BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Large brightly-colored barrels are now lining Tremont Street by the Boston Common, dedicating one of three lanes on the busy road entirely to bicyclists.
According to the City of Boston's Transportation Department, the pop-up bike lane was installed on Tuesday evening as part of the city's "Healthy Streets" initiative, which has been ramped up amid the pandemic.
"Responding to the COVID-19 crisis means doubling down on our Go Boston 2030 goals: equity, economic opportunity, and climate responsiveness," says the City online. "We will accelerate our work to improve street safety, reliable transit, and access to jobs, neighborhood retail centers, and open space."
The City said ensuring Tremont Street's righthand lane is only open to bicycles will improve residents' access to major job centers, and calm traffic on downtown streets.
"It would be nice if this were permanent and less permeable to cars," one bicyclist told WBZ NewsRadio. "But it's fantastic, I feel like it's what the city should be doing."
While many bike riders seemed to be enjoying the new lane, others weren't so crazy about the idea.
"That's going to be terrible for traffic," another bicyclist told WBZ NewsRadio. "Traffic is already bad, when coronavirus is over it's going to be a mess over here."
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas reports:
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(Photo: BostonBTD/Twitter)