Leaders to transform New England communities through safe biking, walking, and greenways

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Artist Dale Doug created "Beantown Bicyclist" as the theme art for our 2018 New England Bike-Walk Summit.

Six organizational leaders convene a forum to increase bicycling in Boston’s neighborhoods, with a focus on low-income areas. A city planner at a private foundation partners with a state agency to reclaim aging parks and connect bicycling/walking paths. Volunteers in Hartford join an international movement to offer bicycle rickshaw rides to the elderly. Community leaders build alliances with local agencies to recommend safer street designs to encourage more biking and walking.

Municipal officials, biking and walking advocates, and industry leaders will share these initiatives and others — along with best practices and success stories on issues ranging from bicycle equity and community partnerships to greenway design, funding strategies, economic impact, and youth engagement — at the New England Bike-Walk Summit, April 26-27 in Boston. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance is holding its fifth biennial Summit to advance bicycling and walking innovations in communities across the region.

“We’re thrilled with the caliber of presentations we received from a record number of proposals,” says Niles Barnes, deputy director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. “We’re excited to feature some unique collaborations and hear from a diverse range of voices. We know that gathering peers to exchange ideas and network will generate still more momentum for a region that is already a leader in bicycle-pedestrian planning.”

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Inaugural Boston Neighborhood Bike Forum planning team poses after a successful gathering of 120 residents passionate about safe, accessible bicycling in their neighborhoods. The New England Summit's opening plenary will feature the forum's organizers talking their efforts to build bike equity.

Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack will introduce the summit’s opening plenary, "Innovation & Collaboration: The Road Towards Bike Equity in Boston," featuring an all-woman panel of organizers behind the Neighborhood Bike Forum, on Thursday evening, April 26, at the NonProfit Center in Boston. A full day of presentations will follow on Friday, April 27 on the UMass-Boston campus. The presentations include updates from Department of Transportation representatives from Connecticut and Massachusetts, two New England states whose leaders have committed to advancing bike-walk initiatives, including the East Coast Greenway.

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