As the end of 2023 approaches, we typically run a roundup of the year&#8217;s biggest stories. This year, though, there was so much that happened all over the Commonwealth – both in politics and on city streets – that we&#8217;d like to offer our readers a chance to weigh in. What were your favorite infrastructure…

Open Thread: What Were the Biggest Transportation Stories of 2023?

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Brian Kane is Executive Director of the <a href="https://mbtaadvisoryboard.org/">MBTA Advisory Board</a>, a quasi-state body providing budget oversight of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on behalf of 178 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. He is also the volunteer Chair of the Brookline, Massachusetts Transportation Board. Established in 1974, by statute this board manages parking, traffic, and multi-modal transportation in New England’s largest town by population. Previously, Kane worked in both operations and budget management at the MBTA.

A middle-aged man in a suit stands in the operator cab of a light rail train.

Brian Kane

A crowded train hall filled with people, many of whom are carrying luggage. A large electronic sign hanging from the high ceiling displays upcoming train departures.

Housing

Guest Column: South Station Is Not An Adequate Emergency Shelter

Marion Davis is a board member of WalkMassachusetts and lives in Somerville.

Marion Davis

Brendan Kearney is executive director of WalkMassachusetts and a former member of the StreetsblogMASS board of directors. He lives in Framingham.

Brendan Kearney

Op-ed

Guest Column: Enough With the Snow, We Deserve Accessible Sidewalks

<div>Aman Shankardass is a Master’s student at Boston University interested in transportation planning and human-centered urban design. Last year, he founded Boston Cafe Bikers, a Boston-based community that promotes city exploration and bike safety, aimed at building confidence in sustainable commuting. Find him on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bos_cafe_bikers">@bos_cafe_bikers</a>. 
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Aman Shankardass

Guest Column: Imagine More Forgiving Neighborhoods

Got tips? Send them to me via Signal, the encrypted messaging app, at 207-310-0728. You can also follow me on <a href="https://better.boston/@cmilneil" rel="me">Mastodon.</a>

Christian MilNeil

Two people with Bluebikes wait to cross a wide street towards a park on the other side. On the horizon to the left are four glass towers in downtown Boston.

Editorial: Bike Lane Haters Keep On Losing

A portrait of a smiling man with a short beard and brown skin wearing a navy blue suit and yellow tie, and standing in front of a green leafy backdrop.

Enrique Pepén

Morning view of Hyde Park Avenue in Forest Hills, Boston.

Guest Column: It’s Time to Make Hyde Park Ave. Safe for Everyone 

Bhuvan Atluri is the Associate Director of Research at the MIT Mobility Initiative.

Bhuvan Atluri

People mingle around rows of parked cars on a broad lawn in front of a Romanesque Revial-style stone building with many dormers on its roof.

Guest Column: Car Enthusiasts Can Be Allies In Transportation Decarbonization

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Streetsblog Network

Streetsblog Massachusetts

A Waymo autonomous taxi blocks a crosswalk in the middle of a large city.

Daily headlines

Friday’s Headlines Take a Free Ride

Jaime Moore-Carrillo is a journalist based in Boston. A Massachusetts native, Jaime has reported on transportation issues for The Boston Globe and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas.

A young man with light-colored skin and short brown hair.

Jaime Moore-Carrillo

A photo of UMass Transit employee Ash Larner driving a city bus don a downtown street. The photo is taken from behind the driver's seat of a city bus, with Larner's face visible in profile the rear-view mirror at upper right.

Regional Transit Authorities

In Amherst, Delivering Public Transit Is An Extracurricular Activity

A smiling black woman with long braided hair wearing a black-and-yellow plaid patterned sweater

Meghan Volcy

A rendering of the Alford Street Bridge in Boston with a red-painted dedicated busway in the roadway (far right) next to a two-way bike path (center right) and the existing bridge sidewalk (left). In the distance is visible the high-rise Encore Casino.

MBTA

Wheels Start Turning For the Lower Broadway – Alford Street Transit Priority Corridor Project

A view of the new Columbus Ave. bus lanes and the new bus platforms at Walnut Avenue.

Transit

Wu Administration Delays Columbus Ave. Transit Project; City Hall Planners Told to Cancel Meetings With MBTA

A man walks away from a bus stop where an MBTA bus marked "109 Via Sullivan" is waiting. In the foreground is a crosswalk.

Uncategorized

MBTA’s Phillip Eng Says T Will Exceed Pre-Pandemic Levels of Bus Service This Spring

A view of a multi-track train station from an elevated perspective from a nearby building. A CSX freight train is approaching the platforms from the lower right. Several of the platforms at left are abandoned but there is a newer platform visible in the upper part of the rail yard. In the distance are multi-story masonry buildings of a small city.

MassDOT In Talks With Connecticut for Hourly Springfield-NYC Amtrak Service

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Dozens of cyclists in green Youth Bike Summit shirts ride past tall oak trees and manicured grass alongside a golf course, a man on a golf cart waves as the riders pass by.