This region, once largely rural and with only one urban concentration, Brockton, is experiencing increasing residential development.
Many rural roads remain attractive for bicycling.
Traffic volume has reached a level on many highways such that wide outside lanes or shoulders would help accommodate bicycle traffic more comfortably. A large section of the Massachusetts Bicycle Route 1, the Boston to Cape Bikeway, is in the Old Colony district. The part of this bike route in the Old Colony region traverses entirely along existing roadways. The Myles Standish State Forest, with several bicycle paths, is mainly in the Old Colony region, in Plymouth. These paths were built in the 1970's.