Connect Downtown

Walking will be pleasant and easy. Safe, separated bikeways will serve and connect residents, employers, and local businesses. Families will explore Boston’s neighborhoods and iconic parks together, from the Esplanade to the Boston Common to the Southwest Corridor.

• Prioritize pedestrians. Use proven tools to improve safety for people of all ages and abilities. Dedicate more space and time to people crossing our streets.
• Serve residents of all ages. Aim to create spaces where everyone can be safe and comfortable, from grandchildren to grandparents and everyone in-between.
• Build ladders to opportunity. Design streets that connect people to essential destinations: job centers, schools, health care, and open space. Facilitate safe, affordable transportation options.
• Design for today’s Boston. Use best-practice design tools that reflect changing transportation needs and enhance our historic public realm.

We will re-design streets and intersections within our study area. We are looking at a network of streets in the Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, the South End, and the West End.

The walks covered neighborhoods and streets we are studying for Connect Downtown. 45 community members attended these walks. You shared over 250 comments with us.

• Beacon Hill: Saturday, November 2, 2019
• Back Bay: Thursday, November 7, 2019
• South End: Wednesday, November 13, 2019
• Bay Village and Chinatown: Tuesday, December 10, 2019

"Can we make the intersections more compact and feel human-scaled?"

"I love this project!”

"I don't usually have sympathy for bikers, but this area needs bike lanes!"

We attended these regularly scheduled neighborhood association meetings:

• Beacon Hill Civic Association
• Pilot Block Neighborhood Association
• South End Forum
• Claremont Neighborhood Association
• Bay Village Neighborhood Association
• Southwest Corridor Park Management Advisory Committee

Thank you for sharing your experiences and ideas. We received 192 responses starting in November 2019.

"I am just flabbergasted that Charles Street is still three lanes in one direction while pedestrians have to jockey for space on the narrow sidewalks. I've also had to bike against traffic on Charles Street because I was in a hurry and there was no better route."

“Bicyclists jump queues and red lights, which can create hazards for people who can’t hear or see well.”

You were invited to drop in any time during Office Hours and talk one-on-one with us. You could review project materials, ask questions, and share your feedback. We hosted Office Hours four times a month at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library and West End Library.

We talked with 257 community members during our office hours. You shared almost 200 comments with us. We suspended Office Hours in early March because of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel in-person meetings because of COVID-19. We were able to hold one Open House before in-person meetings were suspended. We are moving to a hybrid approach with mostly digital interaction and some in-person opportunities.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and ideas. Here are some general themes.

• Walk signals operate differently at each intersection. Some locals have learned how they work, but many people find them confounding.
• People feel unsafe because of speeding traffic on the multi-lane streets in the study area. These streets feel like barriers within and between neighborhoods.
• Many residents want to bike but are scared of the streets and intersections in the study area. They would ride if there were bike facilities.
• People who bike find intersections in the study area stressful because of turning and weaving traffic. To avoid conflicts with vehicles, some choose to go during the pedestrian phase. This action can startle some people walking.
• Busy curbsides should be better managed to reduce double parking. We need more space for commercial loading and passenger pick-up and drop-off.

Many people who live in or near the study area walk as part of their daily lives: to work, to parks, and to shops and restaurants. In addition, many pedestrians are heading to or from transit stations and stops. Year-round, visitors explore Boston by foot.

“I used to love walking in Boston, but it is no longer a pleasure to walk with all the near misses.”

"Consistency in walk signals is important. It gives pedestrians confidence."

We will look for ways to improve walking on all of our focus streets. We also identified priority intersections based on your comments, crash history, and the volume of people crossing. At these intersections, we will explore additional measures to emphasize walking.

We aim to build a network that connects to the most places, serves the most people, and provides the best safety improvements for everyone on our streets. We will also consider issues such as turning volumes, bus routes and stops (including tourism and school buses), and other curbside activity.

"It would be great to be able to ride around this area with my family, including my two young children. Currently, this does not feel like a safe activity."

Use the slider below to see how the Connect Downtown focus corridors connect the gaps in our bike network. Note: We are studying all of these corridors as part of the project. However, some streets or street segments may not be part of the final bike network.

This summer, in response to COVID-19, we tried out a network of “pop-up” separated bike lanes on many of the Connect Downtown study area streets. We also changed the traffic signal settings so that the Walk light came up automatically in these areas.

This fall, we plan to make changes to traffic signals and create permanent separated bike lanes on some streets in the downtown area. We are focusing on the streets around the Public Garden and the Boston Common.

The second phase of this project will continue over the winter and spring. We will focus on specific intersections and will add additional links to the bike network.

 Visit the project website  to:

• Sign up to receive email updates about Connect Downtown
• Participate in our upcoming events online or in-person
• Learn more about the project and next steps