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Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street Bike Lanes

We added bike lanes and speed humps to Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street. 

Seaverns Avenue Post Installation

December 2023 Construction Update

Construction activities on Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street have concluded for the season. We finished installing major pavement markings, speed humps, signage, and flexible plastic bollards. Thank you for your patience while this work was underway.

Due to the onset of colder temperatures, we were not able to finish installing all pavement markings this season. We prioritized finishing major lane lines for street functionality. In Spring 2024, crews will return to complete installation of remaining pavement markings, including shared lane markings, green surfaces, bike lane symbols, and daylighting areas. View the final design plans.

Talk with us

Events

Design plans

We have illustrated the design plans for Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street. View the planned pavement markings, speed humps, and parking regulations.

View the current design plans (PDF 5.1 MB)

Design summary

Seaverns Avenue and Gordon Street

  • Add speed humps on and Seaverns Avenue and Gordon Street. Our speed humps are spaced to preserve emergency response times. Review the design plans to see planned speed hump locations.
  • Add a standard bike lane going in the same direction as general traffic on:
    • Seaverns Avenue between Centre Street and Elm Street
    • Gordon Street between Elm Street and Woolsey Square
  • Allow two-way biking on Gordon Street between Woolsey Square and Amory Street. You can connect directly to the Southwest Corridor Bike Path at Amory Street. Gordon Street will remain one-way westbound for auto traffic.
  • Keep the vast majority of on-street parking. Review the design plans to see planned parking and curb regulations.

From left to right: parking, general travel lane, bike lane
Above: Seaverns Avenue and Gordon Street looking west towards Centre Street. The bike lane is on the even-numbered (north) side of the street. Parking stays on the odd-numbered (south) side.

Green Street

  • Add speed humps on Green Street. Our speed humps preserve emergency response times. Review the design plans to see planned speed hump locations.
  • Add a continuous bike lane going in the same direction as general traffic on Green Street:
    • Standard bike lane between Amory Street and Woolsey Square
    • Separated bike lane between Woolsey Square and Elm Street. We use flexposts to provide separation.
    • Buffered bike lane between Elm Street and Centre Street. We put a row of flexposts along the bike lane edge approaching Centre Street.
  • Add a designated left-turn only lane on Green Street approaching Centre Street. Four 2-hour parking spaces are restricted.
  • Keep the most on-street parking where it is today. Review the design plans to see planned parking and curb regulations.
    • Most of the changes to parking are in the area around the Green Street MBTA station. We explain these changes in more detail in the next section. 

Green Street typical cross section
Above: Green Street looking east towards Lamartine Street. The bike lane is on the even-numbered (north) side of the street. Parking will stays on the odd-numbered (south) side.

Parking near Green Street MBTA station

We made changes to parking near the Green Street MBTA station. See an overhead view of the planned parking and curb regulations.

  • We restricted nine (9) 2-hour parking spaces on the north side of Green Street from Woolsey Square to Elm Street next to Johnson Park. The street is not wide enough to fit a bike lane and keep parking on both sides. To offset this change, we added ten (10) new 2-hour parking spaces on the streets surrounding the Green Street MBTA station. We were able to add these new parking spaces by adjusting other curb regulations and allowing parking where it was previously restricted.
  • We added more 15-minute parking to serve the Green Street MBTA station. New 15-minute zones are located on Woolsey Square and Amory Street. The existing short-term parking area on Green Street between Amory Street and Woolsey Square became 2-hour parking.
  • We kept four (4) accessible parking spaces on Woolsey Square.

Why Green, Seaverns, and Gordon

  • Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street provide a direct connection between the Southwest Corridor, residences, and daily destinations in JP center.
  • These streets are already well-used bike routes. Adding bike lanes can encourage newer riders by providing marked space for people biking.
  • Vehicle volumes are moderate. We can make the streets safer and more comfortable with speed humps.
Everyone in Boston deserves safe streets

Photograph of a person biking on Seaverns Avenue

This project is part of a bold plan for transforming Boston's streets to better serve people walking, rolling, and riding bikes. Over the next three years, we will expand our bike network so that 50% of residents will be a 3-minute walk from a safe and connected bike route.

Read more about our plan

Neighborhood context

Map of all projects in JP this year

We're completing other bike lane projects in Jamaica Plain in 2023 - 2024. Our goal with these projects is to help you to connect from the Southwest Corridor and Emerald Necklace paths to daily destinations on Centre Street, South Street, and points in between. Learn more about other projects in your neighborhood:

Project updates

Updates

We are mailing postcards to let abutters know that construction is starting soon. Our list includes 1,192 addresses. We'll send postcards to every address on Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, Gordon Street, and some or all of the following nearby streets: Alfred Street, Alveston Street, Alveston Terrace, Biltmore Street, Bishop Street, Brown Terrace, Candor Place, Centre Street, Cerina Road, Cheshire Street, Chestnut Avenue, Elm Street, Everett Street, Greenview Avenue, Harris Avenue, Lamartine Street, Lester Place, Maple Place, Marlou Terrace, Newbern Street, Oakdale Street, Oakdale Terrace, Revere Street, Rockview Street, Saint John Street, Segel Street, Starr Lane, and Warren Square

We held in-person office hours at the Jamaica Plain and Connolly branches of the Boston Public Library to share more information and hear your feedback about the project. We set up from 4-7 p.m. on the following dates:

  • Thursday, June 29 at the Jamaica Plain Branch
  • Monday, July 24 at the Connolly Branch
  • Thursday, August 17 at the Jamaica Plain Branch

We sent a reminder email before each session. At our sessions, we shared more information about all our JP projects for 2023 and answered questions from you. Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.

We hosted a community walk on Green Street and Seaverns Avenue to share more information and hear your feedback about the project. About 20 community members joined us. The walk started at the corner of Green Street and Woolsey Square at 6 p.m. We finished around 8 p.m. 

To publicize the walk, we:

  • Posted flyers on the doors of residences and on light posts and utility boxes along Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street. 
  • Sent an email to project email list. You can get updates by joining the list.
  • Shared the information with community groups, neighborhood associations, Neighborhood Services, and the District 6 councilor's office. They spread the word to their networks.

Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.

Image shows neighbors gathered with BTD planners in the wooden structure of the Green Street Parklet to discuss planned changes to the street.

A BTD engineer talks to constituents about changes coming to Green Street and Seaverns Avenue in front of a mural.

 

We hosted two open house meetings to share more information and hear your feedback about bike projects in Jamaica Plain. You were invited to drop in anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. Both open houses had the same content. We offered Spanish interpretation at both.

  • Wednesday, May 3. Margarita Muniz Academy, 20 Child Street
  • Thursday, May 11. Mary Curley School, 493 Centre Street

Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.

We sent a follow up email to the project email list on May 16, 2023.

Photo of people in a gymnasium attending the second JP open house.

Photo of people in a school cafeteria attending the first JP open house

Photo of people sitting at a table writing on comment cards

  • We posted flyers on front doors on Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Green Street MBTA station, and Centre Street.
  • We sent an email to the project list about upcoming in-person and virtual events.
  • We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
  • We posted flyers on front doors on Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, and Gordon Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Green Street MBTA station, and Centre Street.
  • We mailed over 1,190 postcards to households on Green Street, Seaverns Avenue, Gordon Street, and the surrounding blocks.
  • We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
  • We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
  • We began planning for spring and summer 2023 outreach and community conversations.

To build on her commitment to create safe streets for all modes of transportation, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) announced a 9.4 mile expansion of bike lanes providing key connections within the City’s existing bike network and the launch of a Citywide design process to bring safer streets to every neighborhood. To do this, Boston is expanding Bluebikes to accommodate rising demand, designing traffic-calmed streets by building speed humps and raised crosswalks, and hiring more staff to aid in the design process.

The announcement was covered by local news outlets.

Read the full press release

Mayor Michelle Wu in a school gymnasium delivering a press conference about bike network expansion; she is flanked by cabinet staff and community organizers.

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