Somerville Voters Approve Bike Lanes, Bus Stop Improvements In Participatory Budget

Earlier this week, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne announced that five projects would receive nearly $1 million in city funding in the City of Somerville’s first-ever Participatory Budgeting process.

Somerville residents cast over 3,500 votes to select which ideas they most wanted to put into action in their neighborhoods, according to a city press release.

Several projects will support Somerville’s sustainable transportation plans, including:

• $250,000 to accelerate the implementation of Somerville’s new bike network plan by installing one to two miles’ worth of quick-build bike lanes, separated from motor vehicle traffic with flexible-post bollards. This funding will supplement other bike infrastructure projects already in progress.
• $200,000 to improve bus stops, focused on the city’s most heavily-used bus corridors (Broadway, Washington Street, and Somerville Ave.). The city says that the funding could fund new real-time arrival signage, better seating, and shade structures.
• Another $200,000 will go to efforts to mitigate the urban heat island effect in Somerville with new shade structures for parks, public squares, and sidewalks.

The remainder of the participatory budget will fund free and subsidized food access programs and an accelerated rollout of new “Big Belly” trash cans in an attempt to control the city’s rat population.