Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh this morning unveiled a four-point transportation agenda, which included redesigning a stretch of Commonwealth Avenue along the Boston University campus to include protected bike lines and a pilot program that would eliminate towing during street sweeping.
“We’re implementing innovative and inventive transportation strategies and infrastructure upgrades in the City of Boston to improve travel safety and convenience,” Walsh said in a statement. “Whether you walk, drive, take the T or ride a bike on our streets, we’re looking at solutions that can accommodate every mode of transportation in a meaningful way.”
The mayor announced plans to redesign a portion of Commonwealth Avenue that extends between the BU Bridge to Packard’s Corner. At a public meeting held at Boston University last night, the city unveiled a new Commonwealth Avenue Phase 2A Redesign Plan. The built roadway will provide bicyclists with physically protected bike lanes on both the inbound and outbound sides of the avenue. It will also offer the MBTA and its users with fully ADA compliant crossings at all intersections along the project route and will create a framework for the construction of wider platforms that will be safer and more efficient for trolley riders, according to the mayor’s office.
Walsh also plans to file a City Council ordinance to pilot a new street sweeping initiative in one of Boston’s neighborhoods, which would eliminate towing for street sweeping, and increase the fine for not moving a vehicle from $40 to $90. The ordinance is being drafted now. The city plans to use the pilot to determine whether this initiative should be extended to other neighborhoods.
Boston will also adopt a “vision zero,” policy, Walsh announced today, an idea born in Sweden that is based on the premise that traffic fatalities are not accidents, but rather they are crashes that can be prevented by effective policies and systematic evaluation, enforcement, engineering, education, and community engagement. Other U.S. cities to embrace a vision zero policy include New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Walsh has convened a Vision Zero Task Force to develop an action plan for a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries in Boston.
The Boston Transportation Department will be adding 8,000 multi- and single-space “intelligent parking meters,” which allow drivers to pay through their mobile phone, credit card and pocket change. The meters will provide real-time data to the city, and officials believe they will help the transportation department better manage the space at the curb.
The initiatives are part of Go Boston 2030, a program launched to imagine a bold new transportation plan for Boston for the coming years. Walsh will also work with the Boston Transportation Department to begin a nationwide search for a new Active Transportation Director to “think holistically about how our streets are used by people who walk, bike and take transit,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
