Planned bike lane would leave part of Boylston Street with single lane of traffic

Thursday was another busy day in Boston's Back Bay for those trying to get around, but also for those working to keep traffic moving.

A Boston parking enforcement officer wrote ticket, after ticket, after ticket for vehicles double-parked on Boylston Street.

For those who cruise Boylston by bike, it's long been a dangerous stretch.

"It is scary, honestly, that is the word that I would use to describe it," said Malaysia Fuller-Staten, public policy manager for the Boston Cyclist Union.

The city says it's one of the most dangerous stretches for bikes.

"Analysis of EMS crashes shows that it's also one of the most crash-prone streets in the entire City for people riding bikes," Boston said in a statement. "Over 500 people bike on Boylston Street on a normal weekday, despite the lack of any infrastructure for bikes."

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu agrees.

"The mix and how it is organized is dangerous and quite chaotic," Wu said Thursday. "Anyone trying to shop there, get around there, you kind of know there are cars flying all over the place, double parking, people circling around looking for parking."

That is why Wu says it is time to get people moving on Boylston, preferably not in a car.

The city plans to install dedicated protected bike lanes on the left side of Boylston, moving the row of parking to the outside. The bike lane would replace a lane of traffic.

Between Ring Road and Dartmouth, the city adds, traffic would be reduced to just one lane.

"I just find it very, very hard to imagine how it is going to be successful," said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, who leads the Back Bay Association. "It is going to create an intense one lane of traffic."

Minzer-Cohen says she would like to find a better way for everyone to coexist without further clogging roadways, hindering businesses and residents alike.

"We want to encourage them to come to Back Bay and not make it too hard to get here, and we are concerned that is going to happen," she said. "We want to make sure it is not to the detriment of something that is very important to the city of Boston, the economic success of the downtown commercial district, and Back Bay."

There has also been a recent history of double-parking issues.

Austin-based Vade has been studying that, examining 40,000 photos to create a time-lapse of traffic on Boylston Street. The findings have been quite unique.

"There were 1,200 parking sessions every day on that one block of Boylston alone," said Matty Schafer, co-founder of Vade. "I can't name another project where we have seen such a high amount of turnover, which is just the amount of vehicles coming in and out of the block."

The Back Bay Association is asking the city to spend more time studying the issue. Boston is hoping to get the new dedicated bike lanes in by the end of the year.