Inman Square redesign would bend vehicle traffic in effort to increase safety

The Cambridge City Council voted 6-3 on June 4 to redesign the city’s busy, busy Inman Square in an effort to increase safety for bikers and pedestrians in particular.

The plan, which involves installing a new plaza to bend traffic on Hampshire Street as it reaches Cambridge Street, still needs state legislative approval. But the June 4 vote caps a long and sometimes contentious debate locally.

Some are skeptical of the plan’s ability to actually increase safety with the new plaza and resultant traffic flow, per Cambridge Day’s Marc Levy. Others aren’t pleased that the plan involves shrinking a park called Vellucci Plaza, which will mean the loss of trees in the area.

Opponents of the recently passed plan, in fact, had their own proposal, which also involved a new plaza but that saved the existing one.

In the end, it’s another twist in Cambridge’s now-long back-and-forth over accommodating the many modes of transportation—bikes especially—that run about and pass through the city. Stay tuned.

• Divisions made clear, Inman Square plan okayed by City Council to go to Legislature [Day]
• Cambridge bikers form human barrier during rally for protected bike lanes [Curbed Boston]
• Cambridge’s protected bike lanes here to say, though tweaks possible [Curbed Boston]