Walking in Malden is easy and fun; the more you walk, the more beneficial it is to your heart and soul. One hour of brisk walking can add two hours to your life [American Heart Association]. Malden has many opportunities to walk. Neighborhoods are close together, retail areas are easy to find, safe sidewalks are abundant, and there’s a great deal to see. The map shows 4, 5, and 8-minute incremental walks within Malden. This will help you to plan your twenty-minute daily walk.
Walk America’s Walking City No doubt you’ll want to see and do a lot while in Boston, so here’s important advice: the easiest, most pleasant and least stressful way to enjoy the city is on foot. WalkBoston, as a member of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions (CERC), created this guide to encourage DNC delegates and visitors to travel on foot and by public transportation. Shown on the map are most major hotels and a recommended walking route to the FleetCenter. Also noted are some must-see tourist attractions, along with just a few of Boston’s unique and charming neighborhoods including the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, and the South End.
The walk begins at the Orange Line Wellington Station. The route is roughly 4 miles and ends at the Orange Line Sullivan Square Station.
The Mystic River gets its name from the Indian word Misi-Tuk for Great Tidal River. In colonial times the settlers saw that the Mystic was deeper than the Charles and water-dependent industry sprang up on its banks. With Boston’s 9 foot tidal range, the tide would run all the way up to the Mystic Lakes. For over 200 years, residents relied on the tide to wash wastes out to sea. The river’s industries left a legacy of a stew of chemicals that settled to the bottom. The original riverbeds were diverted over the centuries for industry, homes and highways. What you see today, both the good and the bad, are the starting points for reclaiming our rivers.
Click for “Riverpaths of Everett, Somerville, and Medford” Walking Map on Google Maps
With its bucolic setting along the historic Boston Post Road, Northborough is a great community for walking. This walking map features a variety of parks, historic buildings and community resources in two different parts of town.
Click for “WalkBoston’s Northborough Walking Map” on Google Maps
Senator Thomas McGee, Chair
Representative William Straus, Chair
Members of the Joint Committee on Transportation
24 Beacon Street, Room 134
Boston, MA 02133
November 14, 2017
Dear Senator McGee, Representative Strauss, and Members of the Joint Committee on Transportation:
My name is Brendan Kearney. I am the Communications Director for WalkBoston, a nonprofit pedestrian advocacy organization working to make Massachusetts more walkable. Thank you for the opportunity to offer comments against the passage of H1834.
Janette Sadik-Khan, former NYC Transportation Commissioner, spoke about distraction to the New York Times in October, and WalkBoston strongly agrees with her assessment:
“[JSK, the current]…transportation principal at Bloomberg Associates, which advises mayors around the world, said laws against texting and walking were not the answer. They have no basis in any research, are poorly conceived and distract from the road design and driver behavior issues that are responsible for most crashes, she said. She and others recommended focusing on proven strategies like vehicle speed reduction, which is one of the most effective ways to reduce deaths, as survival rates are higher in low-speed collisions.”
To Sadik-Khan’s point on proven strategies: Massachusetts passed the Municipal Modernization Bill last November. We wanted to thank this Committee, MassDOT, and the more than 25 communities that have lowered their prevailing speed limit from 30 to 25 mph to help create safer streets in cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
To her point on research: Toronto is considering a similar “distracted walking” bill, but The Globe and Mail published an editorial yesterday that stated electronic devices in the hands of walkers were a factor in just 25 of 23,240 pedestrian deaths in the US from 2010-14 (FARS = Fatality Analysis Reporting System). The editorial was titled, “All those pedestrian deaths? It’s the cars, stupid.”
It was not on the current hearing’s docket, but there is still a need for a distracted driving bill – a CommonWealth Magazine article over the weekend reminded us that the Senate passed a hands free bill more than four months ago, and we’re still waiting to hear more on it.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
REFERENCES:
New York Times: “Reading This While Walking? In Honolulu, It Could Cost You,” 10/23/2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html
MassDOT list: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/Departments/TrafficandSafetyEngineering/SpeedLimits/MGL9017C.aspx
Globe & Mail: “Globe editorial: All those pedestrian deaths? It’s the cars, stupid,” 11/9/2017
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/globe-editorial-all-those-pedestrian-deaths-its-the-cars-stupid/article36898698/
CommonWealth Magazine: “Tougher distracted driving law badly needed,” 11/11/2017
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/tougher-distracted-driving-law-badly-needed/
————————————————————————————————
Join WalkBoston’s Mailing List to keep up to date on advocacy issues.
Like our work? Support WalkBoston – Donate Now!
Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook