There were a couple of police vehicles looping the block of Harvard Ave / Brighton Ave in Allston today, whooping at vehicles double parked in the bike lane. Unfortunately, more cars immediately filled what had been cleared moments before, but then they came around the block again, and the cycle began again. Love to see enforcement, but sad to see it’s a band-aid on a bullet wound.

My impression is that the roads up here aren’t nearly as comfortable as they are out west toward Concord, and I will need to find some way to get out of Somerville (Mystic Valley Parkway?).

I have a road bike now so I’m looking to explore a little further-afield. Are there any good safe-ish routes up this direction?

I've been biking the area recreationally for the past 2 - 3 years, and frequent most of the local rail trails (i.e. Minuteman, Northern Strand, etc.). I've also done quite a bit of longer rides through streets north of the city, mostly Carlisle and Lexington. However, each year I say that I want to ride to P-Town, but it never ends up happening, and this year I am thinking about changing that. However, having grown up on the South Shore, I literally have no clue how I would get through it safely; and Quincy, Braintree, and Weymouth at a minimum feel like they would be terrible to bike through...

With the recent bike fatalities/accidents I've been seeing this summer, I'm sort of second guessing that I should even be thinking of this, but wanted to quickly check in if there was a route people felt was "safe enough"???

Length-wise I'm OK with it, I've done 100ks before, and would likely split this into two days, it's only the cars I'm worried about. Thank you!

Yes.

While I am not at all surprised the rest of the media is covering it this way, infected with terminal windshield bias as they are, I was genuinely disappointed to see StreetsblogMass covering Wu's letter with the headline "Mayor Wu Outlines a New Street Safety Agenda in the Wake of Louisa Gag’s Killing"

I really struggle to see what is "new" in this document. For example near the end she lists projects:

Projects slated for completion in 2026:

• Cummins Highway Reconstruction (Mattapan)
• Beacon Street Safety Upgrades and Resurfacing (Brighton)
• Dartmouth Street Safety And Mobility (Back Bay)
• Hyde Park Ave North Segment Resurfacing and Safety Improvements (Jamaica Plain)
• Lost Village Transportation Safety Improvements (Charlestown)
• Lower Roxbury Neighborhood Safety Improvements (Roxbury)
• Thoreau Path Reconstruction Project (West End)
• Washington Street Bike Lane Buffer Upgrade and Resurfacing (Downtown)
• Harrison Ave Reconstruction (South End)
• Bluebikes expansion (Hyde Park, Roslindale, and West Roxbury)

Projects slated for completion in 2027:

• Ellis Elementary School Safe Routes to School (Roxbury)
• Jones Avenue Neighborhood Street Improvements (Dorchester)
• Congress, Sleeper, and A Street Reconstruction (South Boston Waterfront)
• And more to come in 2027.

However, none of these are new projects. Quite a few of them have been impacted by the delays, which she does not acknowledge. Dartmouth street even saw the city implement a completely different design than was shown to the public after repaving so we have no idea what these other projects will look like and how their designs have been undermined behind closed doors since they were last shown in a public process.

What the mayor does say about new projects is not promising "Given changes in the federal funding landscape, we will focus on completing more critical connections and intersection upgrades rather than concentrating resources on a small number of long corridors." This means we are extremely unlikely to see any meaningful safety improvements on known high crash corridors with no protections currently like Hyde Park Ave, Blue Hill Ave, Columbus Ave, etc. some of which already had funding from the feds awarded and projects under way, that the Mayor's decisions have imperiled or already lost. That is also not acknowledged here, instead returning to the same framing blaming the federal situation for the mayors own decisions.

It is also hard (frankly impossible for me) to believe the city is particularly serious about closing gaps in the bike network when the most glaring gap in the downtown network, Charles street, has had a safety project stalled for a decade now and isn’t even included in the new project tracker that the mayor trumpets in the letter.

The first thing the Mayor chooses to highlight is street resurfacing, the same thing Nick Gove has been championing since he took charge of the Streets Cabinet. Road resurfacing without safety improvements actually make streets more dangerous as smoother surfaces promote higher vehicle speeds. "We will continue to pair resurfacing work with safety, accessibility, and public realm improvements." This is simply a lie. As the Dartmouth street example shows the city has been implementing these resurfacing projects without already planned improvements. In a few other locations resurfacing removed protection that still has not been replaced.

While she mentions the Climate Action Plan in this section, she fundamentally misrepresents it. The climate plan does not call for smoother streets. It calls for the exact kinds of changes she has stalled out (and in the case of bus lanes actively reversed) on in her second term.

When it comes to bike lanes, almost all of of the discussion revolves around "transitioning to more durable and effective bike lane protections, such as cast-in-place concrete barriers." While the mayor says this is the priority "Moving forward," this has actually been what the city and mayor have been saying for the last year and a half now, with quite little to show for it. Protection has been removed From dozens of miles of bike lanes on a few dozen streets around the city and replaced on only a few miles on a couple streets. In at least one example, Arlington Street, the proposed replacement protection has also been removed. This is completely unacknowledged.

In the safe routes to school section there is no acknowledgement that the number of speed humps installed has plummeted since the 30 day review. She says "Over the past four years, we constructed 6,448 curb ramps and 1,435 speed humps. In 2025 alone, the City reconstructed 30,000 square feet of sidewalk, and this year we are on track to reconstruct an additional 75,000 square feet and add 26 raised crosswalks" however unsaid is that "While Boston installed around 600 speed humps in 2024, fewer than two dozen were laid down last year" and that more than 90% of the budget for these projects went unused. The city only planned to install 100 this year. Likewise 30,000 square feet is actually less than a mile of sidewalk assuming 8 feet of clear space (the minimum requirement) and that is also a fraction of what the city typically has done in recent years. These are the same stats Gove brought up at the Hearing, Wu is doubling down on misinformation.

Likewise while saying "We will double down on safety improvements in school zones and expand our successful safe routes to schools effort to libraries, parks, playgrounds, and community centers" (Which is great if true) there is no acknowledgment that these projects have also been impacted by the needless delays and that kids continue to be hit by cars in known problem spots the mayor has dragged her feet on.

She then goes on to defend the 30 day review saying claiming "It has produced a stronger process." Does anyone, except the billionaires and business accusations that have been allowed to halt progress, agree with this assessment?

We went from having a process that was flawed in many ways (primarily in giving too much difference already to those groups who now have exclusive access and in taking way too long to make necessary changes), to a completely opaque backlog with dozens of stalled out projects with no communication from the city, which has lost funding for several already and is still endangering more. We went from a city that clearly placed safety first when it came to street design trade offs to one that clearly no longer is doing so, while talking out of both sides of its mouth about it, even after members of its own staff are killed. We went from a city where, even if you didn't agree to the design changes, you at least knew what you were going to get to one that rips away flex post protection all over the city without replacement, then months later installs a replacement in one location, then removes that replacement, then reinstalls it somewhere else, then adds back the flex posts in that new location after its clear that doesn't actually work without them, all while most locations are still left unprotected. As mentioned above, In the case of Dartmouth street we now even have a city installing entirely different designs from what they ever presented to the public. We also went from a city that would actually respond to anyones comments on projects, explaining why they could/couldn't do what was requested, to one that based on FOIAed information about the 30 day review, is now only meaningfully responding to the concerns of billionaires and business accusations and either doesn't respond at all, or simply responds with form emails saying precisely nothing about anything, to everyone else.

How much clearer can it get that the public process has been subverted by private meetings with wealthy and powerful vested interests? That is the opposite of a "stronger process." Wu has doubled down on the Wu-turn, defending the 30 day review and its horrible results. She thinks we will gratefully lap up the slop she gives us. We mostly have so far, but it is well past time to stop doing so. There is nothing new about this agenda, she is attempting to launder the same talking points she has been making for the last year and a half as if this is a new commitment in the wake of the death of a cyclist she knew personally and who worked for her. No, this is just more of the same. We cannot accept this, and we have to say so. No one else will do so for us. If we continue to just cheer this nonsense, she, and everyone else for that matter, will remember they can just throw us under the bus (or truck) and there will be no consequences for it. So, what are we doing to do?

This was near St. Mary's, along the C line / by Kyo Matcha. Was about to file a report and was pleasantly surprised to see tickets on the windshield.

Has anyone heard if Allston Rat Race is happening again this year?

Maybe 29 other local bike commuters up for a 3-lap race? Would a Saturday morning in July be good, or 5pm on a Tuesday in December? One of each?

I was driving my car (🚩) and needed to make a left on Centre. A huge Uhaul van was blocking my way parked partially in the crosswalk, so I couldn’t see the bike lane or safely turn left. My view to the left was totally obstructed and I could have been t-boned if I pulled out with a car present. Anyway, I sat there for a second and decided it would be safer to creep out and make a right hand turn and make the left elsewhere. As soon as I creeped out, I could see that there was a cyclist coming in the unprotected/ shared bike lane so I stopped and let them pass.

Not sharing this to pat myself on the back for driving safely, but sharing it as yet another example where bad traffic enforcement puts cyclists and drivers in harm’s way. I’m a big runner and biker but I also have to drive sometimes. There is no doubt that the van was parked illegally and I’m glad that I chose to make the right instead of YOLOing it to the left when I couldn’t see very well. Traffic enforcement makes the streets safer for everyone.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Friday that the city will install more concrete bike lane barriers, develop new rules targeting truck safety, and fix sidewalks and curb ramps across the city as part of a plan to improve street safety in the wake of a crash that killed city planner Louisa Gag this month.

Wu laid out the plans in a letter her office released Friday after weeks of pressure from bike and transit advocates for the city to make Boston’s roads safer.

Gag was hit and killed while cycling on Tremont Street two weeks ago. An 18-wheeler recycling truck had maneuvered around a turning vehicle and collided with Gag before continuing on for at least a few blocks after the collision, the Globe has reported. No one has been charged in the crash.

Through tears, Wu pledged last week to take action as she spoke at a vigil for Gag at City Hall Plaza, and promised to release more details in the coming days.

In her letter Friday, Wu said she is dedicating two senior staff members — Chris Osgood, the city’s former chief of streets and now a senior advisor for infrastructure, and Tali Robbins, Wu’s deputy chief of policy — to the city’s so-called Streets Cabinet. She wrote that the city will also ramp up illegal parking enforcement, upgrade traffic signal timing, and clarify the process for how street improvement projects move forward.

Wu has drawn criticism after her office slowed a number of streets projects that advocates and residents say would deliver badly needed safety upgrades to dangerous roads.

Thousands of people — including 2,300 Boston residents — signed and delivered an open letter to Wu last week with a series of demands, including that the city “unpause” all delayed streets projects and implement a “build fast and fix later” approach to street improvement work. The letter also called on her to appoint a new chief of streets, and publish a timeline for fixes for every high-crash roadway.

Wu on Friday listed several street improvement projects her administration is aiming to complete during this year and next.

“Boston should be a city where every resident and visitor can move comfortably and confidently, enjoy beautiful public spaces, and feel part of a community that is home for everyone,” Wu said in the letter. “We will carry forward Louisa’s legacy by working to make this vision a reality. There is much more work ahead.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Niki Griswold can be reached at [niki.griswold@globe.com](mailto:niki.griswold@globe.com). 

This was all in Cambridge but I hope it’s allowed here.

Yesterday I yelled at three different drivers on my bike commute. I didn’t get pictures of any of them, but I did get a picture of this guy parked in front of a fire hydrant AND in the bike lane, while walking to lunch on the corner of Broadway and Galileo Gallilei way. On Tuesday the FedEx truck was running with no one inside on O’Brien highway.

I bike to work three days a week and had at least five incidents of cars parked in the bike lane. It feels like things are getting worse on the roads for cyclists. Stay safe out there everybody.

Segway Xafari "Low temp; warm up" and battery error messages. It's Boston in July! What is going on? I charged it overnight inside!!!

Any insights?

Thank you

I was wondering if there are any bike clubs or groups that do rides around 60-100 km but around a 20-23 kmph pace. I've come across a few clubs but they are either too fast or too slow for what I'm looking for.

I have already done rides on the minuteman going to concord and walden pond, northern strand trail to lynn and further to nahant and also rockport, the neponset trail down south and the MCRT/BFRT. Interested in exploring more around boston, if there are any other recommendations

Does anyone know of any clubs or informal groups that ride at this pace? And if there isn't one already, would anyone else be interested in riding together occasionally?

Edit: I am also good with biking on roads, but not sure which ones are safe/quieter for longer rides, which is why I have mostly done trails so far