Two Dorchester city councillors are asking Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration to explain how the Boston speed hump program now works, while a city official says new installations have not stopped. District 3 Councillor John FitzGerald and District 4 Councillor Brian Worrell called on the city’s Streets Cabinet to clarify the process, the Dorchester Reporter reported on Oct. 7.
What the Councillors Are Asking For
FitzGerald told the Reporter his office has been left with the impression that a pause on new speed humps remains in place this season. He said he does not believe the pause should continue and that several streets promised as priorities in his district have not yet received humps. He also said he is concerned that budget pressures could eventually halt the program.
FitzGerald proposed that each councillor be allowed to submit 10 to 15 streets per year for consideration, calling speed humps “the number one request we get in our office.”
Worrell said councillors have not been given an explanation of the current policy. “It’s about clarity around the process and how the city can identify what streets will be scheduled or considered for speed humps,” he told the Reporter. He said uncertainty has led some residents to build their own humps, which he said the city wants to avoid.
What the Wu Administration Says
A Wu administration official, who spoke to the Reporter without being named because the official was not authorized to speak on the record, said there is no pause. According to the official, the city installed 100 new speed humps this past summer and has 50 more in the queue for this fall, timed to coincide with repaving and sidewalk work.
The official described the change as a shift in planning, saying the city has taken “a more holistic approach to incorporating speed humps into our annual capital programming.”
How Speed Humps Spread in Dorchester
Speed humps are lower and more gradual than the speed bumps found in parking lots, which allows fire trucks and snowplows to pass over them more easily. Boston introduced them at scale in 2017 under the Vision Zero “Slow Streets” program in Dorchester’s Talbot Norfolk Triangle, then expanded to the West of Washington and St. Brendan’s areas and, through the “Safety Surge” program, to side streets around Hancock and Quincy streets, the Reporter said.
Janytt Scott, a Talbot Norfolk Triangle resident, told the Reporter that the humps slow traffic but that drivers adjust to them over time. She said they should be slightly higher, run curb to curb and be repaired more quickly.
Other Street Safety Changes This Week
Separately, the city said it will add protected bike lanes and other safety changes on Tremont Street in Mission Hill between Terrace and Parker streets, with construction set to start next week, weather permitting, The Boston Globe reported. The changes include moving parking away from the curb and limiting left turns at Tremont and Parker. The corridor is where city transportation planner Louisa Gag was killed while cycling in July. Interim Chief of Streets Chris Osgood said in a statement that the work will make the corridor “work better for residents and all road users.”
The speed hump questions add to a busy stretch of street design decisions in Boston, including the Blue Hill Avenue bus lane town hall and the Columbus Avenue bus lane redesign in Roxbury. For more Dorchester civic news, see our report on the Fields Corner post office closing.