A group of residents and merchants who oppose the idea of a dedicated center bus lane on Columbia Road have been gathering signatures this summer from like-minded people as they seek to pre-empt any official effort to add bus lanes to the 2.5 mile Dorchester-South Boston artery.

The city of Boston launched its Columbia Road Transportation Action Plan earlier this year and planners said publicly that a dedicated bus lane would be considered only if there was community support for such a plan. The addition of center-running bus lanes has become a lightning rod for controversy as the city makes final plans to reconfigure Blue Hill Avenue.

The petition, which has been circulated in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Vietnamese, has garnered more than 400 signatures so far, according to one of the petitioners, Marti Glynn, a longtime Uphams Corner civic activist.

“We went to businesses up and down the street because we realized trying to do a petition on a road as long as Columbia Road is daunting,” Glynn told The Reporter. “There was no way we could get to all these people so we focused a lot on the businesses, and we said, ‘Can you ask your customers if they want to sign?’ We knew we would get a lot of local people who shop at these businesses who otherwise might not know about this.”

The petition reads: “As residents, employees, business owners and others who use and are concerned about the proposed redesign of Columbia Road, we want to make it clear that while we want improvements made to the roadway, we are OPPOSED to the designation of a restricted bus lane on any portion of Columbia Road.”

One place where the signature sheets have been filling up is Upham’s House of Pizza on Columbia Road, which co-owner Nick Papadopoulos and his family has owned and operated since 1989.

“If the bus lane does come it will probably slow down my delivery times by I’m guessing at least 20 minutes per delivery, maybe more,” said Papadopoulos. “Because of congestion, Uphams Corner is already a bottleneck as it is with traffic.”

Papadopoulos says his customers are also concerned and were eager to sign the petition. “No one had an inkling this was even being discussed,” he said. “This was an option that was in serious talks at City Hall, and when I brought it to their attention, everyone lost their minds. Everyone had the same reaction. It’s already bad enough as it is, this is going to make it worse.” 

Earlier this summer, city planners held community walks around Columbia Road to gather opinions on bus lanes and other infrastructure changes under consideration.

Glynn said such engagement efforts aren’t enough. “I pushed back and said you really need to do a meeting and give people an opportunity to participate. Walks along Columbia Road are going to self-select a population of people who are physically able, probably English speaking, and relatively more affluent. Not the populations that live from Franklin Park all the way to Edward Everett Square.” 

Papadopoulos wants to see more parking. Glynn would prefer a green space, which falls in line with the original design by Olmsted for Columbia Road – the final piece of the Emerald Necklace that was never completed.

As an aside, Glynn added that an $11 million allocation from the sale of downtown property several years ago is supposed to be dedicated to completing the Columbia Road portion of the Emerald Necklace. She and park advocates are worried the money will be diverted to transit uses like a bus lane rather than “greening” the corridor.

“We have approximately a ten-foot median along much of the roadway and that could certainly be green, and it could be widened in some places,” Glynn said. “So far their planning has not included anything having to do with greening.” 

Regardless of what is done, Papadopoulos thinks the city should shift its focus to a project that would benefit the neighborhood, not increase frustration.

“There’s plenty to do in the city and to make it more congested and constricted seems counterproductive,” he said.

In a statement on the city’s project web page, officials say they expect a “design concept will be completed by June 2025” with “community conversations about potential new design options” planned in “fall/winter 2024.” There are currently no specific upcoming meetings or events listed on the project page.