Hampshire St Safety Improvement Project

Overview

The city’s CSO specifies Hampshire Street as one of four protected bike routes that must be in place by April 30, 2026 (the other three are Cambridge St. between Inman Square and Lechmere, Broadway between Harvard and Hampshire St., and Garden Street between Huron Ave. and Cambridge Common.) The City considers installation of separated bike lanes on Hampshire street to be a key piece of its plan for a safe, connected separated bicycle network given it is heavily used and connects Inman Square with the Port/Kendall Square. The quick-build project will connect several other bike infrastructure projects to provide a near-continuous protected bikeway between the Charles riverfront in Boston and Porter Square in Somerville.

Community Meetings

On November 7, 2002 the Traffic Parking and Transportation Department (TPT) started the community process for installation of separated bike lanes along Hampshire Street from Amory St to Broadway with an open house/drop in session at DPW headquarters. Along with the bike lanes comes the removal of street parking for residents and businesses. There are many residences along this section of Hampshire St . that have no off street parking options so the impact of parking removal could be substantial.

At the first virtual community meeting held Tuesday November 15th, the city shared their boiler plate CSO background material and some preliminary ideas for reaction. Assuming the city proceeds with the plan of bike lanes on both sides of the street, about 170 on street parking spaces will be lost. This will be very impactful as many residences have no off street parking options and the side streets are typically full. Some of the spaces are designated as unrestricted—- which means they can be used by residents or visitors without permit——and frequently DPW workers not living in the city have occupied these spaces during the day. Residents should ask for a parking impact analysis study so the City can discuss with residents how they will mitigate the loss of parking and how DPW staff will be accommodated. Residents can leave feedback about the project by completing the form here.

The next meeting will be held in Spring 2023 with implementation to happen late spring 2023.