MassDOT to rebuild Cambridge St.
Letter writing time!
Allston bike advocates are on the march to improve a new plan to reconstruct Cambridge Street over the Massachusetts Turnpike, and we’re asking you to back your fellow cyclists up!
The first public meeting held by MassDOT on the project was held June 18, but was described as the 100% design and no commitment to a follow up meeting was given despite a plethora of concerns expressed by residents.
Chief among the complaints was the elimination of the informal pedestrian and bike crossing that serves Linden St. and at Highgate St. and feeds the footbridge over the pike to Franklin Street. Residents also said they would like physical separation on the buffered bike lane in the plan, making it into a cycletrack-and requested that that cycletrack go all the way to the intersection of Cambridge and Harvard streets instead of ending at Linden St. as it does now in the plan.
Most of all, the current plan calls for one way buffered bike lanes on either side of the street on the bridge only (from Harvard Ave. to Lincoln Ave.), but residents want to know how that configuration would work on the rest of the street, in particular when navigating the on and off ramps to I-90.
Cambridge Street has been thought of as one of the worst streets in the city for cyclists for decades. Residents see it as a barrier in their community, but it was also the site of bike rider Kelly Wallace’s death in 2007, which sparked the rise of the group H.E.L.L. (Helping Everyone Live Longer) that distributes free helmets. On the other side of the footbridge, Lincoln Street was the site of Kiersten Malone’s fatal crash, which sparked the beginnings of the Livable Streets Alliance, the Boston Cyclists Union, and many other efforts.
Particularly if you have biked or regularly bike Cambridge Street-you need to send a letter to MassDOT to let them know how important making this street safer is to you.
Please send an email before July 3!
dot.feedback.highway@state.ma.
(include a reference to: Project #606376)
For the information distributed at the June 18th public hearing, click here.
More information about proposed improvements:
http://