Harvard Street Repavement

The Transportation Division is undertaking a pavement preservation project on Harvard Street from the Boston line to School Street. The plans include a limited number of safety improvements, but fail to address the fundamental bicycle safety hazards: gaps in bike lanes that force cyclists into motor vehicle traffic, and unprotected lanes regularly obstructed by double parked cars.

Although several Transportation Board members expressed support for safer bike lanes at their last meeting, staff feedback at the most recent Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting indicates that no plans have been made to address the most pressing safety issues.

Omitting meaningful cycling safety improvements from this project contradicts Brookline's own Vision Zero Action Plan, which explicitly calls for integrating measures such as road surface marking changes into road maintenance projects and providing upgraded bike lane crossings and bike lane separation on Havard.

You can read more about this issue in this Brookline News article and in this letter from Biking Brookline to the Select Board and Transportation Board. 

April 30, 2026 Update

On April 29, 2026, Transportation Board approved final road markings for the Harvard Street pavement project.

The final plan includes some modest safety improvements over the initial plan but still does not address existing gaps in the bike lanes and the lack of protection in areas where bike lanes are regularly blocked by motor vehicles.

We are pleased that the Transportation Board retained the 10.5’ motor vehicle travel lanes in the original plan and rejected a proposal by the Transportation Division to widen the lanes to 11’. We believe that this will result in slower motor vehicle speeds.

There was strong public comment at the meeting about the need for protected bike lanes on Harvard Street. The Transportation Board decided to go ahead without them because they believed that the public process that would be required to consider protected bike lanes would delay the pavement project. Public comment noted that the lack of time was the direct result of the Transportation Division bringing its plans before the Transportation Board after they had already put the work out for bids. The Transportation Division committed that, in the future, it will inform the Transportation Board of upcoming pavement projects well in advance so the Board can consider what, if any, safety improvements can be incorporated into the project.

We are encouraged that in response to the many public comments received, Board members stated that the Board should consider further safety improvement on Harvard Street in the near future.