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McBride Street

The Public Works Department plans to reconstruct sidewalks on McBride Street. We will add a contraflow bike lane with that project.

McBride Street is a relatively flat route between the Southwest Corridor Bike Path and South Street while other parallel streets are hillier.

Our proposal is to add a westbound (towards South Street) contraflow bike lane on McBride Street, making it a two-way connection for bicyclists while keeping it one-way eastbound for vehicles. This will make the street an easy way for neighbors in southern Jamaica Plain to get to and from the Southwest Corridor Bike Path.

The reconstruction project will include accessible curb ramps and new sidewalks.

A computer-illustrated rendering shows McBride Street with a contraflow bike lane next to the parking lane. A person is riding a bike in the lane away from us while a driver is in the general travel lane heading toward us.
Above: illustration of the design for McBride Street.

Talk with us

Events

Learn About the Design

We will make the following changes on McBride Street:

  • Rebuild the sidewalks between South Street and Boynton Street. We’ll build the new sidewalks with concrete.
  • Re-pave the roadway.
  • Build a raised crosswalk between Boynton Street and Lee Street.
  • Add speed humps between South Street and Lee Street. Our speed hump design guidelines preserve emergency response times.
  • Add a contraflow bike lane going westbound (towards South Street). Going eastbound (towards Boynton Street), we'll add shared lane markings. 
    • We will keep parking on the north (even) side of McBride Street. The bike lane will be between the parking lane and the general travel lane.
    • McBride Street will stay one-way eastbound for people driving.
    • Add signage on McBride Street and side streets approaching McBride Street indicating that two-way bike travel is allowed.

Betterment process update: The City of Boston is working to change policies and practices for asphalt sidewalks. This means that when we plan sidewalk reconstruction projects, we can automatically upgrade sidewalks from asphalt to concrete. The change means that McBride Street will have fully concrete sidewalks without any additional action from abutters.

Learn more about the design for McBride Street

We share information about the bike lane configuration, the raised crosswalk between Lee Street and Boynton Street, and changes to parking.

View the design report (PDF 3.6MB)

Preferred bike lane configuration (Option 2)

 

From left to right: general travel lane with sharrow, contraflow bike lane, parking

Above: McBride Street Option 2 looking west towards South Street. Parking remains on the north (even) side of McBride Street. A contraflow bike lane is added in between the parking lane and the general travel lane.

 

Thank you to those who have shared their thoughts already! We’re working to finish the design plans this winter. We aim to begin construction in 2024.

Email us your feedback at better-bike-lanes@boston.gov.

Why McBride Street

  • The Public Works Department plans to reconstruct the sidewalks on McBride Street as part of regular maintenance activities. We can use this opportunity to create a more comfortable connection to the Southwest Corridor and southern Jamaica Plain.
  • People are already biking contraflow on McBride Street. 1 in 4 bicyclists on McBride Street ride contraflow.
  • Vehicle volumes are moderate and speeds are too high. We can make the street safer and more comfortable by adding speed humps and a raised crosswalk.
Everyone in Boston deserves safe streets
A group of six youth are riding bikes on a path by their school.

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

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 moderate-volume streets like McBride 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.

A photograph of a contraflow bike lane on Mount Hope Street in Roslindale.
“With flow” bicyclists share a traffic-calmed lane with vehicles. “Counter flow” bicyclists ride to the right of the yellow lines. Location: Mount Hope Street, Roslindale

Neighborhood context

Map of all projects in JP this year

There are other bike lane projects happening in Jamaica Plain this year. These projects will 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
Bike lane OPTION 1

 

From left to right: parking lane, general lane with sharrow, contraflow bike lane

Above: McBride Street Option 1 looking west towards South Street. In this option, a contraflow bike lane is added against the north curb. Parking is shifted to the south side of McBride Street.

 

Bike lane OPTION 2

 

From left to right: general travel lane with sharrow, contraflow bike lane, parking

Above: McBride Street Option 2 looking west towards South Street. In this option, parking remains on the north side of McBride Street. A contraflow bike lane is added in between the parking lane and the general travel lane.

 

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.

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 McBride Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Southwest Corridor Park and on South 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 McBride Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Southwest Corridor Park and on South Street.
  • We mailed 115 postcards to households on Eliot Street and the blocks nearby.
  • 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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