Navigating Manchester’s Urban Paths
“In the simplest terms, I think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world, or at least make you happy.”
— Grant Petersen, founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works
What a wonderful quote to start with! In this month’s column let’s talk about:
- the recent Tour of Manchester
- Envisioning a Better Manchester
- NH Report Card from Safe Routes to School
- NH Seacoast Greenway
- Cyclist Killed in Cambridge
- Status of Zoning Changes
Let’s dive in!
Tour of Manchester
How do I know this was a great Tour? At the end, my wife sighed, and said, “I needed this!”
This past Sunday, September 22nd, saw the 2024 edition of the Tour of Manchester. This is a wonderful planned route through and around the city, with frequent stops for refreshment, and stop locations chosen to be especially pleasant in their views and surroundings. Ownership of the tour has changed a few times over the years, but the last few have been run by Queen City Bicycle Collective. This was my first time attending, and in my humble judgment, it came off great. Riding marshals stood out in their bright yellow vests, they did a great job of visibly blocking traffic appropriately at intersections so that riders could cross in an orderly and safe fashion, and of watching for any riders in trouble.
The ride offered a few options. All routes started and ended at Eversource Energy Park at 780 N. Commercial St., which offered plenty of parking and space. There were 25- and 30-mile routes, both departing at 8 a.m. Then for the less confident, or less energetic, there was an 8-mile route, which departed at 10 a.m. When my wife and I signed up, we chose the 30-mile option. But as the date neared, my wife’s confidence waned, and we shifted to the 8-mile option. By the end she was happy and maybe game for more rides, we’ll have to see.
Our route included one pretty steep climb up the far west end of Bremer Street on the west side. My wife and I used our Swytch Kit electric assist motors on the max setting to help us up this hill, and they worked like magic! We went right up the hill like we were pedaling on flat ground. We passed one of the marshals and he said our motors were silent, he heard not the slightest whir (I would agree.) So hurray for our Swytch electric conversion kits! For most of the ride, we had them completely turned off, but they were great to have when we needed them.
The big stop for the 8-mile route was Rock Rimmon on Manchester’s West Side. This was at the intersection of Mason and Moore streets, at the entrance to the soccer fields. Any climbing of the Rock was purely extracurricular! It was a scenic and very green place to stop. Queen City provided some very handy quick-set-up bike racks, super handy for parking our bikes. After a brief pause, it was time to head back.
Once back at Eversource Energy Park, plenty of cold drinks were available while we waited in line for lunch.
Food options were plentiful, including chicken tenders (it’s Manchester, after all!), empanadas from Don Quijote’s, pizza, and delicious cake for dessert. Was I guilty of taking the largest piece of cake I could find? Yes. Yes I was.
Goal for next year? Do the longer route! And I encourage everyone to give this a try!
Envisioning a Better Manchester
We’re not all traffic engineers, but sometimes we wish we were. Some of us even have the discipline and aptitude to go beyond back-of-napkin drawings, producing designs verging on the professional.
Alex Hawk is a software engineer who lives in Manchester and fits much of the above description. He recently showed me some of his ideas for changes to the Notre Dame Bridge, and I was both entranced and impressed. I was outright seduced by the idea of easier & safer river crossings via bicycle.
The reality is that many citizens in Manchester have limited access to an automobile, and would greatly benefit from improved passage between downtown and the West Side. This could provide more customers for downtown businesses, and could greatly ameliorate some of the deserts that are forming in our city (e.g., grocery deserts, pharmacy deserts).
This project directly relates to Vision Zero, mentioned in this column recently, which aims to greatly reduce deaths and injuries resulting from vehicular traffic. More specifically, the vehicle lane widths are reduced, and this has been shown to encourage slower speeds (which lessens the frequency & severity of collisions). Also, a dedicated bike lane greatly reduces the likelihood of cyclist-pedestrian conflicts, which can occur when both try to use the existing sidewalk, as sometimes happens today.
In his project, Alex was inspired by a set of ideas known as Complete Streets. More info at these links:
Wikipedia Transportation.gov DOT.gov Smart Growth America
As he says in his document, he hopes his project will better serve the needs of all users, including vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. I urge you to read the complete PDF.
NH Report Card from Safe Routes to School
As an introduction to this topic, consider that walking is one of the simplest, most effective, and most affordable strategies for kids and adults to build physical activity into their lives. One mile of walking translates to 2/3 of the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day. The benefits of walking extend beyond health. Studies show that there are links between physical activity and academic achievement, proving that active kids do better.
According to a recent snapshot of how supportive each US State is of walking, bicycling, and physical activity for children and adults as of 2024, New Hampshire was one of six states to score ZERO out of a possible 50 points. Other states scoring zero were Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia. The highest-scoring states were Oregon at 48 followed by Washington, Ohio, Minnesota, and Kansas at 45.
This data comes from the Safe Routes Partnership, a national nonprofit working to advance safe walking and biking to school. Long-time partners include AARP, the National PTA, and the American Heart Association, among others. They recently issued report cards for each US State. Read more here.
NH Seacoast Greenway
A new segment of the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway, connecting Portsmouth to Hampton, opened recently, marking significant progress toward completing the larger East Coast Greenway (ECG), in New England.
When complete, the New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway (NHSG) will be a safe multi-use path connecting seven coastal communities from Portsmouth to Seabrook. The trail will be available for walking, bicycling, horseback riding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing in winter. This trail is New Hampshire’s portion of the East Coast Greenway which will extend 3,000 miles connecting Calais ME to Key West FL, passing through small towns and natural landscapes all along the East Coast.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at Portsmouth Skate Park with participation from Governor Chris Sununu and Dennis Markatos-Soriano, the Executive Director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance.
“The idea of getting on this path and going to Florida, that’s pretty awesome,” Gov. Sununu said. “That’s the reality that we hope to see in the years to come. … For us in the Granite State, it’s a big part of what we’re trying to do with rail trails.”
NH has now completed over half of the NHSG. Full completion of the NHSG is expected in the next decade, while related work is ongoing. Studies are underway to extend the Greenway’s connectivity from Kittery to North Berwick in Maine. A 1.6-mile trail segment through Hampton is currently in the design phase. A proposed 2.3-mile section, which will connect to the Hampton Falls/Seabrook town line, received a $1.4 million RAISE Grant this spring to advance planning and design. The final 2.3 miles of the NHSG, from Seabrook to the Salisbury Rail Trail in Massachusetts, is planned for construction in 2030.
“Americans need safe places to bike and walk separated from the huge and distracted vehicles of the day,” Markatos-Soriano added. “By building out this linear park, New Hampshire is choosing to Live Free, for everyone from babies in strollers and young children learning to bike to grandparents enjoying an afternoon walk.”
Cyclist Killed on Memorial Drive in Cambridge
A bit before 6 p.m. Monday, John Corcoran, a 62-year-old father of two and a cyclist from Newton, MA, was killed when a driver in his 20s lost control of his vehicle and struck the cyclist near the BU Boat House on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Bike lanes here are painted lines on the road offering zero protection from vehicles. Another cyclist laying flowers at the scene described the bike path as “almost completely unusable.”
Advocates for bike safety say the crash was as sad as it was predictable, given they pleaded with state officials for years to fix that dangerous stretch of Memorial Drive. Nine local and state elected officials signed a letter in July 2023 asking the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation to fix that very segment of Memorial Drive.
Below are views of the area where the crash occurred, taken from Google Earth.
Corcoran’s death comes after two other cyclists in Cambridge were killed in June by box trucks. Read more here.
Status of Zoning Changes
With the conclusion of the Zoning Ordinance public input sessions, the Special Committee on Updated Zoning is eager to begin its work. While it will take some time to compile the data from the meetings and the public survey, the committee has scheduled meetings on September 30, October 21, and November 18 at 6 p.m. to review the overall ordinance changes and ensure they are fully prepared for the tasks ahead. These initial meetings will focus on Uses & Parking, Building Types, and Maps & Overlays to examine the proposed changes. Recordings of these sessions will be available on-demand through Manchester Public Television.
Call for Input
We very much want to hear from you! Do you have any questions or concerns? What topics would you like us to cover? Send your feedback our way and we’ll get on it! We want to ensure this column meets your needs.
Stay safe and have fun out there!