The Wu administration has spent tens of millions putting in bike lanes all through Boston because the mayor took workplace, and is planning to spend tens of millions extra in future years, however some argue the hefty funding has led to extra complications than advantages.
An evaluation of town’s $4.7 billion capital plan for fiscal yr 2025-29 reveals a sequence of initiatives starting from increasing the bike share community, and implementing new bike corridors to offer biking connections, to performing main road redesigns that contain putting in new bike lanes in varied neighborhoods.
The 13 initiatives involving bike lanes exceed $121 million within the capital funds, however it’s unclear from the info how a lot of that’s devoted solely to implementing lanes for cyclists. Mayor Michelle Wu’s workplace mentioned town’s funds between FY23 and FY24 included $145 million in streets investments for capital upgrades, together with sidewalks, repaving roads and ramps, and that bike lanes are constructed as a part of bigger initiatives.
Town constructed 15 whole miles of latest protected bike lanes because it introduced its bike community growth and safer streets initiative in 2022, at roughly $150,000 per mile, or about $2.25 million, the mayor’s workplace mentioned.
“As our city continues to grow, Boston is working urgently so our roads are safe and smooth for all roadway users,” a Wu spokesperson mentioned in a press release.
The spending comes amid a funds crunch, stemming from falling industrial property values and vacant workplace area, that has the mayor searching for a hike in enterprise tax charges to offer reduction to householders.
Within the Again Bay, representatives from two neighborhood associations say a motorbike lane added this previous summer season on Boylston Road, the place a brand new bus lane was additionally added, has created a “mess.” The undertaking’s been unhealthy for companies within the space, the place many individuals stroll round to seize espresso, eat and store, the reps mentioned, and has created security issues fairly than enhance road accessibility.
“We are finding that it’s problematic for businesses that need to load and unload goods and services, and we’re very alarmed and concerned about the lack of pedestrian access that has occurred,” Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Again Bay Affiliation, advised the Herald. “The overall functioning of the Back Bay is sorely impacted by this.”
Mainzer-Cohen despatched an electronic mail to metropolis transportation officers, Mayor Wu and the district councilor Sharon Durkan final week outlining a sequence of “enormous concerns” which have arisen within the neighborhood since bike lanes have been added on a number of busy streets, together with Boylston, Beacon, Berkeley and Dartmouth.
Within the electronic mail, she talked about that visitors congestion is driving clients away from eating places and stopping the Again Bay from “functioning” at instances. There’s an absence of predictability with visitors signaling that’s inflicting security issues for pedestrians, she mentioned, and poor planning has left bus and bike lanes underutilized by the meant customers and required motorists to “zig and zag” by means of lanes for “dedicated turning.”
“The city’s top priority with all that infrastructure, and multiple millions of dollars, is to create a protected, connected bike lane system for bike riders, and in creating that there are unintended consequences for every other user,” Mainzer-Cohen advised the Herald.
Martyn Roetter, chair of the Neighborhood Affiliation of the Again Bay, mentioned his group shares comparable issues — together with accessibility points for emergency automobiles — however famous that they’ve fallen on deaf ears at metropolis corridor.
Whereas prior administrations he’s handled have been open to altering their plans based mostly on group suggestions, Roetter mentioned, “our concern is that doesn’t seem to be the attitude of this administration.”
“Basically it’s my way or the highway, or in this particular case, it’s my bike lane regardless of the pain,” Roetter mentioned, including of the bike lanes, “It’s a complete mess and I think that none of us really have any trust or confidence in what the city is trying to do, or if it really knows where it’s going.”
Town additionally encountered heavy group pushback to its so-called street weight loss plan in West Roxbury, which concerned including bike lanes on Centre Road.
Jarred Johnson, government director of TransitMatters, a gaggle that advocates for public transportation — which town sees as being naturally complemented by biking — mentioned “change is always hard” and usually includes pushback. He additionally cautioned that the suggestions of neighborhood associations needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as they’re “not a neutral party in this.”
“There’s only so much that we can glean from them doing a back of napkin count on how much those bike lanes are being used, versus actually having the real data,” Johnson mentioned.
The mayor’s workplace famous that town’s evaluation for the lanes put in in 2023 discovered that bike ridership grew on common by 56% on these streets. The Wu administration expects that quantity will “continue to rise.”
“We have also made improvements to tackle traffic through new signalization and curbside management to address double parking that creates congestion hotspots,” a Wu spokesperson mentioned.
Johnson added that lots of the individuals who frequent companies on Boylston Road are pedestrians and cyclists, fairly than motorists, resulting from restricted and costly parking in that Again Bay strip.
The bike lanes are partly geared at resolving that conundrum, by enhancing security and accessibility for these patrons, he mentioned, whereas citing the intense crashes which have hampered cyclists through the years.
Town’s bike community growth goals to get 50% of residents inside a 3-minute stroll of a “connected bike route” over a three-year interval. A citywide “better bike project” is listed at $17.3 million within the capital funds, in keeping with Analyze Boston information.
When requested, Johnson mentioned he sees town’s efforts to develop its bike community as a stable funding that individuals will wish to use, “even if it’s not readily apparent.”
“I’m not saying that every single thing about it is perfect,” Johnson mentioned, “but I think once you see that these bike lanes have a chance to prove themselves, and as long as the network that connects to it is up to snuff, I think we’ll see a street that is able to bring more people down to that area to shop and then remove some of the conflicts that are already a much bigger cause of traffic congestion than bike lanes could ever be.”
That is the primary in an occasional sequence digging into Boston’s metropolis funds.
