Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Walking

"Virtual" Bike, Walk and Roll to School Day flyer, courtesy of MassDOT.

It’s Walk, Bike, and Roll to Homeschool Day

By Christian MilNeil | May 5, 2020 | No Comments

The first Wednesday of May typically marks the Commonwealth’s annual “Walk, Bike, and Roll to School Day,” a partnership between MassDOT and hundreds of schools across the state. This spring, though, the daily “walk to school” consists of clearing the breakfast table and dialing into the morning ZOOM conference. But MassDOT is inviting parents to […]

The Town of Brookline has deactivated beg buttons at 55 traffic signals across the town in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mixed Signals: ‘Beg Buttons’ and the Pandemic

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 21, 2020 | No Comments

In the past month, several municipalities in the region, including Brookline, Cambridge, Arlington and Providence, RI, have acknowledged the uselessness of push-to-walk buttons at crosswalks, and have reprogrammed traffic lights to make walk signals automatic. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, those “beg buttons” were merely one of the hundreds of inconveniences that engineers forced upon pedestrians […]

A person riding a bike enjoys plenty of room on a section of Day Boulevard that was closed to car traffic for the weekend of April 11-12. Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Eyes on the Street: Room to Breathe on DCR Parkways

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 13, 2020 | No Comments

This weekend, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) closed off segments of several Boston-area park roads to give people more room to recreate with safe physical distancing in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. While a number of local officials have been reluctant to endorse outdoor recreation in the midst of the pandemic, […]

A Google Street View image of Francis Parkman Drive at its intersection with Perkins Street on the north shore of Jamaica Pond in Boston.

DCR to Block Drivers From More Parkways in Boston, Watertown

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 10, 2020 | No Comments

DCR hopes that the closure of parking areas and certain road segments to motor vehicle users will reduce crowding and give park users more space to spread out.

Joggers on the Somerville Community Path near Davis Square.

Dealing With the Pandemic One Step at a Time: Practice Walking as Self-Care

By Mia Park | Mar 22, 2020 | No Comments

Livablestreets Report Keeps ‘Go Boston 2030’ on the Agenda, Not on a Shelf

By Christian MilNeil | Mar 11, 2020 | No Comments

In a new report released this morning, the LivableStreets Alliance says that Boston is making good progress on improving street safety, but by and large has yet to make significant progress on its ambitions to reduce traffic and air pollution by increasing biking, walking and transit use. Go Boston 2030, the city’s long-term transportation plan, […]

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