On Monday April 8th, the City Council discussed a delay in the installation of separated bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements until as late as November 2027. The vote on the policy order was moved to April 29th, with Councilor Nolan likely to be the deciding voice.
The projects that would be delayed aren’t just about reducing injuries to people on bikes. The City also uses these projects for pedestrian safety improvements—especially important on Cambridge St, a major walking route to elementary and upper schools. On Cambridge St alone, since 2021 there have been at least 65 crashes of pedestrians and people on bikes (+ other forms of active transportation), which led to at least 42 people being injured. Of those injured, at least 27 left in an ambulance.To prevent future crashes and injuries, we need to ensure safety improvements happen on schedule!
What you can do right now
- Email the Council and city staff using this form. If you’ve been in a crash, make sure to describe what happened.
- Ask your friends, family, and co-workers to use the form to email the Council to amplify your impact. (Want to help even more? Email us, we have plenty more to do!)
What we learned on Monday, April 8th
On Monday the City Council had their initial discussion on whether to:
- Ban construction of separated bike lanes (and associated pedestrian safety improvements) on Cambridge St, Broadway, and Main St. to as late as July 2025.
- Delay the legal deadlines for building separated bike lanes across the City (including those streets) from April 2026 to Nov 2027.
The City Manager and Deputy City Manager (i.e. Cambridge’s executive leadership) made clear that they are able and willing to implement the planned projects on the current, legally-required schedule. They stated that there are trade-offs to any changes to the schedule, and that weighing those safety impacts will be a decision left to the Council. As such, any delay is going to be a political decision by the City Council:
- Vice-Mayor McGovern and Councilors Azeem, Siddiqui, and Sobrinho-Wheeler have expressed support for building the bike lanes on schedule. We appreciate their support for safer infrastructure!
- Mayor Simmons and Councilors Pickett, Toner, and Wilson have expressed support for delaying the necessary safety improvements for up to 3.5 years, leaving some of our most dangerous streets in their current configuration. We hope they will change their mind.
Given a 4-4 tie, Councilor Nolan will likely cast the deciding vote. Voting was pushed off until the April 29th City Council meeting.