Figure 61: Bike Lane on <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> Figure 62: BlueBikes Station at the Intersection of <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> and Blue Hill Avenue 80 <strong>Activating</strong> <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong>: <strong>Reframing</strong> a <strong>Missing</strong> <strong>Link</strong>
Bus Accessibility and Use <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> currently has limited bus access for most of the corridor, with the exception of the 16 bus that runs nearly the full length of the road from its intersection with Massachusetts Avenue through Franklin Park. At Massachusetts Ave, the 8 bus intersects <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> and the 17 and 41 travel along <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> until Upham’s Corner. At Upham’s Corner the 15 bus intersects the corridor, the 41 turns west onto Dudley Street, and the 17 turns south east onto Hancock Street. Further south on the corridor, the 19 bus crosses <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> on Geneva Avenue and the 23 crosses on Washington Street. Lastly, the terminus of <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> at Franklin Park has multiple bus routes that run north and south along Blue Hill Avenue including the 14, 22, 28, 29, and 45. comes only once every 30 minutes, which is a low frequency for the number of passengers it moves up and down the corridor. Nationally, the accepted definition of frequent service is every 15 minutes or better from early morning to midevening routes. By this definition, only 26, or 15% of the MBTA’s 176 bus routes provide frequent service. 9 In 2019, the MBTA made the decision to expand early morning service on a select number of routes, including the 16 bus. This resulted in 17 additional morning trips along the corridor, starting at 4:00am. 10 The Better Bus Project is an MBTA initiative to improve bus service on key bus routes throughout the Metro Boston region. This project is part of a larger $8 billion modernization effort, which includes replacing subway fleets, upgrading tracks, signals, and switches, reinventing the bus system to reflect changing demographics, replacing the fare collection system, and bringing all of the MBTA’s assets to a state of good repair. 6 The 16 bus is one of 63 routes listed as priority routes in the Better Bus Project. The change will add midday and Saturday service to JFK/UMass on Route 16, which currently only operates at weekday peak times. 7 The key changes for the route will include: Figure 63: Bus Stop on <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong> • About a 3-minute shorter wait time for 1,374 midday (25%) route 16 riders • 69 passenger hours saved and 137 new passenger trips each weekday According to the project proposal, the 16 bus is described as a “local route” which is defined as routes that provide service along major arterials and local streets and serve over 3,000 people per day. The 16 bus is the 22nd highest ridership route in the metro area, regularly carrying over 5,000 people per week day. 8 This route, however, is infrequent. During the weekday, the 16 bus 6 MBTA, “Better Bus Project.” 7 MBTA, “Route 16,” 2. 8 MBTA, “Better Bus Project.” 9 MBTA, “Better Bus Project.” 10 Better Bus Project, MBTA, and Nelson Nygaard, “State of the Bus System, 2018,” 19. <strong>Activating</strong> <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Road</strong>: <strong>Reframing</strong> a <strong>Missing</strong> <strong>Link</strong> 81
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ACTIVATING COLUMBIA ROAD: REFRAMING
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ACTIVATING COLUMBIA ROAD: REFRAMING
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TEAM MEMBERS Aqsa Butt M.A. Candida
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Following this research process our
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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Plan of t
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1. INTRODUCTION
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Figure 3: Columbia Road, 1948 Figur
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LivableStreets Alliance LivableStre
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Project Goals Columbia Road has a l
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2. METHODS
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CURRENT DATA What data and informat
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Case Studies We reviewed three case
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3. CONTEXT
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Source: MassGIS Figure 12: Locus Ma
- Page 30 and 31: Boston Neighborhoods Source: MassGI
- Page 32 and 33: Figure 16: 2017 Average Household I
- Page 34 and 35: Source: MassGIS, MassEOEEA Figure 1
- Page 36 and 37: Source: MassGIS, ACS 2017 (5-year)
- Page 38 and 39: Source: MassGIS, ReferenceUSA Figur
- Page 40 and 41: of Blue Hill Avenue up to the Fairm
- Page 42 and 43: Environmental Justice Communities O
- Page 44 and 45: Source: MassGIS, MassEOEEA Figure 2
- Page 46 and 47: Source: MassGIS Figure 28: Accessib
- Page 48 and 49: Source: Boston Green Ribbon Commiss
- Page 50 and 51: Public Health and Environmental Hea
- Page 52 and 53: Placemaking and Public Art The Desi
- Page 54 and 55: Source: MassGIS, MBTA, DS4SI, Fairm
- Page 56 and 57: Source: MassGIS, Boston Planning an
- Page 58 and 59: Moakley Park At the northeast end o
- Page 60 and 61: 4. PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
- Page 62 and 63: Figure 45: Timeline of Columbia Roa
- Page 64 and 65: Upham’s Corner The following stra
- Page 66 and 67: Fairmount Cultural Corridor The Fai
- Page 68 and 69: Mountjoy readily admitted that if t
- Page 70 and 71: engagement activities generated a w
- Page 72 and 73: Imagine Boston 2030 City of Boston,
- Page 74 and 75: 2030 framed the process well to res
- Page 76 and 77: 5. MOBILITY
- Page 78 and 79: Walkability and Pedestrian Experien
- Page 82 and 83: Source: MassGIS Figure 64: MBTA Bus
- Page 84 and 85: Fairmount Commuter Rail Line The Fa
- Page 86 and 87: Car Use and Parking Columbia Road i
- Page 88 and 89: 6. CASE STUDIES
- Page 90 and 91: SAN PABLO AVENUE Historically an Af
- Page 92 and 93: FOUNTAIN AVENUE Fountain Avenue run
- Page 94 and 95: TEMPLE STREET Figure 76: Street Saf
- Page 96 and 97: 7. ANALYSIS
- Page 98 and 99: agencies. For example, in 2019, pla
- Page 100 and 101: 8. RECOMMENDATIONS
- Page 102 and 103: MBTA to address worries about the F
- Page 104 and 105: 9. APPENDIX
- Page 106 and 107: Sources of Graphics Cover Page and
- Page 108 and 109: Figure 68: Aqsa Butt, MBTA, MassGIS
- Page 110 and 111: A Sample of Community Organizations
- Page 112 and 113: Boston Redevelopment Authority. “
- Page 114 and 115: Levenson, Michael. 2015. “Boston
- Page 116 and 117: Voynovskaya, Nastia. “A Black Cul