Worcester Community Walk Comes As City Seeks Mobility Plan Input

WORCESTER, MA — An annual spring walk hosted by the nonprofit WalkMassachusetts will come to Worcester Thursday, just two days after the city released a major new plan laying out the city's goals for a more equitable transportation network.

This year's WalkMass walk, held in conjunction with WalkBike Worcester, will travel from Union Station to Worcester City Hall and along Main Street, whose recent redesign was the city's first "complete streets" project.

The walk will also include a stop at the new Miyawaki forest in the parking lot behind the main library. Walkers will then head down Green Street to Kelley Square to see the new peanut rotary completed in 2021. The peanut replaced one of the most notorious intersections in the state with a new layout that includes crosswalks.

The stops along the walk will highlight Worcester's recent efforts to improve conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and other non-driving residents. This week, the city released its draft Mobility Action Plan — a roadmap for the future of transportation in Worcester produced by the Department of Transportation and Mobility.

"The Mobility Action Plan is based on the guiding vision that the City of Worcester’s transportation network should support people of all ages and abilities with safe, equitable, and sustainable mobility choices," DTM said in an executive summary of the plan.

The plan explores how more streets can be converted to include complete streets principles, similar to the Main Street redesign, and how the transportation network can become more sustainable — like by adding rain gardens, trees or new Miyawaki forests along roads with little shade. The city will be accepting feedback on the plan through June.

For more information on Thursday's walk and to RSVP, visit the WalkMass website.