Wu explains what occurred to some Boston bike lane boundaries

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addressed why among the versatile posts that separate bike lanes from busy streets had been just lately eliminated with out public discover.

Flexposts that separate inexperienced bike lanes alongside Arlington Avenue within the Again Bay, on Massachusetts Avenue within the space of Newmarket Sq., and on Summer time Avenue within the Seaport had been eliminated, The Boston Globe reported final week. 

On the time, the town mentioned the Arlington Avenue posts had been eliminated for routine upkeep after winter storms, whereas the Mass. Ave. ones “had been eliminated in response to suggestions from group members,” based on the Globe.

“To be clear, this isn’t about eliminating bike lanes. This isn’t about saying we don’t want bike lanes. We very a lot want secure, protected infrastructure for extra folks to make use of our streets in each approach,” Wu mentioned throughout her common look on “Boston Public Radio” Tuesday. 

When requested why among the posts had been eliminated with out warning to the general public or why a substitute barrier wasn’t put in to guard bikers, Wu mentioned some had been eliminated for “routine upkeep” however declined to debate any particular hall. 

Wu calls flexposts her ‘pet peeve,’ says steadiness is required with drivers  

Wu known as the flexposts her “private pet peeve,” declaring that they generally grow to be “gross wanting crumpled plastic in every single place as a result of vehicles and vehicles are working over the posts.

“The separation is essential, and they’re undoubtedly the quickest, most cost-effective strategy to create a motorbike lane that feels such as you’re not going to place your life in danger,” Wu mentioned. “However in some unspecified time in the future, when a flexpost has been there, defining a motorbike lane for a yr now, three years now… in some unspecified time in the future we’ve to resolve, is it working or not?”

If the flexposts are engaged on a particular road, Wu elaborated, the bike lane ought to grow to be everlasting with a separate curb, or elevated, which might hold vehicles and vehicles out of the lane. 

“With out some mixture of extra everlasting infrastructure, which can value extra and require extra useful resource planning, we simply can’t keep caught on this form of short-term interval,” Wu mentioned, emphasizing a necessity for “steadiness” between pedestrians, supply vehicles, cyclists, and commuters.

Wu makes use of Boylston Avenue bus lane as instance of eradicating infrastructure that hasn’t labored

In the course of the dialogue, Wu introduced up her workplace’s determination to take away the devoted bus lane on Boylston Avenue within the Again Bay.

“This bus lane, for instance, it wasn’t getting used as a bus lane on the finish of the day,” Wu mentioned.

Its removing comes as the road, which additionally has separated bike lanes, has been criticized by Councilor Ed Flynn and mayor-hopeful Josh Kraft. The lane was first put in on in July 2024 and will probably be repaved earlier than the Boston Marathon, Wu mentioned.

Wu mentioned on “Boston Public Radio” that the bus lane is an instance of reviewing if new infrastructure is definitely working, implying within the dialog that some bike lanes must be reviewed.

“The objective is the place [bike lanes are] working, hold it, transfer it into one thing that’s everlasting, that’s lovely, that’s becoming of how all of our road customers ought to really feel once they’re on the road,” Wu mentioned. “There’s actual evaluation and analysis that needs to be accomplished [about whether] it even working the way it was supposed.”

Molly Farrar is a normal task reporter for Boston.com, specializing in schooling, politics, crime, and extra.