Hyde Park Safety Walk - April 2025
Years of delay. One neighbor killed. Safety improvements on Hyde Park Avenue can’t wait.
On Saturday afternoon, April 12, close to seventy community members gathered in Forest Hills for a Hyde Park Avenue Safety Walk, calling attention to long-standing safety concerns along one of Boston’s most dangerous corridors. The walk, held from 1 to 3 PM, brought together neighbors, activists, and representatives from city and regional organizations to share observations, ideas, and demands for urgent change.
Attendees included:
Matt Moran (Transit Team Director) and Annisha Borah (Transportation Engineer) from the Boston Transportation Department (BTD)
Jarred Johnson Toole Design GroupD6 City Councilor Ben Weber
Hanna Flynn from City Councilor at Large Julia Mejia's office
Advocates from MassPaths, West Roxbury Bikes, RozzieBikes (David Wean), and Extinction Rebellion (Jana Pickard-Richardson)
Residents of neighborhoods abutting Hyde Park Avenue, from new arrivals to 40+ year residents
The walk focused on a stretch of Hyde Park Avenue extending up to—but not including—the intersection at Ukraine Way. BTD confirmed that repaving, restriping, curb ramp improvements, limited daylighting features (such as “armadillos”), and signal timing adjustments are scheduled for Fall 2025. But participants made it clear that basic maintenance alone won’t address the street’s dangerous design.
The message was simple: using Hyde Park Avenue shouldn’t be a life-or-death gamble.
Participants raised specific ideas and concerns:
Pedestrian wait times: At Ukraine Way, it can take two full light cycles just to get a walk signal. That’s unacceptable.
Lane reconfiguration: Some floated a three-lane model (two southbound, one northbound) to ease congestion and improve safety.
Bike and pedestrian improvements like sharrows on Hyde Park Ave, wayfinding or lane markings on the east-side sidewalk to help pedestrians and cyclists share space
Rerouting some bike/ped traffic through the MBTA Forest Hills parking lot
Sidewalk improvements: Calls to declutter the sidewalks in front of local businesses and enable safer foot traffic.
Lower speed limits: Advocates called for reducing the limit from 30mph to 25mph south of Ukraine Way.
Narrower travel lanes, especially in areas without parking, to slow cars and buffer pedestrians.
A clear consensus: streets should be designed to protect the most vulnerable first—pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders
The city is holding yet another meeting on the Hyde Park Ave. Multimodal Corridor project on May 21st from 6pm - 8pm at the Boston Teachers Union Pilot School. We've showed up to meeting after meeting -- including one last fall -- where the city has promised designs and a concrete schedule, and has instead presented ideas about "process." We're tired of the delays and want action for a safer Hyde Park Avenue now.
