‘Wake Up Call’: Council Debates Memorial Drive Revamp Following Fatal Bike Crash

The Cambridge City Council debated adopting a policy order calling on Massachusetts to boost bike safety measures on Memorial Drive, as calls for reform gained traction in the wake of a fatal crash that killed biker John H. Corcoran ’84 last week.

The policy order would have the Council call for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to lower the speed limit, improve crossings and sidewalks, and reduce the throughway from four lanes to two to accommodate a mixed-use path for bikes and pedestrians.

The DCR, which oversees Memorial Drive, has already committed to building a 12-foot-wide mixed-use path along the stretch where Corcoran was killed. But extending such a path along the entire length of the drive would be a significantly larger undertaking, and would likely fuel existing debates over access to the throughway.

Councilor Burhan Azeem, a longtime advocate for bike safety, exercised his unilateral charter right to postpone a vote on the policy order until next week’s Council meeting, citing a need to build consensus over the proposal.

Still, the Council’s debate adds to growing pressure on the DCR to address the area where Corcoran died — a stretch of the drive on either side of the Boston University Bridge that had been the subject of years of safety concerns.

State Rep. Mike Connolly wrote on X that the DCR is expected to seek the Cambridge Conservation Commission’s approval for the 12-foot mixed-use path on Oct. 21, adding that they may begin construction even before the meeting.

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 called the death — the third biker fatality in the city since June — “incredibly tragic.”

“We have people who are just trying to get around the city, and we’ve done so much to make the streets safer for more vulnerable road users, especially bikers and pedestrians,” Huang said in a Friday interview with The Crimson.

“When you hear the stories of the people who have been killed, it is really heart-wrenching,” he added.

Huang reiterated his sentiments during the Council’s meeting Monday.

“We certainly are feeling the weight of the third cyclist who’s died in a crash in the city over the last four months,” Huang said.

Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern spoke urgently about safety concerns on Memorial Drive as well.

“In the last 10 years, there have been 1,200 crashes on Memorial Drive,” McGovern said, adding that “446 of those resulted in injuries, 29 in incapacitating or serious injuries, and four fatalities, including the one that we just suffered last week.

“Especially where this most recent accident happened, it’s a really horrible spot,” he said, citing data shared with the Council by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The policy order stated that its goals were “in alignment with the City’s longstanding commitment to Vision Zero,” referring to Cambridge’s commitment to fully eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

“I think this is a wake up call,” Huang said in the interview. “So I think we really sit with all that weight, and then we're going to try to figure out how we can respond more quickly and have some recommendations.”

—Staff writer Benjamin Isaac can be reached at benjamin.isaac@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @benjaminisaac_1.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.