To the Editor:

Is Boston reneging on its commitment to make our streets welcome and safe for all?

Under Mayors Menino, Walsh, Janey, and Wu, Boston has steadily added a few miles of dedicated bus and bike lanes to provide greener and more affordable transportation options and improve safety. 

The results are encouraging. Speeding has gone down, especially at the most dangerous excessive speeds, in locations across the city, from Summer Street in South Boston to Centre Street in West Roxbury to Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and the South End.

Closer to home, my own explorations of the City’s Vision Zero dashboard before and after the installation of protected bike lanes on Mass Ave. show a two-thirds reduction in crashes leading to serious injuries in the first half of 2024 (the time period through which data is available for all travel modes) compared to the same period in 2022 (before the project was completed). This is consistent with findings in other cities.  

Meanwhile, there are reports in the Boston Herald and on the website Streetblog that the city is now considering undoing a number of these street safety improvements before we even see the results. This is being done with little public input or transparency. I am quite tuned in to what happens in the city and only found out about this a few days ago. 

This is how the city of Boston’s website defines it’s “Vision Zero” objective: Vision Zero Boston is our commitment to focus the City’s resources on proven strategies to eliminate fatal and severe traffic crashes in the City by 2030.

If this vision is to remain true, let’s look closely at the changes in street safety before we start tearing down —at taxpayer expense— any of the recent infrastructure improvements. 

Vivian Girard
Dorchester