Pedestrian & bike safety
Consistent prioritySafer streets for people walking and biking through traffic calming, crossings, signals and protected bike lanes.
Residents consistently ask for physically protected bike lanes, safer crossings and signals, slower residential streets, and more space for people walking.
Theme grouped and summary written with AI from this theme's resident ideas.
324 ideas across three cycles
| Cycle | Ideas | Share of all ideas | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 | 157 | 12.9% | 1 of 20 |
| 2025–26 | 53 | 4.4% | 10 of 20 |
| 2026–27 | 114 | 8.6% | 3 of 20 |
Needs that keep coming back
Protected, separated bike lanes
Residents want bike lanes with real barriers or physical separation, on specific corridors and as a connected citywide network, instead of paint alone.
Raised in 2024–25, 2025–26, 2026–27
Safer crossings and better-timed signals
People ask for raised, well-marked or signalized crosswalks, longer walk times, and fixes at dangerous intersections such as Cleveland Circle and Union Square.
Raised in 2024–25, 2025–26, 2026–27
Speed bumps and traffic calming on local streets
Residents on residential streets report speeding, crashes and hit parked cars, and ask for speed humps, raised crosswalks and similar measures, often citing children and seniors.
Raised in 2024–25, 2025–26, 2026–27
Enforcement and safety education
Residents ask for enforcement against red-light running, texting and blocked lanes, plus campaigns teaching drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to share streets safely.
Raised in 2024–25, 2025–26, 2026–27
Pedestrian-priority streets and plazas
People ask to close or pedestrianize streets such as Newbury Street and Hanover Street, or give them more space for walking and gathering.
Raised in 2024–25, 2025–26, 2026–27
2024–25
The largest and most varied set of ideas, with many hyper-local speed bump requests (especially Norwell Street), many pedestrian overpass and underpass proposals across Hyde Park, Roslindale and Dorchester, and requests for bike connections.
2025–26
A smaller set of ideas focused on protected or raised bike lanes, longer pedestrian signal times and crosswalk fixes, with an equity framing about residents without cars and Black and brown neighborhoods.
2026–27
Dominated by requests for raised, concrete-protected bike lanes (especially in Allston-Brighton) and physical barriers in place of paint or flexposts, along with signal retiming and protection against illegal parking in bike lanes.
New in 2026–27
Newly prominent are requests for sidewalk-height raised bike lanes with concrete barriers, enforcement and 311 reporting of lane-blocking cars, more crossing guards, and quick-build temporary curb extensions and planters.
Funding so far
No winning resident-vote projects relate to this theme, so every recurring ask (protected bike lanes, safer crossings and signals, traffic calming, enforcement and education, pedestrian-priority streets) has yet to be addressed by a winning project.
Projects are linked to themes by matching each project's description to the themes; this is not an official City classification.
No winning project has addressed this theme yet.
Departments that often lead this work
- Boston Transportation Department
- Public Works
Suggested with AI; not an official assignment of responsibility.
Ideas in Pedestrian & bike safety
9 ideas
2024–25: 1 · 2025–26: 1 · 2026–27: 7 (of 324 in this theme)
- Button-activated crossing lights on major South Boston roadsResident asks for button-activated pedestrian crossing lights at major South Boston crosswalks without signals, to protect people from fast-moving traffic.2026–27South Boston
- Dedicated cyclist signal phase southboundResident requests a dedicated cyclist phase on the southbound signal to prevent right-hook collisions with cars turning toward the highway.2026–27South Boston
- Parking-protected southbound bike laneResident suggests making the southbound bike lane parking-protected to stop constant double-parking that pushes cyclists into fast traffic near housing and a route to JFK/UMass.2026–27South Boston
- Protect eastbound bridge bike lane into SouthieResident asks for a physical barrier in the existing buffer space of the eastbound bike lane on a bridge into South Boston, where flexposts get destroyed by reckless driving.2026–27South Boston
- Landscaped median on Dorchester Street, South BostonResident asks for a tree-landscaped median on Dorchester Street in South Boston to give pedestrians a safe refuge and let them cross one direction of traffic at a time.2026–27South Boston
- Pedestrian overpass at Andrew station over Southampton StreetThe resident asks for a pedestrian overpass so people can safely cross Southampton Street to reach Andrew station, benefiting residents and commuters.2026–27South Boston
- Protected bike lanes linking South Boston and South EndResident asks for protected bike lanes on E Berkeley Street and the W Fourth Bridge to create a safe route between South Boston and the South End.2026–27South Boston
- South Boston protected bike lanes and bus lanesResident asks for protected bike lanes on key South Boston streets, more Bluebikes docks, and a bus/bike lane on Broadway and Summer St connecting City Point to the Red Line.2025–26South Boston
- Underpass or overpass to close path gap at tracksResident asks for an underpass or overpass to fix a gap in the path network created by the train tracks.2024–25South Boston