Photo Gallery: Who Uses the Carriage Lane?
Pedestrians
Dog walkers
Parents with their children
Seniors and people with disabilities and special needs.
Winter walkers
It’s relied on by an increasing number of people for bicycle transportation as part of their work commute, for short local trips, and for recreational purposes. With climate change, more and more people are using it year round, for recreation and for transportation, not just in the months we traditionally know as “bicycling weather.”
The Carriage Road is a popular route for the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon. popular fund-raising walks such as the Jimmy Fund Walk. Recently the Walk for Wuhan included portions of the Carriage Lane.
The City’s own NNHS track teams use it for their athletic training.
The Carriage Lane is used by Bike Newton’s Tour de Newton.
Sections of it are included by the Safe Routes to Schools program, a MA state program with an active Newton task force that aims to get students safely to and from school by bicycle or on foot. Newton North High School, Burr Elementary School, Pierce Elementary School, and numerous public and private schools are within close distance to the Carriage Lane. Newton City Hall and the Newton Public Library are as well, by the Homer St and Walnut St intersections. The Boston College Law School is off the Carriage Lane by Walnut St, and the main campus is at the eastern end of the Carriage Lane; LaSalle University directly borders the Carriage Lane further west.
Beginning with the COVID-19 restrictions, more bicyclists, runners and pedestrians than ever – and of all ages – are using the Carriage Road for recreation and also as transportation.
Also fortunately, as we add appropriate stop signs both along the Carriage Lane, fewer and fewer drivers are using the Carriage Lane as a cut-through to avoid waiting at the lights at major intersections.
