A consortium of organizations, including the MMOC, is working to extend the final section of the Fenway Multi-Use Path from Fenway Station beneath Park Drive to the Muddy River path—and the rest of the Emerald Necklace.
According to the Fenway Mission Link Coalition’s (FMLC) website: “Without this vital link, people walking, biking, or using mobility devices must take a longer, more complicated, and less-safe route through the busy Park Drive, Riverway, and Brookline Avenue intersections…
The Coalition is a growing group of advocacy organizations (pedestrian, disability, transit, bicycle, and community) and individual advocates. Phase III is a critical 1000-foot missing link connecting the Emerald Necklace / Muddy River pedestrian and bicycle path in Brookline to the Fenway Multi-Use Path in Boston beneath the Park Drive bridge along the MBTA D Line tracks. We’re reaching out to advocacy organizations, businesses, municipal governments, and elected officials to enlist their formal support for the completion of Phase III.
Thousands of people use the Muddy River path in this area every day for commuting, exercise and leisure. When Boston first proposed this path in 2007, it was envisioned as a seamless connection from Riverway Park in the Emerald Necklace to Kenmore Square and the Fenway.
That vision has yet to be realized. There is no simple, intuitive or safe way to traverse Park Drive to get to the Kenmore Square/Fenway area (a major employment, research and entertainment hub), Lansdowne Commuter Rail Station or for those users of the Fenway Path looking to access the Muddy River Path and the Longwood Medical area. Access is made difficult and dangerous by having to take an 800-foot detour, crossing multiple lanes of heavy traffic through poorly coordinated pedestrian signals at the intersections of The Riverway, Park Drive and Brookline Avenue. A major reconstruction of these intersections nearly 10 years ago did not make this area safer; numerous pedestrians have since been injured, and in 2019 Paula Sharaga, a longtime children’s librarian at the Brookline Public Library, was killed by a truck while bicycling there.
The goal of our coalition is to raise public awareness that progress on this project has been stalled for eight years, and to enlist the support of advocates, local residents, elected officials, and the Town of Brookline to convey the public’s sense of urgency for completing this final phase of the Fenway Multi-Use Path.”
The FMLC urges participation by the community. Here’s how you can help:
Sign the petition.
Join the coalition.
Email decision-makers.
