Although announced last week, Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration has not been able to answer specific questions about a 30-day study of bike and bus lanes.
The Boston Guardian inquired last Friday about the role and makeup of the study’s advisory board, the streets that the study would focus on and how the public will be involved in evaluating the results.
The
administration’s statement instead echoed the same content and language
of a public letter Mayor Wu wrote to Back Bay leaders about the removal
of the Boylston Street bus lane last week. In the statement, a city
spokesperson said that “All individual projects are discussed with the
community,” but a recently launched website critical of the city’s bike
infrastructure has been vocal about the lack of community input.
Behind
the PedalSafeBoston website is Jay Cashman, a longtime Back Bay
resident and owner of one of the largest construction and development
firms in the Northeast.
Cashman
said in an interview that Boston’s bike infrastructure has been forced
through a section at a time, disregarding feedback and without a larger
vision for what connected bike infrastructure should look like citywide.
“It
was a mock community process,” he said, indicating that developers held
summer meetings while many residents are away and installed new lanes
within a matter of weeks, while not responding to community comments.
“I had a meeting, I invited 50 neighborhood associations. 33 of them showed up.
When
everybody had time to talk, they all said the same thing, no planning,"
Cashman said. “Over in Cambridge, we actually tested over there, if you
have a question about the bike lanes they’ll actually answer you in a
couple days.”
Mayor Wu
seemed to acknowledge the frustration in her letter, saying, “As
citywide bike infrastructure has been built out piece by piece across
the last decade. These last links are often the most difficult community
conversations involving significant tradeoffs. I have heard from you
and other community members that the process to evaluate these tradeoffs
and the varying perspectives of local neighbors and citywide commuters
has at times felt rushed and predetermined.”
The
PedalSafeBoston website contains a page dedicated to each individual
bike lane project implemented over the last several years, complete with
specific criticisms that mostly come down to insufficient studies
making it difficult to evaluate the safety impact. Cashman would like to
see many such projects rolled back while the city undertakes a serious
evaluation of its larger vision for a connected bike system.
“This
is not a $10 million project. This is probably over 20 years, probably a
$300- or $500 million-dollar project, and probably the first part of it
is $10 million worth of planning,” Cashman said.
Over
the past fifteen years, Boston has incrementally developed its bike
infrastructure under several administrations. The city spokesperson said
that “roughly half of that total bike lanes that have been built under
this administration, or are currently under construction, were designed
in prior administrations.” These projects have often implemented
temporary measures such as plastic flex posts and painted road markings.
Mayor Wu acknowledged in the letter that many such quick fixes have
remained longer than anticipated and without proper review. Since 2007,
of the 65 miles of bike lanes added, only 17.5 miles has been protected
bike lanes.
“At this
point in Boston’s evolution of roadway design it is time to review what
has been installed over the last fifteen years, adjust or redesign what
has not been functioning well, and transition successful temporary
safety fixes into permanent, beautiful infrastructure that enhances
quality of life and matches the character of our neighborhoods,” read
Mayor Wu’s letter.