Construction parking notices at Hyde Park Avenue and Weld Hill Street, with the Forest Hills clock tower behind them

October 6, 2026

We organized. The City listened. Hyde Park Ave is getting safer.

Dear neighbors,

In response to your advocacy, the City has significantly improved its plans for the repaving of Hyde Park Avenue from Forest Hills to Walk Hill street, which starts tomorrow.

For the past 18 months (or longer), hundreds of you have written emails, signed petitions, and attended community meetings. Most recently, you demanded that the City incorporate pedestrian safety into its scheduled repaving this fall.

It worked.

The City has significantly expanded and improved the project, including meaningful changes to the Ukraine Way intersection that so many of us cross on a daily basis. (See below for our summary of the highlights.)

We have two (2) requests of you:

1. Take 30 seconds to thank the City

We ask a lot of our elected officials and municipal staff. When they listen and make something better, we should say so.

The link below opens an email addressed to the Mayor, City Councillors Pepén and Weber, State Representative Montaño, and the Streets Cabinet. Add a sentence of your own and hit send.

Thank the City for listening

2. Help us with the next round

This repaving is the first, long-overdue step. We’re already working with the City on what comes next, in 2027 and 2028, to address reckless driving, bus priority, and pedestrian and bike safety on the entire corridor.

Know a neighbor who wants a better, safer Hyde Park Avenue? Forward them this email and have them join us.

Join the Boston Better Streets Coalition

Thank you for making this happen!
The Boston Better Streets Coalition

Here’s what’s changed in the repaving plan:

  • The City was going to repave Forest Hills Station ←→ Ukraine Way. They’ve now extended that all the way to Walk Hill Street.
  • They were going to repaint standard-size pedestrian crosswalks. They will now use wider and more visible crosswalks. And will add concrete buffers to further protect crosswalks at Ukraine Way.
  • They were going to leave the Ukraine Way intersection unchanged for now. Instead, they will improve on a 2025 proposal to calm traffic and make crossings safer.
  • Stay tuned for detailed engineering drawings on the City’s website.
Design in progress for the Hyde Park Avenue and Ukraine Way intersection, showing crosswalks, lane markings, and traffic signal equipment
Ukraine Way · design in progress

Read the City’s update on Hyde Park Avenue

Campaign archive

Traffic on Hyde Park Avenue at Forest Hills

Archived campaign · August–September 2026

Don’t repave our street

The City of Boston is planning to repave three blocks of Hyde Park Avenue without even pretending to address speeding, reckless driving, or pedestrian safety on the corridor.

Learn moreView the archived action

Paving over the problem—and calling it progress

After seven years of studies and public meetings, all the City can muster is three blocks of new asphalt and a fresh coat of paint. No attempt to slow cars down. No attempt to make Ukraine Way safer for pedestrians. Not even a pretense of helping bus or bike riders.

They won’t even acknowledge their own proposals to make the corridor safer.

New asphalt isn’t a safety plan. New asphalt is an invitation to drive faster.

Read the October update

August 2026Original repaving proposal

Paint, signs, better sight lines for cars

  • Four traffic lanes remain
  • New paint, stop bars, and limited daylighting
  • No new crossing or pedestrian island

It leaves the basic problems in place: dangerous driving, long crossings, and no safe route for cyclists.

In their own words

Why neighbors wrote

Residents describe a street they avoid, endure, and fear. These writers gave permission to share their words.

View the archived action
“Hyde Park Ave is far and away the worst stretch of road I travel on.”
Mark M. 02136
“I have stopped biking to work because it is so dangerous to get to the bike path.”
Suzanne G. 02130
“When cycling I feel the need to go on the sidewalk because of the lack of bike lanes and recklessness of the drivers.”
Will O-M. 02130
“The Hyde Park Ave side of the street is a terrible place to be a walker, pedestrian, bus rider, or even a driver. It is not a safe corridor!”
Matt R. 02136
“The best time and most cost-effective way to create safer streets is BEFORE and DURING repaving work, NOT afterwards.”
Jack D. 02131
“I and so many other people I know are afraid to cycle in Boston. Hyde Park Avenue is a particularly challenging road.”
Robyn O. 02130
“There is no infrastructure that supports safe crossing, and cars feel free to speed up to an unreasonable extent due to the open plan design.”
Amandine A. 02130
“I seriously feel it is a life-risking choice to ride my bike on that stretch of Hyde Park Ave.”
Linda B. 02131
“Every day on my way to the station I see cars speeding, cars running red lights, cars blocking pedestrian lines of sight, and cars moving erratically.”
Christopher C. 02130
“I avoid going in the southwest direction on Hyde Park Ave because the crossings are not safe for a pedestrian.”
Alysse 02130
“Sometimes I bike on the sidewalk because I fear for my life.”
Laura M. 02130
“Please don’t just pave over this problem. We need a new commuting infrastructure first.”
Raechel S. 02130
“I am afraid to let my kids ride bikes to Forest Hills because of the speeding cars and curvature in the road.”
Lisa T. 02130
“As a senior citizen who lives to walk Hyde Park Avenue is dangerous.”
June C. 02130
“I cross this road every day to get to work.”
Molly P. 02130
“Please actually implement safer streets ideas for our biking community. I am tired of being so afraid.”
Andrea S. 02131
“The safety of pedestrians near the bus turn-in is paramount.”
Bonnie T. 02130
“Repaving without improvements will condemn our neighborhood to a dangerous street for years to come.”
Rosa H. 02130
“We currently only use the sidewalks in that area because it is not safe to use the road.”
Jessica G. 02130
“I want to stay in this apartment for a long time and if these safety concerns aren’t addressed before repaving then that will affect my quality of life here significantly.”
Molly M. 02130
“It functions as a literal highway with no space for cyclists and no crosswalks with signals for pedestrians.”
Mallika S. 02131
“In every one of those modes, this stretch of Hyde Park Avenue is frightening.”
Susan S. 02131
“Repaving alone risks increasing car speeds without protecting anyone.”
Sandy B. 02131
“I also regularly walk with my kids to Forest Hills T stop.”
Nancy R. 02130

24 approved resident voices

Take action · Campaign closed

No repaving without safety improvements.

Tell City leaders what a safer Hyde Park Ave would mean for you and your family—and to repave it only once they’ve taken our safety into account.

  • Dangerous or aggressive driving you regularly see
  • Crossings that feel too long, exposed, or poorly placed
  • The lack of a safe way for cyclists to leave Forest Hills
  • Drivers running red lights at Ukraine Way
  • A time you or someone you know had a close call here
See the campaign’s history
Email action closed

Preserved for the record. This form no longer accepts messages or opens email drafts.

Original campaign email form — closed
To
Chris Osgood · Interim Chief of Streetschris.osgood@boston.govTali Robbins · Deputy Chief of Policytali.robbins@boston.govMayor Michelle Wumayor@boston.gov
CC
Ben Weberbenjamin.weber@boston.gov

Your own experience will make the strongest case. Tell City leaders what happens here and what a safer street would change for you.

Your name, street (if provided), and ZIP code will be added to the bottom of the email.

The receipts

Seven years of Forest Hills residents ignored

The record starts long before 2019. But the pattern since then is unmistakable: studies, meetings, promises, and safer designs—then delay, retreat, and a plan that left the danger in place. In September 2026, residents pushed again—and helped secure a better path forward.

Before 2019–2023

Plans, studies, and promises

Handmade yellow signs calling on Boston and Mayor Wu to make streets safer for walking and biking
Residents have been asking for the same basic promise: streets that are safe to walk and bike.

  1. A decade of studies

    Boston studied traffic, walking, and biking conditions along Hyde Park Avenue. The MBTA studied Route 32 bus stops, and the regional planning agency analyzed congestion and bus operations.

    Hyde Park Avenue looking north toward Forest Hills, with four travel lanes and cars parked on both sides

  2. A real redesign takes shape

    The City began a corridor-wide project and developed a preliminary design with bus priority and bike lanes. After a public open house, the work was put on hold during the pandemic.

    City project page 2020 design Meeting coverage

  3. The City says the work has restarted

    Officials resumed outreach using the 2019 design as a starting point. In October 2023, the project became part of the Southwest Boston Transit Action Plan.

    Transit action plan
Poster for a January 28 Hyde Park Avenue safety walk beginning at Forest Hills Station
Poster for the January 2023 Hyde Park Avenue Safety Walk.

2024–April 2025

Residents document the danger

  1. More outreach, still no design

    The City surveyed riders, visited businesses, held office hours, and attended community events. Residents participated again, but still had no concrete proposal to review.

  2. Residents ask for immediate fixes

    Neighbors met with Councilor Ben Weber and asked for basic near-term safety measures: better signs, daylighting, and safer crossings.

  3. A neighbor is killed; 695 residents demand action

    Glenn Inghram was killed by an MBTA bus while crossing at Tower Street. A letter and vigil called for immediate and lasting changes; the City promised signal improvements.

    Vigil and resident letter City’s signal promise
    WBZ news report showing Glenn Inghram with two dogs
    Residents and Glenn Inghram’s family called for safety changes near Forest Hills Station.

  4. Open houses—but no designs

    Roughly 110 people attended two City open houses advertised as draft-design meetings. No designs were shown. Residents again asked for protected bike space, a road diet, traffic calming, and better transit.

    City presentation
    A City of Boston staff member presenting a slide summarizing residents’ pedestrian, transit, bicycle, and traffic concerns
    A crowded Hyde Park Avenue public meeting with residents seated and standing in a school auditorium

  5. 709 residents call for action

    An open letter demanded safety and transit improvements in 2025—and an end to meetings without proposals. In April, about 50 residents led their own safety walk to document what needed to change.

    Read the open letter
    Forest Hills residents gathered on a corner during the April 2025 Hyde Park Avenue safety walk
    Residents organized their own safety walk in April 2025.

May 2025–September 2026

A safer plan—then retreat

  1. A safer option wins support—then disappears

    The City presented two resurfacing options. Hundreds of residents and many businesses backed the three-lane alternative as an imperfect but meaningful step. By July, officials said neither option would happen.

    City’s May presentation Three-lane design

  2. Eleven councilors demand answers

    Eleven City Councilors backed a hearing on the delays. Dozens of residents testified, but City officials offered no substantive update.

    Council hearing order Watch the hearing
    Boston City Councilors and officials seated onstage during the fall 2025 Hyde Park Avenue safety hearing

  3. Mayor Wu joins the fourth safety walk

    The Mayor said some safety improvements might accompany fall repaving, but rejected major changes to the street and suggested dedicated bus and bike lanes were inappropriate because of car traffic.

    Report from the walk
    Mayor Michelle Wu speaking to residents gathered inside Forest Hills Station during the fourth Hyde Park Avenue safety walk

  4. The City expects only repaving

    Officials told residents a traffic-pattern consultant had been hired—but that no major project was expected beyond repaving.

  5. The August plan: paint and signs

    The City’s August plan keeps four lanes and adds paint, signs, and better sight lines for drivers. It omits the earlier safety designs and makes no changes at Ukraine Way.

    See the August plan

  6. Residents push for a better plan—and a path forward

    Forest Hills residents and the Boston Better Streets Coalition engaged extensively with new Interim Chief of Streets Chris Osgood, advocating for stronger safety improvements in the repaving plan and a path to get the broader Hyde Park Avenue project back on track. That engagement helped secure an expanded plan and renewed work on the corridor’s next steps.

    Updated City project page