Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about MassDOT

New flexpost-protected bike lanes have been installed on the Craigie Bridge in front of the Boston Museum of Science, seen in this August 8 photograph looking south towards Boston.

Eyes on the Street: New Bikeways on Charles River Dam

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 9, 2019

One of the first stories that StreetsblogMASS covered was a May public meeting on MassDOT’s plans for a road diet and new flexpost-protected bike lanes on Craigie Bridge (also known as Charles River Dam Road) in front of the Boston Museum of Science. Eyes on the street: the new flexpost-protected bike lanes have been installed […]

The cover image from the 2019 MassDOT Pedestrian Transportation Plan.

Meet Your New Massachusetts Bike and Pedestrian Plans

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 6, 2019

Last month, MassDOT released its new statewide Bicycle Transportation Plan and a separate Statewide Pedestrian Transportation Plan, the culmination of a two-year planning effort organized around the vision of making biking and walking “a safe, comfortable, and convenient option” for everyone in Massachusetts. The state is also putting some significant money on the table to make […]

The "Grand Junction" rail line near the MIT campus photographed in June 2019. The corridor is being redesigned to include a new dedicated bike and pedestrian pathway and a possible new rapid transit line.

Cambridge Has Grand Plans for the Grand Junction Rail Line

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 24, 2019 | 1 Comment

The City of Cambridge has kicked off a public design process to build several key segments of a new bike and pedestrian pathway that would cross the city from the BU Bridge to the Somerville city line along the Grand Junction rail line. The Grand Junction today is a little-used freight rail line, but with […]

In June, the MBTA issued a solicitation for bids from private developers for the use of this mile-long rail corridor in East Boston. The corridor connects the Logan Airport area to the doorstep of Suffolk Downs, where builders have proposed 10.5 million square feet of new development.

Advocacy Works: MBTA Cancels East Boston Rail Corridor Sale

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 22, 2019

After receiving intense scrutiny from transit advocates, the MBTA is withdrawing its effort to sell easement rights to an abandoned mile-long rail corridor along the Chelsea Creek waterfront in East Boston. As reported last week on StreetsblogMASS, the MBTA quietly issued an “invitation for bids” on June 21 to sell off a non-exclusive easement to […]

The Mystic Avenue crosswalk at the Kensington pedestrian underpass in East Somerville.

Hit-and-Run Driver Kills Woman in Crosswalk in Somerville

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 22, 2019 | 1 Comment

Massachusetts State Police have arrested Zewdu Abate Gedamu, 64, of Roxbury, for killing Cheryl Pauline Richards, 52, of Somerville, as she was walking across Mystic Avenue in the crosswalk Saturday evening near Assembly Square. Gedamu, who was driving a 2008 Mercedes-Benz E350, struck Richards shortly before 8 p.m. on the crosswalk that connects Stop and […]

The Registry of Motor Vehicles office building on Haymarket Square in downtown Boston.

Suspended Licenses Are a Weak Deterrent for Dangerous Drivers

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 17, 2019

Last month, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old from West Springfield, drove his pickup truck into a group of motorcyclists on a rural New Hampshire road, killing seven of them and injuring three more. The tragedy revealed a stunning bureaucratic failure at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), a subdivision of MassDOT. Zhukovskyy had been arrested for […]

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