Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Street Design

Proposed "shared streets" and expanded curbside pedestrian areas, part of the city's COVID-19 mobility plan. Courtesy of the City of Somerville.

Check Out Somerville’s Citywide ‘COVID-19 Mobility Strategy’

By Christian MilNeil | May 24, 2020 | No Comments

The City of Somerville has announced a citywide mobility strategy to provide safer walking and biking routes with more room for physical distancing as “stay at home” orders ease this spring and summer. Roughly a quarter of Somerville’s households are car-free. The city’s COVID-19 mobility plan therefore focuses on creating safer routes between residential neighborhoods […]

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NACTO Issues New Playbook for ‘Physical Distancing’ on City Streets

By Kea Wilson | May 22, 2020 | No Comments

Pedestrians take advantage of expanded walking areas on Beacon Street in Brookline in mid-April. Brookline officials have repurposed on-street parking areas to provide additional space for safe physical distancing in commercial districts and on key routes to area hospitals; City of Boston officials may soon follow suit. Photo courtesy of the Brookline Transportation Department.

Boston Plans Expanded Sidewalks, Expedited Bike Projects for Pandemic Recovery

By Christian MilNeil | May 12, 2020 | No Comments

City of Boston staff are proposing to expand pedestrian space into on-street parking areas, build pop-up bike lanes, expand waiting areas at busy bus stops, and close some residential streets to through traffic in a wide-ranging strategy to support car-free mobility in a new era of physical distancing. City officials discussed these strategies and several […]

A rendering of the new three-lane "road diet" layout on Main Street in Reading. The new layout will be tested in a "pilot" project over the summer and fall of 2020, and evaluated according to its benefits in reducing rates of crashes and illegal speeding. Courtesy of MassDOT.

MassDOT Tries Out Traffic Calming on Reading’s Main Street

By Christian MilNeil | May 11, 2020 | No Comments

MassDOT is test-driving a narrower road layout – and new online public engagement tools – in a suburb north of Boston.

A photo illustration of what a new Northern Avenue Bridge would look like with a dedicated lane for privately-operated shuttles. Photo montage by StreetsblogMASS, based on bridge renderings from the City of Boston.

Will Northern Ave. Bridge Project Use Public Funds to Benefit Private Shuttles?

By Christian MilNeil | May 6, 2020 | No Comments

The City of Boston will spend millions of dollars more on a larger design that allows private commuter shuttles on the new Northern Avenue Bridge across the Fort Point Channel, in spite of what project managers had previously characterized as “overwhelming” public support for a cheaper bridge designed for bikes and pedestrians. Last year, engineers […]

Boston Council to Host Hearing on Pandemic Street Safety Improvements

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 28, 2020 | No Comments

"This is very much about safeguarding everyone's health in the immediate term. We are finding it impossible to practice distancing on narrow sidewalks," said Councilor Michelle Wu.

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