The COVID-19 pandemic, high gas prices, a sympathetic mayor and the installation of a new major subway line allowed Boston to expand its bicycle network drastically, said Galen Mook, executive director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, or MassBike.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu this month announced a three-year bike lane expansion initiative. The project focuses on filling gaps in the city's disjointed bike lane network and will concentrate on downtown during the first year. The city has not finalized its plans for years two and three.
The plan calls for expanding the city bike network so that "50% of residents will be a 3-minute walk from a safe and connected bike route" and adding speed humps in 30 community zones and 75 raised crosswalks at parks, libraries, community centers and schools.
"We are super excited about it," Mook said. "We are really grateful to have a mayor in the first year of her term to commit to something like that."
Boston is one of several cities throughout the U.S. to significantly expand its bike network after the pandemic began and cycling ridership began to boom.
City officials say the new network could help with pedestrian safety. In 2019, almost 700 people suffered serious injuries while walking Boston's streets, according to the city. Another 365 were seriously injured while biking. The need for transportation alternatives to cars and light rail is especially acute given that one of the Boston region's train lines shut down earlier this month for repairs, and gasoline prices rose earlier this year, Mook said.
Residents got used to auto lanes being shut down for other public purposes during the pandemic, such as streeteries and events, making it easier to sell the idea of reserving street lanes for bicyclists, Mook said.
Boston's current bike network includes 59 miles of off-street paths, 17.5 miles of separated bike lanes and 8 miles of on-street neighborhood routes, the city says. The plan's first phase calls for filling in the gaps between routes, with the city adding 9.4 miles of new bike paths by the end of 2023.
"These gaps in the bike network are not just physical barriers to biking. They are mental barriers, too. A few stressful blocks can prevent someone from taking a trip by bike," the city's plan stated. "We would not accept this condition for drivers."
The city will form a citizen-led working group to help design the new bike network and promises "100 miles of comfortable biking in Boston" by the end of the project.
The plan also calls for adding 100 new Bluebikes bikeshare stations, growing its existing inventory by 40%.
Financing the project is relatively easy because the city is using pandemic-relief funds that have much less red tape than most funding sources, Mook said.
"The tricky part is closing the gaps. The easy stuff has been done. We have to put the puzzle together," Mook said. "The real test will be seeing that progress is maintained in the outer neighborhoods as well."
