Somerville is finalizing plans for a major road reconstruction project in Spring Hill. Unfortunately, the latest draft design shows a glaring gap: There are no protected bike lanes, only sharrows, planned for Highland Ave.

Don’t let this one-in-a-generation opportunity slip away. Speak up today, and tell Somerville that its residents want protected bike lanes on Highland Ave!

Here’s what you can do:

• Sign and share the petition from Somerville Bike Safety
   
• Email Mayor Curtatone (mayor@somervillema.gov); the departments of mobility (transportation@somervillema.gov) and engineering (engineering@somervillema.gov); the City Council (citycouncil@somervillema.gov); and CC info@somervillebikesafety.org and info@bostoncyclistsunion.org so we can track our impact. Tell Mayor Curtatone to find a solution that includes protected bike lanes for the length of Highland Ave. Please include your full address, and explain why protected bike lanes here are important to you. Your message doesn’t need to be long; a couple quick sentences is fine. 
   
• Call the Mayor’s office at (617) 625-6600 ext 2100 to deliver the same message. Phone calls communicate a sense of urgency much more than email.

Background

The Spring Hill Sewer Separation Project will renovate several streets around Spring Hill. As part of that process, Somerville will also make infrastructure improvements for people walking, biking and taking transit. 

Somerville’s own goals, from SomerVision to Vision Zero encourage reducing our reliance on private cars, and encouraging active, low-carbon mobility, like bicycling. The current design — continuing to ask people to bike on Highland Ave. in a shared lane with approximately 13,000 cars per day — will not encourage additional bicycling and is at odds with the city’s own plans.

This is a once-in-a generation chance, and we have to do everything we can to change the current plan for Highland Ave.