In a letter to Boston and state leaders, Brighton Main Streets Executive Director Kelly McGrath advocates for transportation policies that protect lives while preserving accessibility, supporting small businesses, and strengthening the neighborhoods they serve.
o the Members of the Boston City Council, Mayor Michelle Wu, Members of the Massachusetts Legislature, and Transportation Leaders,
I write in support of the shared goal of creating streets where everyone can travel safely. The tragic loss of Louisa Gag’s life that has renewed this conversation is a reminder that every fatality is one too many. We owe it to every resident, worker, visitor, and family to pursue policies and infrastructure that reduce preventable injuries and deaths.
As the Executive Director of a Boston business district, I also have a responsibility to advocate for the thousands of small businesses, employees, property owners, customers, and residents who rely on our commercial corridors every day. Those responsibilities have led me to believe that the strongest transportation policies are those that do not ask us to choose between safety and economic vitality—they achieve both.
I support investments in evidence-based safety improvements, including safer intersections, traffic calming, improved visibility, and technologies that reduce dangerous conflicts between vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. Measures that address excessive speeding and improve truck safety deserve thoughtful consideration because they have the potential to save lives.
At the same time, I encourage our elected leaders to embrace a broader definition of equity when designing our streets. Equity means ensuring that infrastructure works for everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, motorists, people with disabilities, older adults, families with young children, delivery drivers, emergency responders, and the small businesses that are essential to the health of our neighborhoods.
Our transportation system should prioritize protecting human life while thoughtfully balancing the legitimate needs of everyone who uses our streets. Infrastructure should be intentionally designed to reduce conflicts, improve predictability, and provide safe, accessible, and practical travel for all. Well-designed streets should protect a child riding a bicycle, an older adult crossing the street, a person using a wheelchair, a delivery driver making a stop, a commuter using public transit, and a customer visiting a neighborhood business. These are not competing priorities—they are the hallmarks of truly equitable infrastructure.
As we evaluate proposed transportation projects, I encourage decision-makers to consider multiple measures of success. Safety outcomes are paramount, but we should also evaluate accessibility, ADA compliance, curb management, loading and delivery needs, emergency access, transit reliability, parking availability where appropriate, and the economic health of local businesses. The most successful cities demonstrate that these objectives can coexist when projects are developed collaboratively, informed by data, and refined through community feedback.
Safety is also a shared responsibility. Every person using our streets has an obligation to follow the rules designed to protect all of us. Drivers must be held accountable for speeding, distracted driving, and other dangerous behaviors. Cyclists, e-bike riders, scooter users, and pedestrians also have responsibilities to obey traffic signals, operate predictably, and respect the shared nature of our public ways. Public confidence in transportation policy is strengthened when education, expectations, and enforcement are applied fairly and consistently across all modes of travel.
As someone who spends every day in Boston’s neighborhoods, I have witnessed both exemplary and unsafe behavior from people using every form of transportation. That reality reinforces my belief that infrastructure alone is not enough. Lasting progress requires thoughtful design, public education, and equitable accountability working together.
Boston has an opportunity to become a national leader by demonstrating that safe streets can also be thriving streets. We should look to communities that have successfully reduced traffic fatalities while preserving vibrant commercial districts and ensuring accessibility for all users. Our goal should be to create a transportation network that is inclusive, balanced, evidence-based, and responsive to the diverse needs of the people it serves. I look forward to working alongside you to achieve these goals.
I respectfully urge you to continue advancing policies that reduce traffic deaths while ensuring that every transportation investment is evaluated through the lenses of safety, accessibility, equity, economic vitality, and shared responsibility. By bringing all stakeholders to the table—residents, business owners, advocates, transportation professionals, and elected officials—we can build streets that truly protect and serve everyone.
Respectfully,
Kelly McGrath
Executive Director
Brighton Main Streets