Lexington Awarded State Grant To Expand Sidewalks, Outdoor Dining

LEXINGTON, MA — Lexington was awarded a grant to help free up sidewalk space for outdoor dining. Lexington was one of 12 towns awarded grants in the first round of funding for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Shared Streets & Spaces Program.

Lexington's grant money will help create additional sidewalk space for residents walking and to help diners to maintain safe social distancing. Using jersey barriers and signage it would safely block off selected parking spots to allow restaurants to expand their outdoor seating as well as provide retail shops with an area to set up an outdoor table as pick-up spots. The jersey barriers will make it possible to implement these changes quickly and flexibly.

The program, which launched in June, provides technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts cities and towns conceive, design and implement tactical changes to curbs, streets, on-street parking spaces and off-street parking lots in support of public health, safe mobility, and renewed commerce in their communities.

The program is modeled after the Administration’s Complete Streets Funding Program, created in February 2016, which, as of January 2020, had awarded a total $46 million to cities and towns for municipal projects improving infrastructure to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transportation customers.