Mt. Auburn Street Bus Priority Pilot Update

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Remember that bus pilot program Cambridge won a grant to work on to help unclog the roads? There was a Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Meeting to discuss the next steps for projects on Mt. Auburn and Belmont Streets last week, and the next one is set for next month, May 1.

In December, Cambridge and Watertown were awarded a joint community grant from the Barr Foundation to work with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy to pilot bus priority improvements for routes 71 and 73 along Mt. Auburn Street, between Belmont Street and Fresh Pond Parkway and for segments of Belmont Street in Cambridge and Mt. Auburn Street in Watertown.

The project is set to include the first dedicated bus lanes in Cambridge and new bike lanes where possible, as well as transit signal priority. For the pilot, paint and signs will pop up as a first step toward a long-term plan for the Mt. Auburn corridor.

The pilot comes as a planned spate of Department of Conservation and Recreation intersection improvements at Coolidge Ave and Fresh Pond Parkway are set to come, too.

"This pilot will improve travel for more than 12,000 daily MBTA bus riders, as well as for riders of Mount Auburn Hospital and athena health shuttles, while improving the flow of traffic and safety for everyone on the road," reads a notice about the meeting for nearby residents.

• View the Mt. Auburn Bus Priority Fact Sheet

Planning and public outreach for the pilot is currently underway, and implementation is expected to begin in late May / early June 2018.

Tuesday's meeting was March 27, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Russell Youth Center, 680 Huron Avenue.

The next meeting related to the pilot will be a joint Cambridge/Watertown Public Meeting on Tuesday, May 1st from 6-7:30pm at the Tufts Health Plan Center, 705 Mt. Auburn St. Watertown. Meeting details are available here.

The City has also released a Mt. Auburn Street Bus Priority Pilot Q&A .

(For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to your Free neighborhood Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Courtesy photo.