The Mayor’s July letter made commitments across six areas:

1. Establishing a Streets Advisory Group with trusted advocates and partners
2. Evaluating the design of Tremont Street to identify safety improvements
3. Expanding the use of cast-in-place concrete barriers (CIPCON) and replacing flex posts
4. Improving large vehicle safety
5. Improving Vision Zero data and expanding data analysis
6. Improving enforcement

Across the following areas, we believe that the city has made meaningful progress on their commitments. 

The Streets Advisory Group

This advisory group has met with Mayor Wu several times and is preparing a report with their recommendations for improving Streets Cabinet operations. We are eagerly awaiting the release of their recommendations.

Expanding the Use of CIPCON and Replacing Flex Posts

With the remaining stock of flex posts, the Streets Cabinet has begun replacing flexposts in areas where they were either damaged or intentionally removed over the past year. For example, flexposts around the Boston Common and on part of Milk Street have been replaced. At the same time, they haven’t been replaced with the same density at which they were once installed, leaving large gaps between flexposts and allowing for vehicles to park between posts. 

Some areas have yet to have their flexposts replaced. For example, Cambridge Street between City Hall and the Longfellow Bridge is still missing flexposts, and according to Bike Bureau reports, is among the most frequently blocked bike lanes in the entire city. If you have other locations in Boston where protection has been removed and yet to be replaced, let us know by emailing us back at info@bostoncyclistsunion.org. We’ll flag these locations to the city.

The City has expressed to us that they have a shortage of flex posts. We requested that the City provide a status update on the order of additional flex posts or quick build barriers.

We’re excited to report that we’ve recently heard that the City has purchased more quick-build materials for safety improvements, such as Zicla Zebras and pre-cast concrete curbs. We’ve also heard that they’re increasing their capacity for more cast-in-place concrete installations, with Washington Street between Stuart Street and Ave de Lafayette being the next location to receive concrete curbs protecting the bike lane. 

Improving Enforcement

We’ve also heard that enforcement has been increased. From our partners in advocacy, we’ve been told that at several locations, drivers blocking bike lanes are being ticketed. 

At the same time, we are waiting for the City to fulfill its commitment to publish data on how many and where tickets are issued. Anecdotal reports are not enough to show improved enforcement. Additionally, data on where tickets are issued is crucial to ensure that enforcement is done as equitably as possible. 

Ultimately, the Boston Cyclists Union believes that increased law enforcement is neither the most equitable nor effective way to improve safety for bicyclists and other vulnerable road users. The solution is improved infrastructure, such as protected bicycle lanes and traffic calming. Thus, our priority is to advocate for infrastructure that prevents dangerous behavior, not increased enforcement.

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In other areas, the City hasn’t appeared to make meaningful progress yet.

Evaluating the Design of Tremont Street

In her letter, the Mayor promised to “conduct a comprehensive safety and urban design evaluation of the Tremont Street corridor in Mission Hill to identify important fixes.” We have yet to see concrete progress on this commitment.

After some guerilla activists duct-taped a bike lane on Tremont Street at the intersection of Parker Street, the media reported that the City is working on that design evaluation, but we haven’t yet seen any results from that work. The duct tape remains at the intersection while the City works on official design changes to improve safety in the Tremont Street corridor. 

Improving Large Vehicle Safety

We understand that the city is working on improving its truck and large vehicle policies to improve safety for all road users, but the public hasn’t yet received any concrete details on what this policy will look like. We look forward to hearing the results of this work as soon as possible.

Improving Vision Zero Data and Expanding Analysis

Mayor Wu made a commitment to updating the Vision Zero Dashboard monthly and expanding analysis to determine target locations for needed interventions. Cambridge recently announced a similar program where “high crash locations” as determined by crash data are receiving safety makeovers. 

Unfortunately, the last update to the Vision Zero Dashboard was in July, and the dashboard only contains data up until the month of June. We would like to see this data updated monthly, as the Mayor had committed to. 

Furthermore, we would like to see a similar program to Cambridge’s, where the city committed to making safety improvements at the ten intersections deemed most dangerous for vulnerable road users

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We’re generally encouraged to see some progress on the Mayor’s July commitments. We’ve also seen improved transparency between the Streets Cabinet and advocates like across all transportation-related organizations. The brick wall between advocates and the Streets Cabinet has been torn down and in its place, a window has been opened. 

We will continue pushing for an increased pace of projects, the inclusion of safety improvements as a part of regular repaving, and longer term goals such as a comprehensive citywide bicycle network plan or Safe Streets Ordinance for Boston.