Advocates and members of the Boston University Bridge Safety Alliance plan to host a public meeting Thursday at the Howard Thurman Center to discuss bike safety improvements to be made to the BU Bridge.
The Boston Transportation Department, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation plan to be present at the meeting to provide updates on implementation progress and municipalities.
BU alum Ken Carlson, co-founder of the BU Bridge Safety Alliance, said the meeting will be a chance “to have all the right people in one place” and inform the public of the plans to improve safety.
Carlson created BU Bridge Safety Alliance two years ago, and it has grown to include numerous advocacy groups for vulnerable road users, individual advocates and elected officials.
Carlson said the BU Bridge improvement project is particularly difficult for the Alliance because it is a “multijurisdictional problem.”
Brendan Kearney, co-executive director of WalkMassachusetts, an organization dedicated to creating safer streets for pedestrians, will speak at the meeting on behalf of Massachusetts pedestrians.
“Getting [every organization] on the same page is tough enough, let alone getting them to make the changes to make things safer for people outside cars,” said Kearney. “So I’m really appreciative of what folks have been doing here.”
The DCR has “a range of planned safety and accessibility improvements” for this area around the BU Bridge, with work expected to continue through Nov. 26, according to a statement from a DCR Spokeswoman.
“We are actively working to introduce additional bike lanes to the area of Memorial Drive near the BU Bridge,” the DCR spokeswoman wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press. “As part of these efforts, we continue to engage with stakeholders like the BU Safety Alliance, legislators and the public as we move forward with projects along Memorial Drive.”
Additional improvements include installing flex posts that will protect bike lanes, widening the sidewalk, changing signal times and making the Cambridge roundabout safer, according to Carlson.
Carlson said the University has not been involved with the infrastructure improvements for the BU Bridge.
“We have approached BU and have met with BU, but they have really not signed on to the alliance and they’re kind of on the sidelines, which is a shame,” Carlson said.
Jerry Zhou, president of BU Urbanists, said he hopes getting different advocates together into an alliance will help bring change, but the meeting is “just the start” of what needs to be done to improve Commonwealth Avenue as a whole.
“You might think I’m being dramatic when I say this, but I think someone is going to get seriously injured or killed,” Zhou said. “It’s not a matter of if, but when that’s going to happen.”
