Boston Bridge Separated Bike Lane Might Get the Ax This Winter

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Cambridge and Boston bicycle advocates are at odds over the agency’s plan to remove bollards on the Longfellow Bridge this winter. The bollards were put into place to create a protected bike lane, part of five years of work on the bridge, which reopened in June.

MassDOT says it needs to take out the bollards to provide access to all the bridge’s lanes for effective snow removal. But critics say that cyclists will be less safe without the bike lane and that transportation officials had promised it would not be removed during the winter months.

Advocates argue that MassDOT could widen the separated lane to make room for snowplows. In addition, they say that Boston Public Works purchased smaller snowplows that could be used to clear the bridge’s bike lane.