s easier to bike in traffic than deal with these sanctimonious pedestrian assholes on the BIKE path.

It’s convenient to avoid street traffic. Otherwise, the path is fairly basic with a path that is less wide than one would expect. If you want to bike with speed, this is not the spot for you.
I appreciate its existence, but if I bike in Somerville, I don’t necessarily make an effort to head towards this path.

It’s not the most scenic trail, but it gets me from home to Davis or Minuteman without having to bike over impossible hills or through 6 lanes of traffic.
Sometimes there are a lot of pedestrians so it can be a slow, irritating commute, it beats waiting for the bus. I usually take it when I’m biking home from work late at night, when there’s little traffic and fewer buses.

About a year back I started running because [I really, really love pie] I wanted to add some more cardio into my routine. I’ve never been an athlete and I’m sure the people I sail past assume I’m seconds from death; nevertheless a few times a week I slip on my iPod and sneakers, becoming the urban equivalent of a gazelle – at least for a couple of miles.
Now that I’m living in Somerville, my route of choice has fallen along the Somerville Community Path. The path «starts» just a few blocks from my apartment, an instant bonus compared to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. When I reach Cameron Avenue in Cambridge I’ve run about a mile, so by the time I run back home the path is a perfect match for my two mile habit.
Another plus to my route on the Somerville Community Path is that the scenery along its edges changes often and occupies my mind more. Sometimes it’s only the backsides of house, but others it’s gardens, cute parks and even Davis Square itself. But along with this changing scenery comes some starting and stopping at the cross streets the path intersects with; this is a bit of a pain when you’re «in the zone».
Beyond these breaks in pace the other problem of the path in general is that it doesn’t always seem wide enough given the amount of traffic on it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve nearly been side-​swiped by cyclists weaving through the stream of pedestrians – they almost make me miss the geese! But I can’t complain, the Somerville Community Path is a clean, relatively safe route to run on minutes from my house. If I get really ambitious I might even join one of the local runners groups here… maybe.

This path is okay for the most part. It’s nice to get you from point A to point B and not have to navigate car traffic, but the fun pretty much stops there. There are off leash dogs galore, people taking up the entire path who give you nasty looks when you ask them to move and when someone blindly changes directions and crosses the path in front of you as you’re biking they yell at you, the biker, for riding too fast disregarding the fact that they stopped without looking, then crossed right across the path, also without ever looking… I can’t really knock the path except that it’s located in Massachusetts and therefore is riddled with Massholes…

The Somerville Community Path, or simply «the bike path», is one of those awesome things that I didn’t know existed when I moved into Davis 11 months ago but has since become a daily part of my life. I use it to walk back and forth from my apartment to the T, my runs take me down parts of it on a regular basis, and it makes getting to a friend’s apartment on Mass Ave. a breeze as well.
The Grove-​Cedar section (where I travel most often) is fairly well lit, and until about 9:30 PM or so is also pretty packed with people. After midnight it tends to empty out, and as such you’ll more often than not find me walking down Highland if I’m alone — the lighting is much better. The path on the other side of Davis linking to Mass Ave seems to be better lit, although less heavily traveled, during the evening hours. This probably has something to do with the luxury lofts bordering the path in this section.
My only complaints would be the high number of off-​leash dogs (some poorly controlled, some very well controlled) and the people who like to spread out 6 across and stroll down the middle of the path — there are lanes for a reason, people!

Thanks to my recent foray into Google Bike Directions, the Cedar-​Grove segment of the Somerville Community Path and I have become well-​acquainted as my make my way swiftly and safely from home in Central Square to work on Mystic Ave in Medford. A nicely paved (which is more than I can say for the rest of my trip) and shaded way to spend about 100yds of my four-​mile commute.

This path is great. With the exception of people who use this BIKE PATH as a dog park I really enjoy using this route to get to the Davis T stop.
What part of BIKE PATH do people not understand. GEez

Glorious brick path that takes you everywhere that matters. In addition to providing a shortcut for me to walk to the T, I also use it as the major routes for biking to Whole Foods (Fresh Pond Mall) and Assembly Square. One of these days I’m going to keep going past Alewife and take the path into Arlington. It will be magnificent.
Minus one star for how crowded it is when it’s nice out — it’s a challenge to not run someone over on a spring weekend. Please beware of dog poop and giant puddles when walking in the rain.

Jurassic Park. The Bike Path in Somerville passes right by the raptor cages. If you are travelling the Path from Davis towards Willow Ave, just look to your left as you get close to Willow. Beware, though, of the raptors. During a storm, the security may give out, and the raptors may be loose. I’m certain I’ve heard them rustling in the bushes on a couple occasions.
You’ve been warned.

Even though it always seemed a bit sketchy at night, I would often pick the Path rather than walk down to the Circle and run into some people who camp there.
Well lit, wide, and well used this is a nice way to get into Davis Square. Be careful if you go off the path to the sides, though, as some dog owners are not good at cleaning up after their puppies.

GF and I are pleased to live near the Somerville Community Path (aka the bike path).
It’s an easy hike to the T, it’s well lighted, and the cops patrol it regularly at night. During the winter, it’s well-​plowed and salted. During the summer, there are community gardens and bits of art.
We walk the dog there almost every day. There are a lot of people in the neighborhood who do so also and everyone knows everyone. People are generally pretty conscientious about cleaning up after their dogs. I’ve had a lot of funny incidents with my dog wrestling with another dog and getting all tangled up in dogs and leashes with another owner– very rom. com., I know.
We used to like to walk down to visit the mammoth near the east side of Davis Square, but around halloween a bunch of hooligans basically destroyed it. Some concerned artists put it back together, but it’s sadly been damaged a number of times since, and likely will be left to rot. RIP.