Have you driven by, biked, run or walked on the Carriage Road between Bristol and Chestnut? This area, now called Bristol Mini-park, was officially created on Feb. 24, 2021, when this proposal passed Traffic Council unanimously. It is the permanent closure of this 330′ of roadway to motorized vehicles. From now on, it is open only to pedestrians, runners, and bicyclists.
The idea for this goes back to 2015, when the City was struggling to stop the number of crashes occurring at the intersection of the Carriage Road and Chestnut St. For several years Traffic Council had tried to solve this by passing a “Right Turn Only” at the corner. But the crashes continued, as drivers along the Carriage Road violated that restriction, and drove straight across Chestnut.
Realizing the solution was to close this stretch of road to motor vehicles, which was possible as there were no driveways this entire block, I suggested this idea of closure to Councilor Andreae Downs, who then docketed this before Traffic Council. It passed unanimously.
In November 2022, Parks and Recreation planted fourteen 4C trees (Capture Carbon Commemorate COVID-19) in the berm here. These beautiful flowering trees, Syringa Reticulata, Syringa Snowcap, Prunus Sargentii Spring Wonder and Prunus Sargenti Rancho, are now thriving and we look forward to pink and white blooms next season, and in subsequent years.
Parks, Recreation and Culture under Commissioner Banks located beautiful large boulders at the entrance to this mini-park in 2023. We hope this will be a template for future decoration of the park entrances, both at Bristol and at Chestnut.
Our first official event in this mini-park, the Bicycle Lights Giveaway at Bristol Mini-Park, took place on Sunday, October 15, 2023. A highly successful event, it was co-sponsored by BikeNewton and MassBike. The MassBikes Lights Brigade aims to brighten up cyclists across Massachusetts by distributing sets of front and rear bike lights. and this was the first ever such event in Newton!
