MA: Mayor Michelle Wu makes 2 transportation announcements as street safety concerns rise

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced a shake-up of her top transportation officials and a plan to gather more public input on a bus lane project that had drawn some community criticism.

Amid rising complaints about the city’s approach to street safety and roadway design, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced a shake-up of her top transportation officials and a plan to gather more public input on a bus lane project that had drawn some community criticism.

Wu has faced increasing pressure from roadway safety and cycling activists to advance stalled bike lane projects in the weeks since City Hall staff member Louisa Gag was killed by a truck as she cycled to work in mid-July.

Separately, some residents and community leaders in Mattapan have criticized the city’s plan to install a center-running bus lane on heavily trafficked Blue Hill Avenue to speed up public buses in a neighborhood where they are the only public transit.

Critics say doing so would slow car travel and contend the plan was advanced without enough community feedback.

On Friday, Wu announced a series of community meetings on the bus lane project and encouraged residents to “help guide this transformative, generational investment in a safer, more connected Blue Hill Avenue for everyone who lives, works, worships, owns a business, or travels along this historic corridor today and for generations to come.”

The coming meetings, scheduled across four nights in September, would reveal an “updated proposal reflecting detailed feedback” on the project and gather additional input, Wu said.

A full schedule of the meetings can be found at the bottom of this article.

Wu also announced that Chris Osgood, a longtime city official serving as her director of climate resilience, would take over as interim chief of streets, overseeing the Transportation and Public Works departments.

Osgood served as chief of streets under former Mayor Marty Walsh and has worked in City Hall for nearly 20 years.

He will bring “steady and experienced leadership” to the role, Wu said.

Nick Gove, who Wu appointed interim chief of streets in December, will return to his former role as deputy chief for transportation, leading the operations of the Transportation Department and the core city services in the Public Works Department.

“We are deeply grateful to Nick Gove for guiding the Streets Cabinet through a historic winter and an exceptionally busy summer while continuing to deliver high-quality City services and laying the groundwork for major projects ahead,” Wu said in a statement.

The announcements come a week after Wu outlined a range of initiatives to improve bicyclist and pedestrian safety in an open letter to residents, responding to a surge in community calls for such measures after Gag’s death on July 9.

Among other measures, the mayor pledged to install more durable concrete barriers to protect bike lanes, rather than the quick-build “flex posts” the city has often relied on in the past.

The city will also work to close gaps in Boston’s sometimes disjointed network of bike lanes, focus on improving street safety around schools and crack down on vehicles blocking bike lanes, crosswalks and sidewalks, Wu said.

She also pledged a comprehensive review of the street design and safety measures in the area of Tremont Street in Mission Hill where Gag was killed.

In addition to serving as a transportation planner for the city, Gag was a prominent bicycle safety advocate. She had previously interned for Wu when the mayor served as a city councilor.

Wu also said Friday that she had convened an advisory group to assess the future structure of her Streets Cabinet, the collection of top staffers overseeing transportation, public works and other streetscape work.

The group’s membership includes former senior transportation officials for the city and state, the city’s former constituent engagement director, representatives for public transit and street safety organizations, and former City Councilor Matt O’Malley.

The Blue Hill Avenue meetings will allow residents to see an updated block-by-block design for the street, ask questions of local officials and provide feedback on the proposal.

Wu said the updates to the design provide for two or more regular travel lanes in each direction of the street and add signalized left turns and U-turns, more crosswalk islands and a two-way protected bike lane.

The changes will increase parking spaces, add 200 new trees, replace the area’s streetlights and install boarding platforms alongside the center-running bus lanes.

The meeting schedule is:

  • Town Hall in Mattapan, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 10, at Morning Star Baptist Church ( 1257 Blue Hill Ave.)
  • Open House in Dorchester, 6:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 14, at BCYF Perkins Community Center ( 155 Talbot Ave.)
  • Open House in Mattapan, 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Mattapan Branch Library ( 1350 Blue Hill Ave.)
  • Town Hall in Grove Hall, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 30, at BCYF Holland ( 85 Olney St.)

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit masslive.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Sign up for our eNewsletters
Get the latest news and updates