Bike lanes draw frustration at December meetings

Proposed parking changes for the Outer Huron Ave. Safety Improvement Project drew frustration, and possible solutions, from residents after community meetings in December. Some aspects of the project, which proposes separated bike lanes along Huron Ave., are open to community feedback. The city’s team will share an updated design plan in the spring and aims to complete the project between this summer and fall.

The city initially proposed relocating a bus stop at 700 Huron Ave. bus stop to be in front of the Russell Youth Community Center, affecting a loading zone used by the Cambridge Program for Individuals with Special Needs. The program offers a number of recreational activities and life skills development to Cambridge residents with intellectual disabilities. The city also plans to remove 52 parking spots on the north side of Huron Ave. by the Fresh Pond Reservation, though it will add 14 parking spots, some of which could be accessible spaces, which the area lacks.

The plan raised concerns from attendees at two community meetings, one held virtually on Dec. 2 and another at the community center on Dec. 9. The Dec. 2 meeting was the public launch of the drafted plan and the first opportunity for public comment.

In that initial virtual meeting, the special needs program director David Tynes urged the project team to consider a range of accessibility needs and called for further engagement with his program. “Something like this, I wish I could’ve been included on, or other people in this community,” he said. Of the 105 people in the program, Tynes said only two are bike riders.

The Russell Center program has been serving residents with special needs for over 35 years, noted Cambridge resident John Summers, who brings his disabled son to a city program every Saturday morning. Other participants in the Saturday program, many of whom have mobility issues or other impairments, take a bus which drops off in the loading zone out front.

“This group of people is not just another group of stakeholders, they’re vulnerable people who are recognized and supported by one of the city’s own departments,” Summers said. “Why should it be the case that the planning department puts forward plans and then forces all these people to come out in the middle of December, when most of them have mobility issues in the first place, to show that they actually exist?”

In response, by the Dec. 9 meeting the city said the bus stop would not be in front of the community center, and it would explore alternative design options. Despite the updated plan, some community members were frustrated with the city’s planning process. “Why was this program and this group of people not considered at the conception stage?” Summers said he asked Transportation Commissioner Brooke McKenna at the Dec. 9 meeting. “She said, ‘I’ve never heard of the program,’” Summers said.

McKenna told Cambridge Day the community feedback is an intentional part of the planning process. “We start by sharing a draft concept so we can learn more about how the area functions and hear directly from the community,” she said in an email. “This iterative process: listening, learning, and refining the plan based on community feedback, is central to how we approach transportation projects.”

In response to questions from Cambridge Day, the project team affirmed they are engaging with affected communities and seeking further feedback. “From the start, the project team has prioritized input from residents who may be most affected, including disabled residents and senior citizens,” city staff said over email. They plan to continue working closely with the program and community center staff, they said.

Separated bike lanes still the plan

The city still plans to install separated bike lanes, which include physical barriers and clearer markings to improve safety for bikers and pedestrians, along Huron Ave. between the Fresh Pond Reservation and Grove St. “The bike lanes will be located along the curb and physically separated from motor vehicle traffic, creating a safer and more comfortable experience for people biking, including riders of all ages and abilities,” the project team said in an email to Cambridge Day.

The changes on Huron Ave. are just one project under the Cycling Safety Ordinance, passed by the city council in 2019 and amended in 2020, which requires the city to include separated bike lanes when certain streets are reconstructed. Those areas were identified in the Cambridge Bicycle Plan, first published by the city in 2015 and updated in 2020, as key sites for improving and establishing a safe bike network and eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries. Huron Ave. was identified in the bike plan as a street for greater separation.

Multiple speakers at the Dec. 2 meeting asked the project team why this bike route was a priority. The answer is rooted in the city’s multi-project effort to encourage biking, improve traffic safety, and establish a network of bike lanes across the city. “This section of Huron Avenue is a key connection because it links existing bike lanes near Fresh Pond to the rest of the corridor leading to the Belmont town line,” the project team said over email.

Supporters of the project see this lane as an essential part of the city’s cycling goals. The bike lanes on Huron Ave. will connect to existing lanes by the golf course and lead to Fresh Pond, which has off-street bike paths and connects to the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, Chris Cassa, a volunteer and advocate with Cambridge Bicycle Safety, described in a phone interview. That regional connection leads to key locations like Arsenal Yards, Mount Auburn St., and other bike lanes in the network. “This is a small gap that will help unlock this area to allow folks to have the option to get where they need to go in a safer way,” Cassa said.

Cassa said benefits extend beyond Cambridge, because “when Cambridge builds something, then Boston builds it too, or Somerville will build up to it.” He added that “We’re doing a bunch of projects now that are building these regional connections, and this is one of those that’s really valuable.” Belmont has a current redesign plan for Grove St., which would connect to the proposed bike lanes on Huron Ave. and fill a gap in the existing network.

While Huron Ave. wasn’t identified in the cycling safety ordinance as one of the critical streets for reconstruction, it has been named in the city’s broader bike plan since 2015 as a street for greater separation. Evidence shows that bike networks with gaps discourage bikers altogether.

Impact to golf course, opportunity for possible solutions

On the opposite side of Huron Ave., the Fresh Pond golf course is a 3,000-yard course running adjacent to Fresh Pond Reservation. While the course has its own parking lot, spaces are limited, and many golfers utilize the existing spots on Huron Ave. for overflow.

“We are one of, if not the busiest courses in the state of Massachusetts,” course director Jo-Anna Krupa said at the Dec. 2 meeting. “We do 54,000 rounds a year — a very diverse population of golfers.” The course is open from early spring through early December, and particularly during busy season, the course lot cannot accommodate the number of golfers driving to play.

A number of golfers spoke at the Dec. 2 meeting, some even calling the project “discriminatory” and pointing to the course as key recreation for seniors. Krupa expressed concern that should parking be eliminated, free time slots for programs with youth and veterans could be impacted. “If I lose access and I can’t make my budget, I then have to look at cutting back access to free golfing.”

Eliminating the 26 parking spots near the golf course is necessary to meet the project goals, the team said. But in the weeks since the project launched, community members have suggested a number of possible solutions to improve parking options under the city’s plan.

City staff noted in the Dec. 2 meeting that there is some long-term parking on Huron Ave., suggesting that residents of nearby buildings might be using the unregulated spaces as residential parking. The nearby Parkside Place building at 700 Huron Ave. has approximately 75 parking spots available in its residential garage. With changes to ordinances voted on by the city council in December 2024, streets identified in the bike plan are designated flexible parking corridors, making it easier for property owners to share off-street parking.

Under these rules, some community members have noted that the Parkside building has the right to rent spaces to the golf course or for other public use parking. Additionally, the golf course has the right to rent spaces during their off-season or for overnight use.

Local resident and Cambridge Bicycle Safety volunteer Randy Stern, who has used the Fresh Pond golf course, suggested that the course implement lockers or another storage solution for golfers’ clubs, allowing them to utilize public transportation or biking more easily. Other solutions from the community include adding accessible parking spots in front of the community center, implementing exclusive regulations for center use and introducing metered parking at and near the golf course to ensure efficient parking.

The project is in the first phase of the planning process, which focuses on community feedback in response to the initial project plan. The team held a second in-person drop-in meeting on Dec. 16 at Parkside Place, and are now developing an updated project plan with feedback from the community. There will be additional opportunities for resident engagement before the final project will be installed later this year.

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