After the Safety Walk, the City Says Hyde Park Avenue Must Start Over
After years of advocacy and an existing 30% design, the City says another consultant study will determine whether a new, larger project should even begin.
At the April 25 Hyde Park Avenue safety walk, neighbors once again described the danger they face walking, biking, riding the bus, and crossing near Forest Hills. Mayor Wu joined the event, acknowledged that years of delay and poor communication were unacceptable, and asked residents to trust that her administration would act.
Two months later, the update we received from the Mayor’s Office promises very little.
In a June 25 email, Mohammed Missouri, Executive Director of the Office of Neighborhood Services, said the City is working with another consultant to study traffic patterns around Forest Hills. The study is initially focused on Ukraine Way and may conclude that the City needs to launch a much larger future project covering Hyde Park Avenue, Ukraine Way, Arborway, and Washington Street.
The City says it will repave Hyde Park Avenue between Ukraine Way and Arborway in fall 2026, refresh pavement markings and crosswalks, and install concrete corner islands to preserve sightlines. Those are useful maintenance and near-term safety measures—but the email provides no committed design, funding, or construction timeline for the comprehensive multimodal improvements residents have sought for years.
Starting Over Instead of Moving Forward
Planning for Hyde Park Avenue began in 2019 and produced an existing 30% design plan. Residents have attended meeting after meeting, organized safety walks, gathered hundreds of petition signatures, and repeatedly asked the City to build from that work.
Instead, the latest update says a new consultant study will help determine what kind of project might need to be initiated next. It does not commit to using the existing 30% design as the starting point. It does not promise dedicated bus or bike lanes. It does not identify funding for a larger project. And it does not provide a timeline for moving from another study to construction.
After years of advocacy, the City is still describing the beginning of a process—not a path to delivery.