Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Street Design

Powder House Boulevard at the southern edge of the Tufts University campus in Somerville, pictured in May 2019.

Parking Trumps Bike Lanes on Powder House... for Now

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 1, 2019 | No Comments

In a more conciliatory public meeting Wednesday night, city officials raised the possibility of installing a one-way protected bike lane on Powder House Boulevard in 2020, and emphasized the expected safety benefits of traffic-calming measures that are being installed on the street this summer. While safety advocates and bicyclists in particular have been focused on […]

In Powder House Project, Parking Blurs Somerville’s ‘Vision Zero’

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 31, 2019 | 1 Comment

A community meeting tonight will discuss a recent repaving project on Somerville’s Powder House Boulevard, where a motorist killed a woman in a crosswalk in front of a neighborhood school this February. The project, which improves the boulevard from Alewife Brook Parkway to the southern edge of Tufts University in West Somerville, has pitted safety […]

The "Grand Junction" rail line near the MIT campus photographed in June 2019. The corridor is being redesigned to include a new dedicated bike and pedestrian pathway and a possible new rapid transit line.

Cambridge Has Grand Plans for the Grand Junction Rail Line

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 24, 2019 | 1 Comment

The City of Cambridge has kicked off a public design process to build several key segments of a new bike and pedestrian pathway that would cross the city from the BU Bridge to the Somerville city line along the Grand Junction rail line. The Grand Junction today is a little-used freight rail line, but with […]

A section of the Cochituate Rail Trail near Cochituate State Park in Natick before the construction of trail improvements. Photo courtesy of Josh Ostroff.

Natick Makes Way for Trail-Oriented Development

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 19, 2019 | 1 Comment

Construction started this week on Natick’s section of the Cochituate Rail Trail, a 2.4 mile path that will link fast-growing suburban neighborhoods and major employers to Natick’s town center and commuter rail stop. The project will extend an existing 1.2 mile trail (highlighted in yellow in the map at left) through the city of Framingham, where […]

During the morning rush hour on July 11, 2019, dozens of safety advocates gathered to create a "people-protected" barrier for the painted bike lanes on Park Drive in Boston's Fenway neighborhood.

Photos: ‘People-Protected’ Bike Lane on Fenway

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 11, 2019 | 1 Comment

A crowd of over 100 street safety advocates spent a pleasant morning in one of Boston’s Olmsted parks (albeit one that’s largely been paved over to give drivers more places to get stuck in traffic) as they created a “people-protected bike lane” on Fenway and Brookline Avenue during the morning rush hour. As reported previously, […]

A person rides a bike along the Minuteman path in East Arlington.

New MassTrails Program Funds 71 Trail Projects on a Shoestring

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 9, 2019 | 1 Comment

A new statewide grant program has released its first round of awards, stretching $5 million in state and federal funds to advance dozens of trail projects across the state. MassTrails, a relatively new collaboration between the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and MassDOT, aims to fill gaps in the state’s growing network of […]

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