This is a letter regarding the safety of cycling along Washington Street between Roslindale Village and Forest Hills.
- If you would like to report a biking hazard, do so here.
- If you have any other city concerns, submit them here.
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Hello Boston Bikes!
I just started biking again after a 10 year hiatus which began after my 2nd Boston biking accident in 2003. I’m thrilled to see the advancement of biking awareness over the last 10years. I absolutely love cycling – even in the cold!
I live in Roslindale and bike along Washington street between Roslindale Village and Forest Hills where I connect to the SW corridor. Although there are bike lanes on Washington street, I find that the small size of the lane, close proximity to parked cars combined with bumpy pavement make for a rather scary ride. I’m afraid I’m going to get doored, and since there is no room for movement within the small lane, combined with constant heavy car traffic, there is potential for really serious accidents for cyclists along this stretch of road. Needless to say, it makes for a very anxious ride.
I want to offer a couple options which would I believe would allow for larger bike lanes on this heavily traveled street.
The first option would be to eliminate parking on one side of the street which would allow for the bike lanes to be 5 or 6 feet wide. I have noticed that at night there are very few cars parked along Washington which leads me to believe that eliminating parking would not have a big impact on residents in the area.
The second option would be to eliminate street parking altogether along Washington street. The street space that is currently street parking & bike lane could then become a dual use bus and bike lane (indicated with solid color paint like has been done for the silver line). This would encourage public transportation especially during peek time since the busses would run separate from car traffic into Forest HIlls Station. If the bus lowered speed limit to 20 mph along this stretch, and drivers were properly trained how to safely share with bikes, it would be a very safe lane for cyclists.
I hope you can consider these options as they would be fairly inexpensive to implement, and would greatly improve the safety and experience of cycling along this stretch.
Thank you for your consideration!
Best,
Colleen Palmer