Eyes On the Street: New Protected Bike Lanes In Jamaica Plain
Last fall, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu promised that the city would undertake a major expansion in the city’s bike network to add 9.4 miles of new bike lanes across the city over the course of 2023.
One of the first projects from that plan is currently being implemented in Jamaica Plain, on South Huntington Avenue. The street was recently repaved, and over the last few days, city workers have been re-painting lane markings and installing flexible-post bollards to delineate a new protected bike lane, one that is mostly separated from moving motor vehicle traffic by on-street parking areas:
As of Wednesday evening, new flexible-post bollards had been installed along several blocks on the east (northbound) side of the street.
But bollards still hadn’t yet been installed on the other, southbound side of the street, and there, the newly-striped bike lane was still frequently blocked by parked cars.
The new bike lanes extend roughly 0.6 miles between Centre Street and Heath Street, where South Huntington was recently repaved.
The city ultimately would like to extend this facility 0.3 miles further north to Huntington Avenue to make a connection to Brookline Village and the Riverway Park bike path.
However, the Green Line E Branch still runs down the middle of South Huntington Avenue north of Heath Street, which makes quick-built projects like this one a bit more complicated. The city’s website says “between Heath Street and Huntington Avenue, we will explore several configurations in partnership with residents. And, we want to create a short but useful connection on Huntington Avenue from South Huntington Avenue to the Emerald Necklace Path and Brookline.”
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