Category: Announcement

WalkBoston’s Advocacy Work Continues to Soar

WalkBoston’s Advocacy Work Continues to Soar

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Two of the most iconic by-products of Boston’s Big Dig — the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Zakim Bridge — also stand today as symbols of WalkBoston’s earliest and most prominent pedestrian advocacy.

Founded in 1990, WalkBoston played a leading role throughout the 1990s in making sure pedestrians weren’t overlooked in the massive project to bury Boston’s Central Artery highway. Most notably, it persuaded transportation officials to reduce the number of proposed vehicle travel lanes on the Greenway from 10 to 6, with extra space devoted to pedestrians and bicyclists. It also persisted in seeing to completion the crucial pedestrian/bicycle bridge linking the Charles River Basin and Boston Harbor, a Big Dig commitment that languished until WalkBoston held a highly publicized walk in 2005 decrying its absence. The bridge was completed in 2012.

Those efforts and others are being recalled this month as WalkBoston marks the 20th anniversary of one of its most high-profile events: a Mother’s Day walk on the soon-to-be-opened Zakim Bridge on May 12, 2002. Co-sponsored with the Mass. Turnpike Authority, the walk drew 200,000 people — five times what officials anticipated — despite it being a cool rainy day.

The bridge walk idea came from then WalkBoston board member Catherine Donaher. 

“We had all gone through a very long and challenging fight to stop Scheme Z (a proposed I-90/Route 1 interchange over the Charles River) and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a walk across the bridge before it opened?’ ” Donaher recalled.

WalkBoston co-founder and then-president Ann Hershfang pitched it to Turnpike Authority chairman Matt Amorello. “I stood up at a meeting and said, ‘Would you be willing to have pedestrians be the first mode of transportation across the Zakim Bridge?’ and he immediately said ‘Yes!’ ” Hershfang said.  

“What happened was so wonderful,” Donaher said. “We need to do more things to bring people out to touch and feel projects like this and feel like ‘This is my bridge — I paid for this.’”

The Mother’s Day walk’s popularity prompted officials to hold a walk through the Big Dig tunnels in August 2002, and a dedication walk on the Zakim Bridge that October. Those two events drew 600,000 and 800,000, respectively.

“Our work on the Central Artery kind of elevated us in the public mind,” said Hershfang, “and the bridge walk also raised our profile. I can still see one of our bright orange WalkBoston banners stretched across the bridge!” The Fall 2002 WalkBoston newsletter noted that nearly 90 new memberships were received after the first two events.

WalkBoston has only continued to grow over the ensuing two decades. An organization that in 2002 had no full-time staff and an annual budget of just over $100,000 now has six full-time staff members, interns, and a budget in excess of $600,000. WalkBoston continues to broaden and diversify its walkability programs and advocacy efforts, which now includes the WalkMassachusetts Network, a statewide coalition of groups working on walking.

Help us continue to add to our legacy by becoming a member or making a donation at walkboston.org/donate.

News clippings of the event from 2002:

 

April 2022 Network Meeting Recap

April 2022 Network Meeting Recap

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The WalkMassachusetts Network held its third network meeting on Wednesday, April 20th. Members ranged from WalkBoston staff and board members, resident advocates from community groups, Mass in Motion coordinators, and representatives on various municipal boards and commissions from across Massachusetts.

Deputy Director Brendan Kearney gave a presentation on the WalkBoston report looking at fatal crashes in Massachusetts in 2021 as part of a continued outreach effort about the data.

Findings:

  • Of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, 47 had a fatal pedestrian crash in 2021. Over half (40 of 75) of the deaths happened in 12 municipalities.
  • Older adults were hit and killed at a higher rate than those in other age groups: 36% of fatal crash victims were over the age of 65. In Massachusetts, only 17% of the population is over 65.  1  
  • Over half of Massachusetts’ fatal pedestrian crashes (50.67%) occurred on streets with speed limits of 30 to 35 MPH. These are neighborhood streets and main streets where more people are walking.
  • Roughly 65% of the people killed while walking were on roads owned by a city or town, while approximately 35% were walking on roads owned by a state agency (MassDOT or MassDCR).

Read the press release | Read the full report

If you haven’t already joined the WalkMassachusetts Network to hear about these monthly meetings, visit walkmanetwork.org to learn more and sign up to receive emails about upcoming events and programming. We also hope you’ll join us for our next network meeting on Wednesday, May 18th at 1 pm via Zoom. Chris Falcos from MassDOT will be joining to present on their new safe speeds programs and efforts. Have questions about the program? Please join us if you can by registering here!

Upcoming webinars and talks

Upcoming webinars and talks

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Upcoming webinars and talks happening in the next week that you may be interested in!

  • WalkBoston’s WalkMassachusetts Network’s monthly talk 5/18, 1pm. This month, Chris Falcos will be joining us from MassDOT to present on their new safe speeds programs and efforts. Have questions about the program? Please join us if you can by registering here! If you can’t make it but want to see other topics covered at future meetings, you can fill out this feedback form at any time.  
  • : Moving Massachusetts – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in MA Session 2 “Framework.” 5/17 (Today) at noon! .
  • GBH – Next Stop – The Future of Mass Mobility – Event 4 – Mobility for All (Virtual). 5/23, 6pm–7pm. Accessibility is central to transportation. For people with disabilities and for our aging population, access is a deal-maker. While the Americans with Disability Act has been the law for decades, the MBTA and other transit agencies are making slow progress towards providing full accessibility. How is the MBTA prioritizing accessibility improvements, and what are the partnerships that are necessary to success? In addition, the advent of e-bikes have made cycling more accessible and convenient for many more people than conventional bikes. RSVP here.
  • Streetwise speaker series: “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads: Climate and transportation policy in Massachusetts” with Christian Milneil from StreetsblogMass. 5/18, 6pm. This is a hybrid event, in person at Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville with a Zoom option. A monthly speaker series with the goal of sharing wisdom on the path to complete streets. The renewed series is co-sponsored by the Somerville Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets. No RSVP required, Zoom link available here.
City of Boston aims to create an Age-Friendly Cummins Highway

City of Boston aims to create an Age-Friendly Cummins Highway

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The City of Boston is currently designing the complete reconstruction of Cummins Highway in Mattapan and they are calling out the project as Age-Friendly Cummins Highway! This is exactly the outcome WalkBoston hoped to see when we began our age-friendly walking work with the City in 2016. Many of the design elements are a direct reflection of what WalkBoston and the City learned during meetings and walk audits with Mattapan residents. 

The project will include a total rebuild of the street, including sidewalks, curbs, street lights, traffic signals, road pavement, and replacement or updating of utilities with a project budget of approximately $24 million.

Mattapan residents and WalkBoston staff walk down a sidewalk in Mattapan Square during the 2016 WalkBoston Mattapan Square walk audit; photos included in the 4/26/22 Cummins Highway BTD/PWD Presentation.

The proposed Cummins Highway design includes narrower street crossings with curb extensions, fully accessible sidewalks, longer WALK times and audible signals, high visibility crosswalks, raised crosswalks to slow drivers turning onto or from side streets, new trees and plants to reduce the heat effect, new street lights, bus shelters and benches.

Age-friendly intersection design shown in the 4/26/22 Cummins Highway BTD/PWD Presentation, showing plans to narrow crossing distances, add accessible ramps, raise crosswalks and increase crosswalk visibility.

As city staff said during a recent public meeting, the goal is to:

“Transform Cummins Highway into a tree-lined neighborhood street that is safer for families to walk, wait for the bus, ride bikes, or travel by vehicle. It will connect residents to the City’s network of open spaces and make it easier for elders to cross the street.”

WalkBoston is thrilled to see the City of Boston’s adoption of some many age-friendly walking elements in the project and to see age-friendly street design come of age in the city. 

Want to learn more?

Event – 2022 WalkBoston Bob Sloane Walk: Muddy River

Event – 2022 WalkBoston Bob Sloane Walk: Muddy River

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Please join us on Tuesday, June 7th at 5:30pm for our first organized walk in almost three years. Sign up today!

The walk is part of Olmsted Now: Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial  and is the first annual walk in honor of Bob Sloane. Bob was a co-founder of WalkBoston and passed away in May 2021. He was a true pioneer in walking advocacy and a pillar of our organization, and we look forward to honoring his legacy by hosting a walk each year in his name. 

Since this is a point-to-point walk, we encourage you to use public transportation, walk, or bike to the start so that it is easy for you to head out afterwards.

HOW TO GET TO THE START

The walk will start on the Muddy River walk at the rear of the Hilton Garden Inn at Boylston Street and Brookline Avenue in Brookline (700 Brookline Ave, Brookline, MA 02446), very close to the Brookline Village stop (D Line). If you are coming from downtown on the D line, once you get off the train, cross the tracks and follow Pearl Street out to Washington St (Rt 9). You should see the hotel to your left on the corner of Brookline Ave and Washington St; we are meeting out back. Transportation close to the start location:

  • Brookline Village MBTA Station (D Line)
  • Riverway MBTA Station (E Line)
  • 66 Bus – Huntington Ave / Riverway stop
  • 60/65 Buses – Brookline Ave / Pearl St stop 
  • BlueBikes – Brookline Village Station

ROUTE

The route will wind its way from Brookline along the Emerald Necklace’s Muddy River toward Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. (View the route on Google Maps here).

The walk route is fully accessible. We are diverting off the pathway along the Muddy River onto sidewalks on Aspinwall Ave to Netherlands Road for the section of the path between Brookline Ave & Netherlands Road to avoid a bridge with stairs. Not only does this make our walking route accessible, it will also allow us to add an additional speaker stop on Netherlands Road at the Dutch House.

We’ll be ending the walk at the Trillium Fenway Beer Garden & Time Out Market so attendees have the option to have a drink or eat outside and continue the conversation. Transportation close to the finish location:

  • Brookline Ave / Park Dr stop
  • 8, 19, 60, 65 Buses – Fenway MBTA Station (D Line)
  • 47, 57, CT2 Buses – Park Drive / Fenway Station stop
  • BlueBikes – Landmark Center / Brookline Ave at Park Dr Station

SPEAKERS

Representatives from Fairsted (the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site) will share about Olmsted’s vision & describe the history and design of the Emerald Necklace. Additional speakers from Town of Brookline, City of Boston, and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy will join us along the way to share more about the Emerald Necklace and update us on the restoration & transportation projects located on this section.

Since we’ve had a strong RSVP response, we’ll likely be splitting attendees into two groups. We will get the first group started right after 5:30pm, and then send the next group a few minutes behind them.

We hope to see you on June 7th. Sign up today!

This walk is the first in a series of walks that WalkBoston is organizing for Olmsted Now:

Parks and public places are for everyone. Frederick Law Olmsted — reformer, writer, Boston transplant and America’s first landscape architect — is about to turn 200. Olmsted Now, Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial, is an invitation to actively shape a more equitable, verdant and vibrant city. Show up. Be seen. Share your story.