Make Memorial Drive Safe, Green, and Accessible
Memorial Drive encompasses a four-mile stretch of state parkland along the Charles River. It should be one of Cambridge’s greatest public spaces, not a dangerous high-speed commuter road. Recent data shows that many drivers travel 15 to 25 mph over the speed limit. That has real consequences: since 2014, four people have died and more than 400 people have been injured.
We call on the Department of Conservation and Recreation to redesign Memorial Drive as a safer, more accessible, and greener riverfront.
Specifically, DCR should:
1. Pilot a safer neighborhood road design with fewer high-speed lanes, improved crossings, slower turns, and traffic calming.
2. Fix the dangerously narrow paths with continuous, wide, fully separated multi-use paths from JFK Street to the Longfellow Bridge.
3. Unlock major new riverfront parkland by piloting a new configuration near MIT that turns underused median space into accessible public open space.
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Background
Memorial Drive is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, whose mission is to protect and enhance natural, cultural, and recreational resources for the well-being of all. DCR has also recognized the need for parkways that provide more equitable public space for all users, and has already begun improvements on the segment from Eliot Bridge to JFK Street. However, Memorial Drive must reflect that mission in its entirety.
Today, Memorial Drive does not function like parkland. It too often functions like a high-speed commuter road. The riverfront paths are also too narrow and crowded for the hundreds and thousands of people walking, biking, rolling, jogging, and using mobility devices. DCR should build continuous, wide, fully separated multi-use paths that follow national safety guidance and work to improve the landscape by prioritizing shade, trees, and space for all users.
A lower speed limit will not be enough on its own. Memorial Drive needs a physical redesign that makes dangerous speeding less likely. DCR should pilot a two-lane neighborhood road design, with one general travel lane in each direction where feasible, safer crossings, traffic calming, slower turns, and turn lanes or queueing space where needed. Recent construction closures near MIT and the BU Bridge have already shown that long stretches of Memorial Drive can function with less space devoted to high-speed traffic. Furthermore, history has shown time and again that vehicle lane reductions do not lead to increased traffic—instead, they lower crash rates, car volumes, and pollution.
DCR should also use this opportunity to create major new public space along the river. Near MIT, a people-first redesign could connect roughly 8 acres of underused median and riverfront green space into a more useful Cambridge esplanade. Building on the success of weekend park access, DCR should pilot regular car-free access in more locations along Memorial Drive.
Memorial Drive can be safer, greener, and more welcoming. We urge DCR to move forward with redesigns that protect people, expand access, improve the landscape, and fulfill the purpose of this state parkland.