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The Minuteman Commuter Bikeway is a paved rail trail of about ten miles from Alewife Station in Cambridge to Bedford Depot Park, through Arlington and Lexington. It follows the old Lexington Branch of the Boston and Maine, and roughly the road the Minutemen and Paul Revere used in April 1775. Riding it is flat and easy: a long, gentle rise toward Bedford, at-grade street crossings in Arlington Center and Lexington Center, and a mix of neighborhood backyards, Spy Pond, the Arlington Reservoir, and the open wetland of Arlington's Great Meadows. It is one of the busiest trails in the country, so expect company on weekends.
Minuteman Commuter Bikeway
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway has about 117 to 161 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, birding, running, biking, and walking, with May, September, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway!
In half of past years, color along the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway peaks October 26 to November 4, typically around October 30. The trail has 29% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, northern red oak, and black oak.
Ice cutters were already working Spy Pond in Arlington when the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad laid its single track past the pond in 1846. The first train reached Lexington Center that August and ran three times a day to Boston. Commuters and summer residents followed the rails out of the city. The Boston and Lowell bought the line in 1870. Its Middlesex Central subsidiary pushed the track through Bedford to Concord in 1873, and the Billerica and Bedford narrow gauge met it at Bedford in 1877. The Boston and Maine took over the whole system in 1887 and ran the Lexington Branch for ninety years. The Bedford to Concord end was abandoned in 1962. A January 1977 snowstorm stranded a passenger train at Bedford, and the MBTA never restored service. The last freight train ran in 1980 or early 1981, and the tracks were severed from the main line. Trail advocates had proposed a commuter bicycle path on the corridor as early as 1974. The Commonwealth railbanked the line in July 1992, and the Arlington to Lexington section was dedicated that September. The Lexington to Bedford stretch opened in May 1993 after water main work. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy celebrated it as the nation's 500th rail trail. In 1998 the path was extended a short distance to Alewife station in Cambridge. In 2008 it became the fifth trail inducted into the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame, and the four towns along it maintain it together today.
Narrow Gauge Rail TrailReformatory Branch TrailAlewife Linear ParkFitchburg Cutoff PathAlewife Brook Greenway
