Commissioner “reevaluating” design

The BU Bikes Comm Ave public meeting on Dec. 9 was an unqualified success by most accounts, though city officials still have not committed fully to a cycletrack on Boston’s most dangerous thoroughfare.

Over 130 people shook off the pouring rain and flooded streets to attend the meeting, which was called by BU Bikes to ensure Boston University students would get their two cents in as the city’s public meeting on the project continues to be delayed.

Interim Commissioner Jim Gillooly spoke to the crowd after advocates from WalkBoston, Livable Streets Alliance, MassBike and the Boston Cyclists Union all voiced their support and made detailed for the cycletrack, including a presentation of the Bike Union’s conceptual cycletrack design and crash data analysis.

“We’re doing a reevaluation of some earlier design work,” said Gillooly in a post-meeting interview with the Bike Union. “We’re already on board with narrowing the travel lanes… Everybody has reason to be optimistic that this design will be improved, and I think they have to be realistic in terms of respecting the fact that we need to seek that balance (between travel modes).”

Gillooly has told advocates that the last public meeting on the project will likely be in late January, and it might include more than one option for the public to choose from. He has said publicly that the department is considering cycletracks as they reevaluate the original design.