In the past six years, the Boston region has gone from having about two miles of bus lanes to over 25 miles. These changes have transformed how the public engages with the bus system. On this Walkshop, we’ll tour many of the bus lanes that have been installed across the region, and discuss the different design elements, innovative approaches, and quick-build strategies used to transform the MBTA bus network.
We’ll visit the first bus lane in a New England Rotary, as well as the bus lane that started our bus priority renaissance: Sweetser Circle + Upper Broadway in Everett. We’ll stop by Broadway in Somerville, a street that prioritized bus and bike accommodations and brought the community along for the ride. Then, we’ll learn how a street safety project on South Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge brought transit into the design. We’ll visit Columbus Avenue in Boston, which features New England’s first center-running bus lane, an award-winning design that quickly went from idea to operation. And we’ll learn about how Boston and MBTA worked together to reprioritize bikes and buses in the heart of Downtown to keep improving our legacy Silver Line bus service on Washington Street.
Mode: Walking, Transit