Cambridge City Council Votes to Fast-Track Citywide Protected Bike Lane Network
8:33 AM PDT on October 6, 2020
The newly widened bike lane with flexible post bollards on Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square. The City of Cambridge implemented the new layout after a truck driver struck and killed Darryl Willis while he was riding in the previous bike lane, which lacked any physical protection, earlier this summer.
“There are so many cases like this that could be avoided with a safer cycling network… this would help us advance a true sustainable transportation network that so many of us on the council want to see, to bring down carbon emissions, and make a more equitable network,” said Sobrinho-Wheeler.
The City of Cambridge’s proposed network of protected bike lanes, from its 2015 Bicycle Plan. Newly-passed amendments to the city’s Cycling Safety Ordinance would require at least 22.6 lane-miles of this network – including the specific segments highlighted in red dashed lines – to be built by 2026. Courtesy of the City of Cambridge.
The newly amended ordinance aims to accelerate the construction of the city’s protected bike lane network by encouraging the use of “quick-build” projects, and adds a May 1, 2026 deadline for most projects.
Both these links, plus Hampshire and Cambridge Streets east of Inman Square, are highlighted in the amended ordnance as specific routes that must be improved by 2026. Otherwise, city staff would have some flexibility in choosing where to build other protected bike lanes, provided that at least 22.6 lane-miles are built by 2026.
The amendments also give special consideration for Massachusetts Avenue, with requirements that the city create a detailed plan for protected bike lanes north of Harvard Square by May 2021.