Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh has just announced a plan to make his city’s streets friendlier, reports Boston.com. The announcement outlined a detailed approach to making transportation and parking easier for everybody.
Part 1. A section of Commonwealth Avenue will be the first major testing ground for the goal of accommodating multiple modes of transportation, as the city plans to install 6-foot-6-inch protected bike lanes. A
Part 2. Coin-fed meters will soon be quaint relics in Boston. The city aims to replace them with smart meters that accept credit cards and smartphone payments.
Part 3. Absent-minded drivers will no longer find their cars missing if they forget to move for street cleaning day—at least in one neighborhood.
Part 4. The mayor announced Boston will adopt the Vision Zero Initiative, a comprehensive way of thinking about road safety pioneered in Sweden and adopted by other U.S. cities like New York and Chicago. The goal is to completely eliminate traffic deaths.
It’s natural to zero in on the news of parking from a big city like Boston, but I read the article and thought about how much simpler this plan would be to implement in a small city – with much the same effect. Keep cyclists safe, make meter use easy, forgive the forgetful and emphasize safety. More bikes on the road makes parking less complicated. Smarter parking meters save time, money and encourage turnover. And those are just two parts of the plan.
It’s great to see a huge city like Boston coming up with a transportation plan that completely addresses the human element.
Read the rest of the article here.
