Dean Christakos« Snowed In | Main | Reflections on July 4th »
January 24, 2005
Pedestrian Traffic Report for Boston
After recovering from a brief cold, a hectic schedule, and, finally a blizzard, I returned to my previous exercise routine. Of course, given the snowstorm that shut out most people from the gym, MIT's Zesiger Center was full, leaving me unable to find a treadmill. However, seeing that today's weather report forecast highs in the comparatively balmy 22 degrees, I decided to get into my warm-weather running gear take a run outside using my standard bridge circuit route around the Charles River. However, today I decided to go for the 2.8 mile Longfellow-to-Harvard Bridge loop rather than my standard 5 mile Harvard Bridge-to-Footbridge loop.
Well, the cold was survivable, but let me give a report about sidewalk conditions:
- The sidewalks by MIT along Memorial Drive are mostly clear, except for the sidewalk between Walker Memorial and Ames Street, which has not get fully shoveled and salted.
- The Longfellow Bridge is mostly blocked to pedestrian traffic on both sides. As I ran by around 7 PM, a crew on the Boston side of the bridge was just beginning to shovel the eastern pedestrian walkway by hand. I ran in the street.
- The pedestrian overpass between Charles Street and the Esplanade is passable. It seems to have been shoveled early in the storm, and enough foot traffic seems to have packed the additional snow down to something walkable.
- The Esplanade is almost unpassable and completely unplowed. You're running through 2 feet of snow if you want to maintain your normal jogging routine. Some regions were plowed to allow access to the Hatch Shell, but other than that, nothing. I had to jump over onto Storrow Drive, dodging traffic, to make any progress. Finally I hopped back over to the Dartmouth Street pedestrian overpass between the Esplanade and the Back Bay, whose snow is just packed down enough to cross.
- The sidewalks in the Back Bay were clear, and finally the eastern pedestrian walkway of the Harvard Bridge, while unshoveled, was passable to pedestrian traffic.
For the rest of the week, my advice for maintaining your exercise routine outdoors is to avoid crossing bridges and stay on the minor streets and sidewalks. I guess I'll be sticking to the Cambridge side of the river for my runs by the Charles for the immediate future.
Posted by Dean at January 24, 2005 9:00 PM