There is good news for those who commute to the university by bicycle. The city of Boston is still making an effort to improve the experience, as noted by Director Nicole Freedman of the Boston Biker’s Program. Additional bike lanes will be available in the upcoming weeks on Freeport Street, from Dorchester Avenue to Teanean Street, and on Tenean Street from Freeport Street to Conley Street.
Some students are pleased with the city’s effort to take the biker into consideration and believe that it is long overdue. “It’s about time this city decided to improve the biking experience”, expresses Samantha Slabyk, a senior at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
“The city claims that it’s moving the infrastructure in a more environmentally-sustainable direction that encourages people to choose biking over driving. In fact, the lack of safe bike lanes and bike racks throughout the city reminds people why Boston remains one of the most unsafe cities to bike in,” Slabyk continues. Hopefully the experience for those who commute to school by bike will improve with the advancements that the city is making.
There have been no public hearings conducted centering around biking in the city. However, there have been claims made that an outreach was executed previously.
The task is a portion of a transit master plan. Cyclists will not be the only ones that will gain from the improvement. Pedestrians and those who operate vehicles will also capitalize from these new bike lanes as they move bike traffic off of sidewalks and out of the middle of busy roads.
This will certainly make commutes more friendly and less stressful. In addition to these efforts, Boston Bikes has been working on implanting a cycling track, which is a protected bike lane. This cycling track would go to Mount Vernon Street, which is very close to UMass Boston.
As of right now the project is being looked at by the Boston Transportation department.