Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended the city’s recent removal of physical barriers that had separated some bike lanes from automotive traffic in her regular appearance on GBH’s Boston Public Radio Tuesday.
“To be clear, this is not about eliminating bike lanes,” Wu said. “This is not about saying 'We don’t need bike lanes.’ We very much need safe, protected infrastructure for more people to use our streets in every way.”
However, Wu added that she believes that “flex posts” — an inexpensive and quick way to separate bike and automotive traffic without new construction — are inappropriate as a long-term option for protecting cyclists, calling them a “personal pet peeve.”
“Separation is important, and they are definitely the fastest, cheapest way to create a bike lane that feels like you’re not going to put your life at risk,” Wu said. “But at some point, when a flex post has been there defining a bike lane for a year now, three years now, what was meant initially as a temporary experiment … at some point we have to decide, is it working or not?
“If it’s working, let’s get rid of the flex posts,” Wu continued. “Let’s make it into permanent concrete that is a separated curb, or elevate it in pathways that … feel even safer. Because what we see around the city now are places that are supposed to be bike lanes that are separated with posts, and instead you just get gross-looking crumpled plastic all over the place, because cars and trucks are running over the posts, they’re driving through the lane, they’re parking in the lane anyway. And without some combination of more permanent infrastructure, which will cost more and require more resource planning, we just can’t stay stuck in this sort of temporary period.”
StreetsblogMASS recently reported that the city was removing both flex posts and modular concrete curbs in several locations, including Arlington Street in the Back Bay, Massachusetts Avenue in the Newmarket Square area, and Summer Street in the Seaport.
While Wu implied in her Boston Public Radio appearance that the recently removed infrastructure would be replaced by more permanent, robust structures that protect cyclists from cars, she also suggested that some of the more temporary structures might be reinstalled, and was vague about what exactly is planned for the stretch along Massachusetts Avenue.
“Some of these are for routine maintenance,” she said of the removals. “The Mass. Ave. one, I need to get a handle on exactly what the situation there is. … But the goal is, where it’s working, keep it, move it into something that is permanent, that is beautiful, that is fitting of how all of our street users should feel when they’re on the street.”
Wu’s embrace of bike lanes throughout the city has become a flashpoint in the 2025 Boston mayoral race. One of her challengers, Josh Kraft, called the administration’s approach “haphazard” and proposed a moratorium on new bike-lane construction.
Kraft has also questioned the city’s expanded use of dedicated bus lanes — and Wu, who’s been a staunch supporter of public transit, recently faced criticism from transit advocates after announcing the removal of a dedicated bus lane on Boylston Street.
In addition, Wu has directed her team to undertake a 30-day review of changes made to the city’s streetscape over the course of her first three years in office.
Later in her Boston Public Radio appearance, Wu told a caller who expressed disappointment about the removal of bike-lane barriers that the correct configuration of the city’s streets remains a work in progress.
“I think the goal of go as fast as possible, put up as many posts as possible, and then leave them there even if they’re not necessarily working or causing other unintended consequences, and then move on to the next corridor — we just have to be more reflective in how we’re making actual plans for permanent infrastructure,” Wu said.
”We’re going to be working with community members to develop some clear accountability and principles around how decisions will be made in the future about new infrastructure and roadways,” Wu added. “But … it matters when small businesses say that they can’t keep their doors open because all of their parking for employees is gone, and we didn’t really worry about that too much and just wanted to move as quickly as possible. And it matters when residents from the disability community say I don’t have a way to get to the curb now that feels safe from where I’m exiting my vehicle.”
