The biggest real estate we share are streets. Though we share them, they have not been designed for everyone.
For decades, roads have been engineered for vehicles. Pedestrians, bikers and people with disabilities have not always been the priority. To perpetuate car supremacy, pedestrians, people with disabilities and bikers have been pitted against each other to keep the status quo. Shared Spaces aims to break silos and is an honest attempt at sustained collaboration between motorist, bikers, pedestrians and the disability community. Through shared spaces, T4MA hosts these much-needed conversations, exploring areas for collaboration, and making sure streets are truly for everyone.
Shared Spaces is a project convened by the Boston Center for Independent Living with WalkMassachusetts, MassBike, Boston Cyclist Union, T4MA, Carol Steinberg and Casandra Xavier.
Hyde Park Ave. Site Visit
On Monday November 3, 2025, Shared Spaces did another site visit of Hard Park Avenue in Boston. We were joined by neighborhood residents, Councilors Enrique Pepén and Brian J. Worrell, and representatives from the Boston Transportation Department. Walking through even just a portion of the corridor exposed the unsafe condition of the roadway as we saw speeding vehicles, a lack of accessible pedestrian signals, tactile strips, and compliant curb cuts, and unsafe placement of pedestrian crossings (or lack thereof) and traffic lights.
Going on site visits allows us to experience the day-to-day challenges of real people in neighborhoods as they move around. Having representatives from across sectors – people with disabilities, pedestrians, cyclists, advocates and government – is critical and helps foster the collaboration needed to design streets for everyone.
Secondary Hyde Park Ave - Poor Weather Conditions
During our original site visit, community members shared concerns around accessibility in the Hyde Park Ave area during poor weather conditions. On February 3, 2026, three days after the large snowstorm that swept through the area, several group members, including a wheelchair user and a deaf-blind white cane user. The wheelchair user could not join because the sidewalks from her house to Hyde Park Ave were not cleared, while the un-shoveled pathways also made it unsafe for the white cane user and others who are blind or have low vision to traverse the area.
Tremont Street Site Visit
On Monday April 14, 2025, the members of Shared Spaces conducted a site visit of a section of the Tremont Street Project and a section of Massachusetts Avenue to compare, educate on and discuss accessibility and equitable use of the roadways, bike lanes, crosswalks and sidewalks.
