Vote for Western Ave

Vote Today for Western Ave to Win a 2014 Streetsie Award!

Western Avenue is a finalist for a Streetsie Award for Best Urban Transformation in 2014. Vote now and help us win.

Read on to see what Streetsblog had to say:

The Western Avenue road diet narrowed dangerously wide traffic lanes on this one-way street to make room for safer pedestrian crossings, a raised bike lane, and bus bulbs. Brian DeChambeau of the Cambridge Community Development Department, the lead agency on the project, adds these details about the redesign:

Before the project began, the street cross-section included two 12’-wide (sometimes 12’+) vehicle travel lanes and a 5’ bicycle lane with parking on both sides. Along with heavy vehicle and truck volumes, it was an uninviting street to live, ride, and walk on. The reconstruction removed a vehicle travel lane for the first three blocks of the corridor and narrowed the travel lanes in order to facilitate construction of a protected cycle track, enhanced pedestrian crossings, and expanded park space. The cycle track is also separated from pedestrians on the sidewalk by tree plantings and light fixtures. Traffic calming features, including raised side street crossings, were implemented, along with bus stop curb extensions to improve transit efficiency and to create space for bus shelters. Other curb extensions created space for cycle track sight lines and landscaping, as well as improved bicycle parking. The project also includes two new bicycle traffic signals, which were added at key intersections along the corridor.

For More Information

For more information on the Western Avenue reconstruction project, visit the project homepage.