Cambridge Day – “Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses”

Cambridge Day: “Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses”

The redesign process began with a council order in June 2014, sparking at least the fourth intensive look at a redesign since 1994 for a square long considered confusing and dangerous for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. The process gained urgency and attention with the death of bicyclist Amanda Phillips in June 2016, but drew opposition for its plan to shrink the square’s Vellucci Plaza on one side of Hampshire Street so a giant, traffic-bending bump-out could be added on the other side – essentially turning the peculiarly elongated and complex square into two intersections.

Inman Square has been the site of five pedestrian crashes, 10 bicycles crashes (including that of Phillips) and 50 vehicle crashes in just the past three years, according to WalkBoston, a nonprofit founded in 1990 that has worked with Cambridge in Inman Square since 2014.

Posted September 18, 2018