Eyes On the Street: The Northern Strand Gets A Protected Path Through Downtown Lynn
While we were in Lynn last week for the MBTA’s Lynnway project open house, we took a short ride across the city to check out the construction progress on the Northern Strand Trail extension project, which is building a new curb-separated, on-street trail through downtown Lynn, along with upgraded bus stops, traffic calming measures, and crosswalk improvements.
The Northern Strand Trail currently ends next to a hectic traffic circle on Western Avenue, about one mile west of downtown Lynn.
The construction underway will extend the Northern Strand on city streets to connect the trail to the city’s waterfront at Nahant Beach:
Construction has been underway for nearly a year, and most of the trail’s length is still an active construction site. However, many of the new curbs that will divide the new trail from adjacent motor vehicle traffic have already been installed to give a sense of what the path will eventually look like.
At several locations, the project is also building new platforms for the three MBTA bus routes that also use this route across the city (the 426, 429, and 455).
Similar to bus stops that recently went in on Washington Street in East Somerville, these platforms will let MBTA buses stop without pulling in and out of traffic, while also providing a wide buffer between motorized traffic and the adjacent bike path.
The project rendering below illustrates what this block of Market Street might look like in a few more months:
In addition to the trail itself, the project is also building numerous traffic-calming and beautification improvements for the rest of Market Street.
At the wide intersection of Market, State, and Oxford Street, two big median islands are under construction to give pedestrians easier crossings. According to the project’s plans, new shade trees will soon be planted here as well:
At the southern end of Market Street, the on-street trail will traverse this wooded park before joining the Lynnway next to Lynn Heritage State Park:
The easternmost leg of the project runs along the Lynnway from Market Street to the traffic rotary at the entrance to Nahant Beach.
Along this segment, of the project carved up one of the Lynnway’s six lanes to make room for a new trail on the waterfront edge of the highway.
The project also removed thousands of square feet of unnecessary asphalt to create new stormwater-absorption gardens between the highway and the trail.
Construction on this segment is mostly complete, and several people on bikes were using the new path to ride to the beach on Wednesday evening.
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