Chestnut Hill Avenue

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. Biking Brookline is advocating for protected bikes as part of the project. You can help our advocacy efforts by signing this Biking Brookline petition. You can read more about the project immediately below.

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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.

Over the last year and a half, the Town’s Transportation Division has released many alternative cross-sections for the redesign of Chestnut Hill Ave. At its June 24, 2026, meeting, the Transportation Board narrowed the options down to three, which it asked the Transportation Division to develop further to help the Board decide on a final option. The three options are posted on the Town’s website as Options A, B, and C under the caption for the Board’s Sepember 9, 2026 meeting and will be discussed at that meeting

Option A provides buffered, protected bike lanes on each side of Chestnut Hill Avenue, without any curbside parking. Option B provides a buffered, parking-protected bike lane on the southbound side of Chestnut Hill Avenue, with a unprotected 5’ wide painted bike lane on the northbound side. Option C provides a two-way parking protected bike lane on the southbound side of Chestnut Hill Avenue.

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.

The northbound bike lane in Option B woulds be narrower than ideal and would be unprotected. (In theory, it could be protected with bollards, but the Town does not clear snow in a bike lane that is less than 6’ wide, so there could be no bollards unless they are removed each winter.)

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 or C, which provide for bollard-protected, buffered bike lanes, maximizes safety while minimizing adverse effect to abutters.