We, the undersigned residents, commuters, and neighbors of Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain, and surrounding communities, urge the adoption of Alternative 2 for the Hyde Park Avenue repaving project. We do not support it because it is bold. We support it because it is the bare minimum.

On May 21, 2025, at the Hyde Park Avenue Multimodal Corridor Project Update Meeting, Matt Moran, Tyler Lew, Preston Buehrer, and their team presented two alternatives:

• Alternative 1 would preserve the dangerous status quo: four lanes for vehicles, no significant safety improvements, and no forward vision.
• Alternative 2, while deeply limited, offers a few meaningful changes: narrowed lanes, painted bike lanes, an additional crosswalk, and pedestrian islands at key crossings.

We support Alternative 2—not because it is sufficient, but because it is the only option on the table that begins to make this corridor safer. But we must be clear: Alternative 2 is not enough:

• It does nothing for bus riders on one of the busiest MBTA routes in the city.
• The bike lanes are unprotected and unenforceable, and won’t be safe for riders.
• The stopgap project lacks a clear, funded path to a full corridor redesign. 

Despite these flaws, we support Alternative 2—because doing nothing is not an option. We cannot let another year of delay become another year of danger.

This community has waited far too long for better transit. Since 2019, we have been told that a safer Hyde Park Avenue is coming. But despite years of studies, meetings, and promises, this corridor remains one of Boston’s most dangerous. After our neighbor Glenn Inghram was killed by an MBTA bus in October 2024, nearly 700 of us signed a petition demanding immediate action. Nothing has changed. On April 21, 2025, nearly seventy residents joined the Hyde Park Avenue Safety Walk, organized by the Boston Better Streets Coalition, where we documented dangerous conditions and shared ideas for a safer corridor, including shorter pedestrian wait times and signal changes at intersections like Ukraine Way, narrower travel lanes to calm traffic, better sidewalk clearance in commercial zones, clear markings for bikes and pedestrians—including sharrows, signage, and potential routing through Forest Hills MBTA property, and a consensus that speed limits should be lowered and design should prioritize the most vulnerable—pedestrians, cyclists, and bus riders.

We call on the City of Boston, the MBTA, and MassDOT to: 

• Adopt and implement Alternative 2 now, and not postpone basic safety improvements:
• Ensure Alternative 2 does not preclude future upgrades—including bus lanes, protected bike infrastructure, and curb realignment.
• Publicly commit to a full corridor redesign, with funding, a schedule, and genuine community engagement.

Mayor Wu and many officials from the city have urged us to spend more and more time on process. We are showing up. We are walking the street. We are attending the meetings. And we are still waiting. Alternative 2 must not be the final answer—it must be the beginning of a safer Hyde Park Avenue.