The Beacon Hill Times reports on a proposal for Beacon Hill's main commercial street in the time of Covid-19.
Bicycling
Sean Olsen reports that a driver hit and dragged a pedestrian down Brighton Avenue inbound just before Packards Corner. The pedestrian suffered major head trauma and the police homicide unit was called in due the severity of the bicyclist's injuries. Around 7:30 p.m.
WCVB reports that although it initially appeared a bicyclist had been hit, the bicycle belonged to somebody who stopped to help.
Mayor Walsh today announced a new program called Healthy Streets to get more people biking and riding the bus - with plans to figure out how to let restaurants add new outdoor seating.
Walsh said the city is laying new bike lanes to connect downtown with the city's existing bike lanes in the South End and the Back Bay, by using traffic barrels and signs on: Read more.
Scott couldn't help but notice the new concrete barriers lying amidst the plastic flexposts that motorists love to knock over and park on along a section of the Massachusetts Avenue bike lane south of Boylston Street.
Stefanie Seskin, BTD's active-transportation director, says this is the first part of a multi-year project to harden dedicated bike lanes against four-wheeled intrusions: Read more.
Workers at the Boston Transportation Department have begun inventorying city-owned traffic cones and barrels as they ready for a coronavirus-related effort to claim parts of some city roads for expanded sidewalks to allow for greater social distancing among pedestrians - including patrons at restaurants that would be forced to reduce their indoor seating once the governor gives them the OK to re-open their dining areas - a BTD official told city councilors today. Read more.
Rev. Laura Everett says some words at a ghost-bike ceremony at Massachusetts and Harrison avenues today for Thomas Anderson, the bicyclist who died in a crash with a truck there on April 22. The photo is by Peter Cheung, a member of the local bicycling community who often is the person who paints bikes white for the memorials.
City Councilors Michelle Wu (at large) and Liz Breadon (Allston/Brighton) want the Boston Transportation Department to begin looking at carving out some asphalt for pedestrians, bicyclists and people in wheelchairs so that they can better socially distance themselves as they go out for some air or a trip to the local market. Read more.
Boston Police are investigating a crash at Massachusetts and Harrison avenues around 9 a.m. that left a bicyclist dead.
Live Boston reports the victim was declared dead at the scene.
Peter Cheung shows us Parkman Drive closed to traffic so that the non-motorized set can have more room to socially distance. DCR shut the road for the weekend and may keep it car-free for the duration of the emergency; they'll make an announcement on Monday.
DCR announced it's shutting parts of Day Boulevard in South Boston, Francis Parkman Drive in Jamaica Plain and Greenough Boulevard at dusk today to make the asphalt available to pedestrians, bicyclists and scooter riders who want some fresh air while keeping six feet away from everybody else. Read more.
I saw this posted on social media and it had a distinctly UniversalHub feel to it. It has everything -- a fine collection of local reporting by UniversalHub, a traffic accident in which a pedestrian was killed crossing Centre Street in West Roxbury, an effort to design Centre Street so that it is systematically safer for pedestrians and cyclists, a reactionary response from some members of the community including conspiracy theories, and an embrace of the plan by other members.
Curbed Boston reports the company doesn't see a future in littering area sidewalks (and Boston Harbor) with dockless rental bikes, so will instead work to bulk up its supply of dockless e-scooters.
Eric Ballard spotted this penny-farthing rider today on the Minuteman Bikeway in Lexington, near the DPW.
StreetsBlogMass reports on a new design for a bridge to replace the hulking old unusable bridge.
The Boston Transportation Department has halted design work on a proposal to reduce Centre Street from the Holy Name Rotary to Spring Street in West Roxbury from four lanes to two and add pedestrian islands, bike lanes and new turn lanes so that it can study an alternative plan from a newly formed neighborhood group to keep four lanes but add pedestrian crossing lights at some intersections, re-stripe cross walks and step up police enforcement of traffic laws. Read more.
NECN reports the crash happened on Newton Street, off Allandale Street, in an incident serious enough to close off the road for an accident-reconstruction team to be called in. This led to cascading traffic delays across parkways in the area.
Scott reports somebody plastered car windshields at the Centre Street CVS today with flyers that declare West Roxbury the safest walking and bicycling neighborhood in the city and that the only reason the city is looking at reducing the number of travel lanes on the street is because of sinister "outside special interests." Read more.