Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link

LivableStreets Alliance
LivableStreets Alliance (LSA) is one of several
organizations committed to helping the City of
Boston realize this vision of transforming Columbia
Road into a greenway. LSA is a nonprofit 501(c)
(3) advocacy organization dedicated to
improving transportation systems in the greater
Boston region. LSA approaches their work with
the knowledge that transportation is integrally
linked to economic justice and public health. The
organization advocates for solutions that help
make communities more connected and livable for
everyone.
terminus of Columbia Road, the City of Boston
is hiring twenty new transportation department
staff, and the City has dedicated funding for this
redesign project.
To this end, our Field Projects team has partnered
with LSA to synthesize past plans, assess existing
information, and provide recommendations for the
Columbia Road corridor.
LSA was established in 2004 by a group of
volunteers working out of a bedroom in
Cambridge. At this time, many organizations were
focused on improving the use of streets in the
Boston Metro area for a single mode, like walking or
biking. LSA became the first multi-modal advocacy
organization in Boston, focusing on the inclusive
vision of “streets are for people.” This concept
meant working not only to improve conditions for
people riding bikes in Boston, but also to address
issues for people walking and taking transit. 5
Today, LSA’s work has evolved into three priority
programs: the Emerald Network, Vision Zero,
and Better Buses. The Emerald Network is a
proposed 200+ mile network of shared-use paths
in the Greater Boston area; it builds upon the
original Emerald Necklace, but extends beyond
Boston proper to include suburban areas. When
completed, the Emerald Network will be a system
of safe, primarily non-motorized pathways that
parallel routes in which many people already travel
for commutes, pleasure, and exercise. Columbia
Road is part of this vision as a proposed greenway.
The needs of today’s Columbia Road have shifted
significantly since the 1800s. Therefore, LSA aims to
encourage a renewed community engagement
process to inform the pending redesign.
Unfortunately, the community has experienced
several false starts over the years, but luckily, in
2019, there finally appears to be a confluence of
planning action in the area. Plans are underway for
Franklin Park and Moakley Park, located at either
Figures 7 and 8: The legacy of parks and greenways (Above)
and The Emerald Network (Below)
5 This text has been paraphrased from an internal LSA
document.
16 Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link