Bike trail plowing?

cca...@new.rr.com

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Dec 19, 2009, 9:41:38 PM12/19/09

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Hello,

If there a bike trails in your city/town, do they keep them free of
snow during the winter?

Regards,
Cullen
Appleton, WI

mac

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Dec 20, 2009, 6:35:55 AM12/20/09

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> If there a bike trails in your city/town, do they keep them free of
> snow during the winter?

There are bike trails around Cambridge (MA), except that in the winter
some of them are ski trails.

In the inner suburbs others are plowed, but that's because so many
pedestrians use them.

mike.a...@gmail.com

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Dec 20, 2009, 9:24:58 AM12/20/09

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Fermilab does not plow their trail, so the bicycle commuter does it
himself.
http://www-bdnew.fnal.gov/pbar/organizationalchart/peterson/snowplow_files/Bike_Plow.html

Jim A

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Dec 20, 2009, 3:20:56 PM12/20/09

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Around here (Wiltshire, UK) no, but I think they keep my local one clear
of leaves in the Autumn which I'm grateful for.

OughtFour

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Dec 23, 2009, 8:21:36 AM12/23/09

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<cca...@new.rr.com> wrote in message
news:420a3fde-c87c-42db...@j19g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...

> Hello,
>
> If there a bike trails in your city/town, do they keep them free of
> snow during the winter?

The Town of Arlington, Mass., plows the stretch of trail from Cambridge to
Lexington. This year a private group has been paying for plowing on the
Lexington stretch too; I don't know how that is going.

This was terribly controversial in Arlington, but a few years back an
organized group persuaded the town to spend $20k for a pilot program that
would last until the money ran out.

The Public Works Director thought it might be good for a few snow storms,
but that proved sufficient for the entire winter, which was a snowy one.
Turns out it's really cheap to clear an unobstructed right of way, who'd
have thought.

The path parallels the main street in town for much of its length, where the
sidewalks are basically impassible after a bad storm. The plowed path has
become very popular with pedestrians. It's not always a good place to ride,
though it is generally free of bike-eating salt.

Disadvantages include loss of a ski trail, some damage to the trail surface
and abutting turf from plow blades, and a residue of sand that makes the
path slippery well into spring, when the town cleans the path. The path is
not supposed to be salted at all but DPW workers sometimes do it anyway.

Chuck Anderson

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Dec 27, 2009, 2:10:27 PM12/27/09

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The city of Boulder plows nearly every bit of trail, ... and the major
ones are done early in the morning. The bike trails get better
treatment than most streets.

Doc O'Leary

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Dec 28, 2009, 12:40:07 PM12/28/09

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In article <hh8bel$o7v$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
Chuck Anderson <web...@seemy.sig> wrote:

> The city of Boulder plows nearly every bit of trail, ... and the major
> ones are done early in the morning. The bike trails get better
> treatment than most streets.

As well they should. The surface area a few trails cover is minimal in
comparison to the vast street grid, and you don't have vehicles parked
on both sides of bike trails that keep you from plowing half the width.
Just a plow-down straight shot once clears it all.

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