An underutilized street hockey court at Moakley Park has been transformed into the city’s very first “bike town,” a tot-sized grid of streets where children can learn how to navigate streets. 

The “traffic garden,” completed through a collaboration of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Mayor’s Office of Early Childhood, and Boston Parks and Recreation was opened to the public on Aug. 21. 

“The mayor challenged us to make the parks feel like home,” said Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods. “When you’re at home, you feel safe, things are accessible, and you can learn important things.” 

One of those important things is how to safely make your way around the city.

“We saw that other cities around the world and in the US had these things called traffic gardens,” said program manager Nate Lash. “They’re miniature street networks where kids can learn bike skills and road safety skills. We started asking around to see if Boston needed more safe places for kids to ride bikes.” 

To no one’s surprise, the answer was yes. 

The Bike Town at Moakley Park is part of the city’s Connect, Learn, & Explore initiative, which aims to help Boston’s children learn how to ride a bike, swim, and connect with their communities through sports, gardening, and the arts.

After a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, children from the South Boston Neighborhood House were invited to ride through the little streets with scaled-down traffic features. 

“This is an opportunity for all young people across Boston to learn how to ride a bike, an important skill both to navigate your neighborhood and also get out and explore your community,” said Kristin McSwain, executive director of the Office of Early Childhood.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, children from the South Boston Neighborhood House rolled through the tiny town on balance bikes.

While the park is already home to ball fields, playgrounds, basketball courts, and two new stand-alone pickleball courts, the bike town will function differently.

“This space is first come first serve; there’s no reservation system like there would be for a field,” Lash told The Reporter. “We’re going to be doing observations for how many families come out here. We’ve already seen families, which is awesome.” 

Bostonians who have visited have stepped, or pedaled, into a whole new colorful world designed collaboratively between the city and public artist Liz LaManche.

“One of the things we said was, ‘We are in Boston. We definitely want a traffic circle,’” explained Lash, who hails from Virginia. In addition to a rotary, the city team asked the artist to include “stop signs, crosswalks with a yield sign, a four-way crossing, and a three-way crossing.”

Cheryl Itri, director of early education & care at South Boston neighborhood house thinks having a car-free environment with realistic street elements is a beneficial experience. 

“We believe learning to ride a bike allows our kids to stay active and have fun,” said Itri. “Bike riding is a life skill that we encourage our kids to use to keep exploring the city in new ways.”

While South Boston may be the first neighborhood to welcome a traffic garden, it will not be the last.
 
“We’ve been in conversations about the where. We’re not trying to create any new impervious surfaces. We’re not trying to pour new asphalt or concrete,” said Lash.  “We’re really trying to identify where there are places that the city has underutilized.”

He added: “Whether it’s a parking lot that doesn’t get all the way used or like here, an old street hockey court that was really underutilized, we’ll try to create some more energy.”