A year after adopting a plan for a citywide network of protected bike lanes, the City of Somerville is getting ready to implement protected bike lanes and numerous pedestrian safety improvements on a trio of streets between Porter and Davis Squares.
The proposed "quick-build" project, using only paint and low-cost materials like signs and flexible-post bollards, would create protected bike lanes on Elm Street east of Cutter Avenue, on Somerville Avenue between Elm St. and the Cambridge city line, and on a short segment of Beacon Street near its intersection with Somerville Ave.
To create space for physically-protected bike lanes, the project will need to remove some on-street parking on those streets, and some MBTA bus stops may move as well.
The project also aims to "increase visibility and safety at crosswalks," according to a project website.
The city will also make bike and pedestrian improvements to Mossland Avenue, which is currently a one-way street with a painted bike lane that offers a shortcut from Elm to Beacon Street.
It's one of the first new bike lane projects that the city has initiated since its City Council endorsed a new Bicycle Network Plan in 2023.
That plan identified both Elm Street and Somerville Avenue as priority locations for new protected bike lanes.
City staff and elected officials will host a virtual meeting about the project Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.
Project will trade on-street parking spaces for safer bike infrastructure
Both Elm Street and Somerville Avenue already have painted bike lanes, but they have no physical protection from moving vehicles. On Elm Street, there is only a westbound bike lane that climbs the hill towards Davis Square; eastbound bike traffic shares a single lane with cars and trucks.
In an email to StreetsblogMASS, Brad Rawson, the Director of the Mobility Division in Somerville's City Hall, explained that these streets aren't due for any major construction work in the next few years, so the city will use paint and bollards to improve safety on a faster timeline.
"These streets serve as important connections to the Kennedy School, major commercial areas in Davis and Porter Squares, and connect to important highly-used bicycle facilities on Beacon Street," wrote Rawson in an email to StreetsblogMASS.
The city has also identified both Elm Street and Somerville Avenue as "high-crash corridors" in its Vision Zero Action Plan.
Earlier this year, the Somerville City Council passed a new Safe Streets Ordinance that set a 2030 deadline for the city to build a 30-mile network of protected bike lanes, including Elm Street and Somerville Ave.
The proposed Elm-Beacon connector project will implement about 5 percent of that network.
Elsewhere in the city, several other construction projects are already implementing other portions of the city's 30-mile priority network, including a redesign of Washington Avenue near Union Square and the reconstruction of several streets in the Spring Hill neighborhood.
