McBride Street
We are investing in a revitalized and safer McBride Street by rebuilding the sidewalks, repaving the roadway, adding speed humps, and installing a contraflow bike lane.
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Based on community feedback, we prioritized McBride Street for sidewalk replacement, curb ramp upgrades, and repaving. Your input also highlighted the need for traffic calming and better local bicycle connections. We will build state-of-good repair upgrades including fully accessible sidewalks and curb ramps and a smooth roadway surface. To further address your feedback, we will add speed humps, raised crosswalks, and a contraflow bike lane to improve safety and access for all users. Parking will remain on the north side of the street in its current location.
As part of the reconstruction, speed humps and raised crosswalks will slow down drivers traveling along McBride Street. Raised crosswalks at Boynton Street and the Southwest Corridor Path will bring the crossing to sidewalk level, improving accessibility and visibility while reducing puddles at the base of the ramp.
McBride Street is a relatively flat route between the Southwest Corridor Bike Path and South Street. To make the street an easy place for neighbors in southern Jamaica Plain to get to and from the bike path, we are adding a westbound (towards South Street) contraflow bike lane on McBride Street, making it a two-way connection for bicyclists while keeping it one-way eastbound for vehicles.
Talk with us
EventsLearn About the Design
View the illustrated design plans for McBride Street.
WE ARE MAKING THE FOLLOWING CHANGES ON McBRIDE STREET:
Sidewalk and Ramp Changes:
- Rebuilding the sidewalks in concrete between South Street and Boynton Street.
- Rebuilding curb ramps at Lee Street, Boynton Street, and Call Street to improve pedestrian accessibility and safety.
- At Boynton Street and Call Street, we are expanding the sidewalk at the corners to reduce the crosswalk length and provide space for accessible curb ramps.
- Planting 18 new street trees.
Roadway and Safety Changes:
- Building two raised crosswalks:
- Between Boynton Street and Lee Street, we are building a standard raised crossing across McBride Street.
- At the Southwest Corridor Park crossing, we are building a 15 foot-wide raised crossing to accommodate shared use path users.
- Re-paving the roadway and refreshing pavement markings.
- Adding speed humps between South Street and Lee Street. Our speed hump design guidelines preserve emergency response times.
Bicycle Access Changes:
- Adding a contraflow bike lane going westbound (towards South Street) starting at Boynton Street.
- Parking will remain on the north (even) side of McBride Street, based on resident feedback. The bike lane will be between the parking lane and the general travel lane.
- McBride Street will remain one-way eastbound (away from South Street) for people driving.
- We will add signage on McBride Street and side streets approaching McBride Street indicating that two-way bike travel is allowed.
- Approaching South Street, the bike lane will be against the northern sidewalk, protected by a concrete island extending 40 feet back from the intersection. This will create a safe place for people biking separated from turning vehicles.
- Adding a bike lane on the two-way portion of McBride Street between the Southwest Corridor Park and Boynton Street in the eastbound (towards Boynton Street) direction.
- Adding shared lane markings (also known as “sharrows”) eastbound, towards the Southwest Corridor Park.
Why a Bike Lane on McBride Street
- The Public Works Department plans to reconstruct the sidewalks on McBride Street as part of regular maintenance activities. We can use this opportunity to create a more comfortable connection to the Southwest Corridor and southern Jamaica Plain.
- People are already biking contraflow on McBride Street. 1 in 4 bicyclists on McBride Street ride contraflow.
- Vehicle volumes are moderate and speeds are too high. We can make the street safer and more comfortable by adding speed humps and a raised crosswalk.
Everyone in Boston deserves safe streets
This project is part of a bold plan for transforming Boston's streets to better serve people walking, rolling, and riding bikes. Over the next three years, we will expand our bike network so that 50% of residents will be a 3-minute walk from a safe and connected bike route.
Contraflow bike lanes
DIRECT ROUTES, BETTER ACCESS
One-way streets help manage the flow of vehicles. We might want to allow people to bike in both directions on one-way streets that:
- Provide access to a major destination, park, or trail access point, and/or,
- Help bicyclists avoid an obstacle, like a major hill or busy street with less comfortable biking conditions.
Contraflow bike lanes are a well-established design tool. They have seen decades of use around the U.S., the Boston area, and globally.
On moderate-volume streets like McBride Street, we can add contraflow bike lanes with paint and signage. The lane is positioned so that bicyclists ride on the right side of the street in the direction they are traveling, just like on two-way streets.
Neighborhood context
There are other bike lane projects happening in Jamaica Plain this year. These projects will help you to connect from the Southwest Corridor and Emerald Necklace paths to daily destinations on Centre Street, South Street, and points in between. Learn more about other projects in your neighborhood:
Past updates
UpdatesMcBride Street is a relatively flat route between the Southwest Corridor Bike Path and South Street while other parallel streets are hillier.
Our proposal is to add a westbound (towards South Street) contraflow bike lane on McBride Street, making it a two-way connection for bicyclists while keeping it one-way eastbound for vehicles. This will make the street an easy way for neighbors in southern Jamaica Plain to get to and from the Southwest Corridor Bike Path.
The reconstruction project will include accessible curb ramps and new sidewalks.
We will make the following changes on McBride Street:
- Rebuild the sidewalks between South Street and Boynton Street. We’ll build the new sidewalks with concrete.
- Re-pave the roadway.
- Build a raised crosswalk between Boynton Street and Lee Street.
- Add speed humps between South Street and Lee Street. Our speed hump design guidelines preserve emergency response times.
- Add a contraflow bike lane going westbound (towards South Street). Going eastbound (towards Boynton Street), we'll add shared lane markings.
- We will keep parking on the north (even) side of McBride Street. The bike lane will be between the parking lane and the general travel lane.
- McBride Street will stay one-way eastbound for people driving.
- Add signage on McBride Street and side streets approaching McBride Street indicating that two-way bike travel is allowed.
Learn more about the design for McBride Street
We share information about the bike lane configuration, the raised crosswalk between Lee Street and Boynton Street, and changes to parking.
View the design report (PDF 3.6MB)
Preferred bike lane configuration (Option 2)
Above: McBride Street Option 2 looking west towards South Street. Parking remains on the north (even) side of McBride Street. A contraflow bike lane is added in between the parking lane and the general travel lane.
Thank you to those who have shared their thoughts already! We’re working to finish the design plans this winter. We aim to begin construction in Spring or Summer 2025.
Email us your feedback at better-bike-lanes@boston.gov.
Bike lane OPTION 1
Above: McBride Street Option 1 looking west towards South Street. In this option, a contraflow bike lane is added against the north curb. Parking is shifted to the south side of McBride Street.
Bike lane OPTION 2
Above: McBride Street Option 2 looking west towards South Street. In this option, parking remains on the north side of McBride Street. A contraflow bike lane is added in between the parking lane and the general travel lane.
We held in-person office hours at the Jamaica Plain and Connolly branches of the Boston Public Library to share more information and hear your feedback about the project. We set up from 4-7 p.m. on the following dates:
- Thursday, June 29 at the Jamaica Plain Branch
- Monday, July 24 at the Connolly Branch
- Thursday, August 17 at the Jamaica Plain Branch
We sent a reminder email before each session. At our sessions, we shared more information about all our JP projects for 2023 and answered questions from you. Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.
We hosted a community walk on McBride Street and Eliot Street to share more information and hear your feedback about the project. About 15 community members joined us on McBride Street, and about 20 community members joined us on Eliot Street. The walk started at the corner of McBride Street and Call Street at 5:30 p.m. We reconvened at the Eliot School around 6:30 p.m. We finished around 8 p.m.
To publicize the walk, we:
- Posted flyers on the doors of residences and on light posts and utility boxes along McBride Street and Eliot Street.
- Sent an email to project email list. You can get updates by joining the list.
- Shared the information with community groups, neighborhood associations, Neighborhood Services, and the District 6 councilor's office. They spread the word to their networks.
Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.
We hosted two open house meetings to share more information and hear your feedback about bike projects in Jamaica Plain. You were invited to drop in anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. Both open houses had the same content. We offered Spanish interpretation at both.
- Wednesday, May 3. Margarita Muniz Academy, 20 Child Street
- Thursday, May 11. Mary Curley School, 493 Centre Street
Thank you to everyone who attended and shared their thoughts with us. We look forward to continuing to work with you to get the details right.
We sent a follow up email to the project email list on May 16, 2023.
View the boards (English):
- We posted flyers on front doors on McBride Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Southwest Corridor Park and on South Street.
- We sent an email to the project list about upcoming in-person and virtual events.
- We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
- We posted flyers on front doors on McBride Street. We also posted flyers on light posts near the Southwest Corridor Park and on South Street.
- We mailed 115 postcards to households on Eliot Street and the blocks nearby.
- We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
- We hosted virtual office hours every other Wednesday. You shared your feedback on Better Bike Lanes projects. We also corresponded with you via email.
- We began planning for spring and summer 2023 outreach and community conversations.
To build on her commitment to create safe streets for all modes of transportation, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) announced a 9.4 mile expansion of bike lanes providing key connections within the City’s existing bike network and the launch of a Citywide design process to bring safer streets to every neighborhood. To do this, Boston is expanding Bluebikes to accommodate rising demand, designing traffic-calmed streets by building speed humps and raised crosswalks, and hiring more staff to aid in the design process.
The announcement was covered by local news outlets.
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