David Taber
Web Exclusive
Bike commuters can expect delays heading into downtown Boston on the Southwest Corridor Park bike path as the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) undertakes $80,000 worth of bikeway repairs.
DCR spokesperson Wendy Fox told the Gazette that the bike path resurfacing work started today at the Massachusetts Avenue end of the path and will continue toward Forest Hills as the week progresses. Weather permitting, the work should be done by Wednesday, she said.
The park and the bike path run parallel to the MBTA’s Orange Line subway from Forest Hills at the southern end of JP and through Roxbury and the South End—where they intersect Massachusetts Avenue—to the Back Bay MBTA station. The path is 4.7 miles long.
The resurfacing will focus on specific trouble spots along the path, where there are potholes or where tree roots are pushing up through the pavement, she said. Bicyclists will have to walk their bikes through the grass at some points along the popular commuter route, she said.
Fox said the work will not include improvements to the section of the path crossing Centre Street in Jackson Square. That work is part of proposed improvements to that area by the Jackson Square Partners development team. It is scheduled for later this summer.