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Cambridge City Council wants lower speed limit on Memorial Drive and local highways after cyclist killed
Three cyclists in Cambridge have already died this year.
Cambridge’s City Council adopted an order Monday to lower the speed limit “as much as possible” on state highways in Cambridge and especially on Memorial Drive following multiple cyclist deaths this year.
The order, which narrowly passed 5-4, comes after cyclist John Corcoran’s death last month on Memorial Drive.
“We must do everything we can to make our streets safer,” Cambridge City Councilor Marc McGovern wrote on X after Corcoran’s passing.
I was devastated to hear of yet another cyclist death in @CambMA, the third in just a few months. We must do everything we can to make our streets safer, without delay. @cambbikesafety
— Cambridge Vice-Mayor Marc McGovern (@Marc_C_McGovern) September 24, 2024
In the last 10 years, over 1,200 crashes have been reported on Memorial Drive, according to City Councilor Patricia Nolan.
Corcoran marked the third cyclist death in Cambridge this year. In June, a 55-year-old Florida woman and a 24-year-old MIT student were killed while biking in the city.
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“The tragic traffic fatality of a bicyclist on Memorial Drive last week highlights the danger present on sections of Memorial Drive and the limitations of Cambridge’s ability to make essential safety improvements within the City,” the policy order said.
The order aligns with Cambridge’s commitment to Vision Zero, a “strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all,” according to the city’s website.
“Vision Zero requires cities to focus on safety and explore all avenues for multi-modal transportation across our streets,” Nolan, who voted to adopt the order, wrote in a statement. “Lowering speed limits is a proven way to reduce injuries and crashes.”
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Advocates have been calling on officials to revisit Memorial Drive’s current design to create a full-width, shared-use path addressing safety concerns.
The policy order builds on the short-term safety improvements that were announced following Corcoran’s death along Memorial Drive from Magazine Street to Audrey Street via the BU Bridge rotary.
The changes included widening the sidewalks leading to the BU rotary, improving wheelchair ramps, replacing existing Boston Pattern Fence, including green paint on bike crossings, and implementing a speed limit reduction to 25 mph on the BU Bridge corridor.
DCR started work on the improvements on Monday.
The policy order requests that the city manager work with DCR and other relevant departments to continue to improve safety along Memorial Drive in the short term.
In addition to Memorial Drive, the City Council aims to lower the speed limits on all state highways that fall within Cambridge’s geographic boundaries. The order calls to “expand green space,” “improve road crossings,” and “reductions in motor vehicle travel lanes.”
“Lowering the speed limit on Memorial Drive should help, but we really need infrastructure changes that will force people to slow down if we are going to prevent tragedies like Dr. Corcoran’s death,” McGovern wrote in a statement.
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