Bicycle Friendly Community

Boston, MA | Silver Level

Community Highlights: Building a dense network of interconnected bike lanes is the cornerstone of Mayor Menino's bike programs. In 2010, Boston made tremendous gains in infrastructure development. The city installed 20 miles of bike lane while also incorporating numerous progressive, best-practice treatments. Highlights include the following new additions: 1. Cycle-track on Western Ave 2. Left/ park side lane on Commonwealth Avenue in downtown 3. Bike Boxes in historic Back Bay 4. Buffered bike lanes 5. Green bike lanes in high-conflict zones 6. High-quality facilities over trolley tracks and at high-crash intersections. Since Mayor Menino launched Boston Bikes in 2007, the city has added 38 miles of facilities. With 29 pre-existing miles of multi-use paths, the network now totals nearly 67 miles. Mayor Menino has consistently supported legislation to allow the City the right to reduce the speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour in residential and dense commercial zones in the city. Boston Bikes, in concert with the Boston Public Health Commission, launched a comprehensive Community Bike Program emphasizing youth engagement in 4 ways 1. teaching them the skills to ride safely 2. "Roll it Forward" program- collect, repair, and distribute up to 1,000 bikes to youth living in public housing 3. R.O.C.K. Roll & Ride- a series of neighborhood bike days offering a wide variety of cycling themed activities 4. mobile bike shops such as at farmers markets. MassBike, has played a major role in Boston’s success through the launch of the "Same Roads Same Rules" campaign, adult education classes and the distribution of a new law enforcement guide.

Compelling Statistic:Once known as the worst cycling city in the country, Boston now has the 10th highest ridership levels of the 70 largest cities; ridership has more than doubled; The city has installed 1,500 new bike parking spaces, added 38 miles of bike lanes including cutting-edge facilities, hosted the first professional bike race in the city in nearly 20 years, engaged 35,000 cyclists in a variety of community programs, and innovatively approached safety and enforcement issues through community and inter-agency involvement.

Upcoming Plans: Boston plans to implement one of the largest bike share programs in the country.  The system will launch in the Summer of 2011 with 61 stations and 600 bicycles, while continuing to expand over time. To support the system, Boston will continue the dynamic growth of its bicycle initiatives. This will be supplemented by the existing employee bike pool of 23 bicycles available at nine city buildings.