The City of Cambridge is installing a short but crucial protected bike lane on Webster Avenue near Inman Square this week, closing a key gap in the city's bike network and completing a project that the City of Somerville had implemented on its side of the city line in 2018.
Webster Avenue is a short but frequently-used bike route between Union Square in Somerville and Cambridge Street in Cambridge. Before this week, to the chagrin of Cambridge bike safety advocates, the city line between Somerville and Cambridge had been clearly demarcated by a protected bike lane that existed only on Somerville's side.
The new bike lanes span a short section of Webster Ave. from Cambridge Street, where there is a paint-only bike lane, to the Somerville city line, where a flexpost-protected bike lane has been in place since 2018. Existing bike lanes are highlighted in blue.
The Cambridge segment of the street was also recently paved. On Tuesday morning, when the photo above was taken, City of Cambridge crews were still installing the new lane markings and crosswalks, but the work appeared to be mostly complete.
On Tuesday Cambridge will install protected bike lanes on Webster Ave, filling in a gap between existing protected bike lanes in Somerville and others to be installed on Cambridge St. Thanks @CambMA!https://t.co/nsjVF4ksIlpic.twitter.com/EldjTzBUUB
"A lot of these historic maps illuminate modern-day mobility issues," says Garrett Dash Nelson, the President and Head Curator of the Leventhal Map and Education Center. "We want people to think, this isn't just about the past, but about building a more inclusive transit system for the future."