Newton Pulls Plug On Bike Lane Pilot On Washington Street

NEWTON, MA —Earlier this month, the city removed some 200 parking spaces for a bike lane pilot east bound on Washington Street. Now the spaces are back and the pilot never kicked off, according to the city.

The spaces were removed at the beginning of the month along the Mass Pike side of Washington Street between Sullivan Tire in West Newton and Lowell Avenue in Newtonville as a trial designed to last a few months, according to city officials. But after pushback from city councilors, businesses and even bike advocates the parking returned a little quicker than expected.

The City’s Complete Streets Working Group made up of staff from many departments spent the summer designing short-term improvements for biking facilities to help students in response to the pandemic challenges in student transportation on school routes across the city in consultation with city councilors, according to Ellen Ishkanian a Newton city spokesperson. She said before the project was set to begin it would need an enforcement plan and signs, but the pilot ended before it actually officially began.

Greg Reibman president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce said he thought the city made a mistake by not communicating the decision in advance or giving stakeholders a chance to weigh in.

City officials said the project was always meant to be temporary, and thus doesn't need to go through the stakeholder process. Any long-term trial or change would have included a full public process, said Ishkanian.

The working group identified Washington Street as a potential thoroughfare for students to get to Newton North High School or Day Middle School.

At the same time on a bigger scale, the city has been looking into revision the section of Washington Street from Chestnut Street to Lowell Avenue, putting a buffered bike lane on both sides. That's a process that is scheduled to go through open hearings and several rounds before being fully implemented next year if it gets approval and community buy in.

But after the city repaved the stretch of Washington Street this summer, the working group had the idea of removing parking along about a half mile stretch to see what would happen.

It caught the eye of at least one commuter.

Newton resident and bike advocate Nathan Philips commutes by bike along that stretch of the road and noticed the bike lane show up one day.

He said he was pleasantly surprised that the city was taking into account the need for cyclists.

"I knew and all the bike mobility advocacy groups knew that this wasn’t necessarily the solution for Washington Street but it was a temporary measure that took us in the right direction," he said.

A protected bike lane along Washington Street he said would help keep commuters and students traveling along that area more safe.

When it disappeared days later and "shareows" appeared, he said he was dismayed, noting their location made things worse for cyclists.

But shop owners said they weren't ready to lose the parking.

City councilor Alicia Bowman said she had previously assured business owners the bike lane project wouldn't take away parking spots until early next year and actually might even create more spaces, said councilors and advocates had suggested when the city repaint the road, it just paint a wide shoulder and cyclists could use it as a defacto bike lane and cars could still park there and just wait until spring for the bigger project.

"The city, for whatever reason, decided just to go ahead with the bike lane trial, removing parking," she said. "And then people got angry because businesses had been told that we’d wait to the spring."

Most businesses had seemed on board for the “Road diet” model, a proposal in which the city would reduce the four lanes of traffic to two or three, use the space for buffered bike lanes on both sides and slow traffic to less scary speeds, in the process, she said.

That's what Philips is hoping for, too.

"I’m trying to stay positive and use this frustration to move forward and I think we will move forward," said Philips. "What I’m seeing as the probable, acceptable solution for everyone is going to be parking protected bike lanes on both sides at the expense of lane reduction. Four lanes to two or three travel lanes in each direction."

If all goes to plan, that's the direction the city is headed.

"No one wants to park along the Pike right now because there isn’t a safe place to cross the street, so if we calm it down, we actually could expand the amount of parking and make it attractive to park on the other side," said Bowman. "And then everybody is safer."

Bowman is quick to praise the mayor for green lighting measures to create a safer space for students biking near schools, such as no right on red lights for cars, letting go of some parking spaces to make drop off easier.

"I get where the city was coming from, I think they wanted to move ahead with something, but I don’t think they anticipated the level of angst from the business community," said Bowman. " I just hope the angst doesn’t detract or slow down the next step."

The Complete Streets working group is set to continue discussions this fall and winter, along with a public process, and get a grant to work on an engineering plan that could bring new road painting in the spring or summer.

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how .