Eliot Street Better Bike Lane
We added a contraflow bike lane and speed humps on Eliot Street between the Jamaicaway and Centre Street. Eliot Street remains one-way for drivers.
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Still have questions? Contact:
Transportation
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1 City Hall Square
Room 721Boston, MA 02201-2026
December 2023 Construction Update
Construction activities on Eliot 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 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.
Upcoming events
EventsView the design
Design summary
- Add a contraflow bike lane going northbound (towards Jamaica Pond). In the southbound direction (towards Centre Street), we'll add shared lane markings.
- Add signage on Eliot Street and side streets approaching Eliot Street indicating that two-way bike travel is allowed.
- Add three new speed humps and keep the existing three speed humps.
- New speed humps will be located at 32 Eliot Street, 17 Eliot Street, and 7 Eliot Street.
- Move parking to the west side between the Jamaicaway and Dane Street. Parking will stay on the west side between Dane Street and Centre Street.
- Add "clear corners" on Brewer Street and Hagar Street approaching Eliot Street. This change will increase visibility for people using the crosswalks.
Why Eliot Street
- Eliot Street provides a direct, legible connection between JP center and the Emerald Necklace path. You can easily access the path via the crosswalk at the Jamaicaway.
- People are already biking both ways on Eliot Street. We’ve heard from you, and observed ourselves, that people ride against traffic in the road and on the sidewalk.
- Vehicle volumes are low. We can make the street safer and more comfortable by adding additional speed humps.
Everyone in Boston deserves safe streets
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.
Contraflow bike lanes
DIRECT ROUTES, BETTER ACCESS
One-way streets help manage the flow of vehicles. We might want to allow people to bike in both directions on one-way streets that:
- Provide access to a major destination, park, or trail access point, and/or,
- Help bicyclists avoid an obstacle, like a major hill or busy street with less comfortable biking conditions.
Contraflow bike lanes are a well-established design tool. They have seen decades of use around the U.S., the Boston area, and globally.
On low-volume streets like Eliot Street, we can add contraflow bike lanes with paint and signage. The lane is positioned so that bicyclists ride on the right side of the street in the direction they are traveling, just like on two-way streets.
Neighborhood context
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
UpdatesWe are mailing postcards to let abutters know that construction is starting soon. Our list includes 653 addresses. We'll send postcards to every address on Eliot Street and some or all of the following nearby streets: Agassiz Park, Brewer Street, Burroughs Street, Centre Street, Dane Street, Dunster Road, Eliot Place, Hagar Street, Holbrook Street, Newsome Park, Pond Street, Regent Circle, and Thomas Street.
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 McBride Street and Eliot Street to share more information and hear your feedback about the project. About 15 community members joined us on McBride Street, and about 20 community members joined us on Eliot Street. The walk started at the corner of McBride Street and Call Street at 5:30 p.m. We reconvened at the Eliot School around 6:30 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 McBride Street and Eliot 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.
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.
View the boards (English):
- We posted flyers on front doors on Eliot Street, Eliot Park, Newsome Park, and Eliot Place. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Jamaicaway crosswalk 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 attended the Jamaica Pond Association monthly board meeting. We shared our concept ideas for Eliot Street, discussed our next steps for community engagement, and took your questions.
- We posted flyers on front doors on Eliot Street, Eliot Park, Newsome Park, and Eliot Place. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Jamaicaway crosswalk and Centre Street.
- We mailed over 650 postcards to households on Eliot Street and the blocks nearby.
- We sent an email to the project list answering questions we’d heard from you so far.
- 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.
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Still have questions? Contact:
Transportation
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1 City Hall Square
Room 721Boston, MA 02201-2026
