Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Street Design

A pedestrian crosses Tremont Street in a new crosswalk. In the foreground is a newly-installed median island, about the size of a parked car, that is paved in bricks and ringed by a granite curb. To its left are two lanes for two-way car traffic; to its right is an asphalt-paved bike lane, and a second curb at the right edge of the photo delineates the street's sidewalk. A smaller granite curb island is located at the far side of the crosswalk, and two other pairs of islands in a similar configuration protect the crosswalk on the opposite side of the intersection. Historic brick rowhomes line both sides of the street. In the distance is a church steeple.

Eyes On the Street: Portions of New Tremont St. Protected Bike Lane Are Ready to Ride

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 22, 2022 | No Comments

In the past few weeks, new striping has gone down on several blocks in the western end of the project area, delineating space for new protected bike lanes.

An aerial view of Fall River's Route 79 expressway, looking south towards downtown Fall River (top left) and Mt. Hope Bay (top right). The view is dominated by the massive Route 79, which occupies 8 to 14 lanes alongside wide expanses of empty grass along Fall River's waterfront. Along the left edge of the photo is visible the densely-populated residential neighborhoods of Fall River's North End.

MassDOT Is Demolishing a Highway to Give Fall River Its Waterfront Back

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 21, 2022 | No Comments

MassDOT's Route 79 demolition and associated improvements on nearby surface streets are expected to be complete by 2025.

Worcester City Hall, an imposing Italianate building with a tall clock tower, and Worcester's Main Street on a gray December day.

Worcester City Hall Poaches Longtime Brookline Planner for New Transportation Department

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 20, 2022 | No Comments

Worcester is in the midst of several big-picture planning initiatives, like the implementation of the 2020 Green Worcester Plan – which calls on the city to "shift more trips from cars to transit, biking, and walking" – and the upcoming Worcester Next long-range plan.

A rendering of a proposed Columbus Avenue busway, looking down at the street from above, with the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks at left, the Southwest Corridor bike and walking paths, and center-running bus lanes on Columbus Avenue, with bus shelters located between the bus lanes and the general-purpose motor vehicle lanes.

Our First Look at Boston’s Plans to Extend Columbus Ave. Bus Lanes

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 13, 2022 | No Comments

The project would more than double the length of the existing busway that opened on Columbus Avenue last year.

A diagram showing recommended installation heights and four varieties of signage from MassDOT's bike route signage design guide. Gray outlines of a person walking and a person riding a bike are shown for scale against a light grid of horizontal lines that indicate height in 1-foot increments. The four example signs all have 7 feet of clearance underneath them. The leftmost sample sign, which is indicated as 18 inches tall by 24 inches wide, shows icons of a bike rider and pedestrian in white on a blue background above the words "Linear Route Name." To the right, the next sample sign shows two signs mounted on a single pole: the top sign is a smaller 8-inch-tall blue-background "Linear Route Name" indicator sign; below it, a green sign split vertically into three sections has three white arrows pointing in various directions next to three copies of the word "Destination." To that sign's right, a third sample sign shows the same 18-inch-by-24-inch blue "Linear Route Name" sign over a smaller sign with a single, bold white arrow on a green background. The fourth and rightmost sign, specifed as 6 to 8 inches tall, says "Street Name" in white on a green background.

New Wayfinding Guide Aims to Help Riders Find Their Way Across the Commonwealth

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 1, 2022 | No Comments

If you’ve ever found yourself bewildered on Boylston Street, lost in Lowell, or stranded in Sandwich, the state has a new plan to help you get your bearings on your bike rides. The new Bike Wayfinding Design Guide from the state’s inter-agency MassTrails team establishes a system of consistent, easy-to-read signage for bike routes and […]

An animated GIF showing Congress Street in Fort Point as it is today – a wide two-lane street with on-street parking on both sides – alongside a rendering of how the street will look after a reconstruction project is finished, with protected bike lanes and widened sidewalks.

Boston Planning New Bikeways, Widened Sidewalks for Fort Point

By Christian MilNeil | Nov 29, 2022 | No Comments

Several construction projects scheduled to begin construction in the coming year in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood will widen sidewalks and connect the neighborhood's emerging network of protected bike lanes.

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