Great Story in the Commonwealth Mag by Galen Mook and Josh Ostroff. SEPTEMBER IS Bay State Bike Month, where riders from across the state come together to join a variety of community events promoting all the joys of bicycling throughout Massachusetts, including town-wide rides like the Tour de Newton, a bike commuter breakfast in Holyoke, a Cub Scout “bike rodeo” in Worcester, a fundraiser ride for connecting the pathways around New Bedford, and bike giveaways in Mattapan. Read more.

HUDSON – The Assabet Valley Rail Trail, one of Hudson’s out-of-door enhancements, has been enriched with the addition of eight new Memorial benches.

According to Kali Coughlan, program coordinator of the Hudson Health Department’s Mass in Motion Program, when the call went out in the spring to help fund installation costs, “the donor spots were filled within 48 hours.” Read more.

People who live near South Carolina's 12-year-old Swamp Rabbit Trail say the trail has been a economic boon and a driver of public health and community cohesiveness.

 TRAVELERS REST, SC — On Monday night, the Transylvania County Commission raised a question about the planned Ecusta Trail’s potential “negative impact on existing manufacturing employers or businesses.” Read more. (I know, this is outside my usual 'service territory' but I wanted to include it because the last 'real RR' that operated here was owned by Pinsly RR Company. The company that I used to work for eons ago. A tip of the hat to John Levine, President of Pinsly, for his visionary leadership that ensures that their former RR corridors become useful assets for communities.)

Our “Volunteer of the Week” feature highlights community members who go out of their way to help others, and in so doing, make the world a little bit better.

This week, we highlight David Mark, of Maynard, longtime volunteer at the Assabet River Rail Trail and OARS.

Tell us about your volunteer work.

Having moved to Maynard in 2000, my two long-term volunteer efforts have been the Assabet River Rail Trail creation and maintenance, and the OARS (Organization for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers) annual river clean-ups. Read more.

Public officials and cycling advocates tossed shovels full of dirt Monday to celebrate the start of construction of the city’s final leg of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail—which when finished in December 2022, will finally connect downtown to Long Wharf. That dirt-tossing marked the culmination of a celebratory press conference held in the Park of the Arts behind Audubon Street. Read More.

I found myself in a strange headspace when I got home from my recent thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I planned a month and a half long break from thru-hiking until starting the Arizona Trail in October. After warm reunions with my friends and community, I felt the hiking “itch” sneak back in…my body was demanding to be put to work. Living in Salem MA, I’m familiar with the Bay Circuit Trail. I’d hiked nearly all of the trail via day hikes in previous years, but I’ve always wanted to thru-hike it. Since I still had my trail legs from the AT and some time to kill, I figured why not now?

Read more.

Bridges for Animals to Safely Cross Freeways Are Popping Up Around the World By Jessica Stewart on February 9, 2017

Banff National Park. Alberta, Canada. Image via Joel Sartore Wildlife crossings are more than simple road signs as you speed down the highway. Conservationists use all sorts of methods to keep our furry friends safe from becoming roadkill or having their habitats fragmented. Increasingly, animal bridges are being employed around the globe in order to preserve our ecosystems.

In the United States alone, it's estimated that road systems affect the ecology of one-fifth the land area of the country and that vehicle-animal collisions cost $8 billion a year. Read more

We Are Going to Need a Lot More Electric Delivery Bikes Shipping companies in European cities are replacing delivery vans with cargo bikes and trikes. But the U.S. rollout of these vehicles has been frustratingly slow. By David Zipper

So it seems odd that one very obvious climate-fighting implement — the electric cargo bicycle — remains such a rare sight in American cities.

Heavy-duty bikes and trikes equipped with batteries for extra pedal power could replace many of the delivery vehicles that haul packages around cities. A recent study of London found that cargo bikes could reduce emissions from package delivery by one-third compared with electric vans, and by 90% compared with diesel ones. Read more.