Pilot plazas on Comm Ave carriage lanes

The idea

Commonwealth Ave between Brighton and Warren has ~10 lanes of asphalt with no benches or public spaces. This funds a pilot to tactically convert one or more segments of the carriage lanes near Harvard Ave into plazas with seating, planters, and art.

Who it helps and why

This stretch of Allston-Brighton, which is lower income and more diverse than much of Boston, lacks pedestrian-friendly amenities already present elsewhere on Comm Ave. A tactical pilot to leverage underutilized lanes gives residents without cars, families, and transit riders access to safe public space now, rather than continuing to wait for unfunded redesigns well into the 2030s.