Broadway Bus/Bike Lanes Hearing
Critics of the new dedicated bus and bike lanes on Broadway are pressuring Somerville to reconsider the redesign and make more room for cars. If you want those bus/bike lanes to remain intact, then come out next Monday to share your thoughts with the City Council.
Winter Hill Broadway Bus/Bike Lanes Hearing
Monday, December 9 || 6 p.m.
City Council Chambers, 2nd floor
City Hall, 93 Highland Ave. Somerville
Somerville installed the new lanes in September to curb congestion, increase the timeliness of buses, and improve safety along one of the city’s busiest roads. (Though it’s still early, the changes are projected to shave up to 5 minutes per ride off of nearly 8,000 bus trips each day.) Any attempts to roll back the changes — time-restricting the bus lanes, removing some of the protected bike lane, or even scrapping the whole project — would undermine the effectiveness of this project. That’s why we, along with Somerville Bicycle Safety, do not support any changes to the bus/bike lanes at this time.
Mayor Curtatone has defended the new lanes, and his administration has final say over the project. However, the pushback has grown so intense that it’s important we speak out now to counter the criticism and give the administration the confidence it needs to create more bus and protected bike lanes in the future.
We encourage you to attend this hearing and tell the City Council why the bus/bike lanes are important to you, and why you want to see the changes remain fully intact. In particular, it’s important for the City to hear if your experience has improved riding the bus in these new lanes.
If you can’t attend the meeting, you can still send feedback to the City Council (citycouncil@somervillema.gov), CC’ing traffic@somervillema.gov, transportation@somervillema.gov, and info@bostoncyclistsunion.org.
Don’t let the opposition drown out our voices! Show up and speak up for dedicated bus lanes and protected bike lanes!
On a related front, the MBTA is collecting data about how people are using the new bus/bike lanes, and how they feel about them. You can complete the agency’s survey in just a few minutes by heading here.