The Town is proposing changes to Chestnut Hill Avenue from Beacon St. to Boylston St. (Route 9) as part of an upcoming road work project

Most of Chestnut Hill Avenue is 40 feet wide, with a single wide lane in each direction, a painted shoulder and no marked parking. It is identified in the Brookline Bicycle Green Network Plan as in need of safe separated bike lanes in order to create a protected framework of bike lanes in Brookline. It is also identified in the Town’s Complete Streets Policy as a Complete Streets Priority Project, and in the Town’s Vision Zero Action Plan as a road requiring specific focus because of its crash history and crash risk.

The Town’s Transportation Division has released 5 new alternative cross-sections for the redesign of Chestnut Hill Ave (Options A, B, C, D, & E). You can see the cross-sections at this link.

Options A & E both show bollard protected bike lanes. The other options range from no-bike lanes (options B and C), to a bike lane with bollards on one side only with a painted only bike lane on the other side (Option D), although we believe that Option D could be modified to include bollards on both sides.

Options B & C do not provide safe infrastructure for bicycling on a street such as Chestnut Hill Avenue and are not responsive to the strong public support for protected bike lanes on Chestnut Hill Avenue, as is evidenced by the close to 700 people who have signed the Biking Brookline petition or otherwise expressed support for protected bike lanes, including 12 of the Town Meeting members in the two precincts through which Chestnut Hill Avenue runs.

Some abutters have requested that curbside parking be included in the plan. Curbside parking is lightly used on Chestnut Hiill Avenue, but we recognize the desire for curbside parking next to Warren Field and on parts of the segment between Ackers and Route 9, where homes are close together and some driveways are narrow.

Options D and E provide for curbside parking while allowing for protected bike lanes in both directions. The bike lanes in Options D and E would be narrower and the lanes in Option E would have less frequent bollards than ideal. However, Biking Brookline brought these options forward as a way to create protected bike lanes while also including parking. With supporters of protected bike lanes having compromised on the bike lanes widths and barriers in order to allow for parking, it is disappointing for the Town to be continuing to include for discussion plans that do not include protected bike lanes.

We do not see a need for curbside parking between Ackers and Beacon Street except along Warren Field. Homes on this segment have larger driveways and are more separated, and there are more cross streets that provide parking, than on the stretch from Ackers to Route 9. Parking on most of this stretch is already illegal or limited to permit holders, of which there are none, as no one has ever applied. In addition, this stretch has a steep hill and a curve that limits visibility. On this stretch, Option A, which provides for bollard-protected, buffered bike lanes, maximizes safety while minimizing adverse effect to abutters.