The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced its collaboration with municipal partners, including Revere and Lynn, for a series of bus priority projects that will construct up to 4.8 miles of bus lanes — and other pro-transit infrastructure upgrades — to improve bus speed and reliability as the region re-opens from COVID-19-related regulations.
These summer projects will address transit delays on congested roadways to improve bus travel time and reliability, as well as efficiently move more people to support economic recovery and public health.
As part of the MBTA’s Better Bus Project and Transit Priority effort, these projects are a major initiative to improve bus service and the system as a whole. Several of the projects received funding through the Baker-Polito Administration’s Shared Winter Streets and Spaces grant program, which aims to improve traffic and transit conditions in support of public health, safe mobility and renewed commerce across the Commonwealth.
“These are precisely the kinds of projects the Baker-Polito Administration had in mind in awarding municipalities Shared Winter Streets and Spaces funding for public transportation needs as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Acting Transportation Secretary and CEO Jamey L. Tesler. “We are grateful to municipal leaders in Boston, Somerville, Malden, Brookline, Revere and Lynn for collaborating with the MBTA to install infrastructure, including dedicated bus lanes, and having the vision to see that ‘shared streets’ are streets which are truly vital to helping residents move around safely and to encouraging people to get around in ways other than in a personal motor vehicle.”
The projects in Lynn, Malden and Somerville will build on recently completed adjacent projects, further building a network of bus priority facilities in communities that have seen durable transit ridership throughout the pandemic.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee said the bus lanes coming to Western Avenue, in tandem with the recent bus and bike improvements added to North Common, South Common and Market Street, “will greatly aid Lynn residents’ ability to travel around their city while providing them better access to opportunities around the region.”
“We appreciate our close partnership with the MBTA and MassDOT to move this project forward to implementation, and are thankful for the support of our local partners at GE,” McGee said.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said the bus system has been a lifeline for riders accessing jobs, healthcare and services throughout the pandemic.
“Since spring 2020, we have worked with our municipal partners to deliver an additional nearly five miles of bus lanes, benefiting over 57,000 riders in some of the region’s hardest-hit communities,” Poftak said. “These projects are testimonies to our shared commitments to advancing equitable mobility, and why we want to deliver another nearly five miles of infrastructure this year. These projects would not have been possible without the tireless work of our municipal partners.”
Bus lanes in Brookline and Revere will be the first bus priority facilities to be constructed in those municipalities, bringing the total number of metropolitan area communities with bus lanes on local streets to nine.
“Our bus lane on Broadway is a part of our city’s commitment to improve mobility, especially for local residents who depend on public transit to get to work, school and essential services,” said Revere Mayor Brian M. Arrigo. “The way we rebuild our region in the wake of this crisis is by recommitting to the public goods that serve our residents every day.”
