The stretch of Beacon Street between the Marion Street intersection and Washington Square was set to test out a new traffic pattern with an eye toward protecting cyclists on a dangerous hill this fall.

But it’s still not there.

“It’s in the hands of the state and they move kind of slowly,” said chairman of the transportation board Josh Safer. “It’s frustrating that we were not able to get this done in the summer. But that’s the pace of the government bureaucracy outside of our hands. The town would have certainly liked to have done it this summer - it would have been smoother.”

Safer said he was optimistic about the future of the bike lane. And although it wasn’t installed this summer, perhaps the quietest time on that stretch of road, he was relieved it wouldn’t be installed during the busiest back-to-school time of the year.

“We unfortunately can’t control this,” he said referring to the state's timeline.

The bike lane

The Brookline Bicycle Authority has long identified this section of Beacon Street as a particularly dangerous spot for cyclists and have recommended making the area safer. Since 2011 there have been 80 accidents on that stretch of road, six involving bicycles, according to police data.

A Green Routes’ plan requested the area be comprehensively studied and a safe bicycle improvements plan be developed.

The transportation board installed an automated traffic recorder on Beacon Street and Lancaster Terrace near the study area for a 48-hour period in November 2012, June 2014, November 2014, and September 2015. During that same time the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee set up and counted cyclists climbing the hill there.

The transportation division also set up cones in June and again in November to test out what would happen to traffic.

After an extensive study and multiple hearings on the matter, on Feb. 4, the Transportation Board approved turning one of the two lanes from that short stretch into a buffered bicycle lane.

The Transportation Board put the $30,000 project into the Capital Improvement budget to construct.

The Advisory Board approved of the move, but amended it somewhat to include an additional trial period using less permanent paint for a year. The trial will cost the town about $20,000.

That move passed a vote at the May 2016 Town Meeting with 196 in favor, 17 opposed and 6 TMM abstaining.

If it works, and Transportation Administrator Todd Kirrane is optimistic, the town will go back and repaint using a thermal plastic paint with a life cycle of five to eight years.

The permanent modifications will include curb extensions and special posts drilled into the ground with yellow plastic on them to protect cyclists further from cars. The thermal plastic paint will be an additional $17,000.

If there were no trial period it would cost the town $30,000. But if for some reason the new traffic pattern did not work, it would cost the town $7,000 to remove the paint and modifications, according to Kirrane.

Kirrane said during the trial period the queue for cars did back up slightly more than the model accounted for, but he attributed that to not being able to change the light at Lancaster Street temporarily to account for that and for rubber necking.

The queue of traffic never reached all the way to Marion Street, he said. And it processed quickly.

“It’s a big change to Brookline. There are some who are concerned and think it’s going to back up considerably. That’s one of the good things that about the trial period, if it does work, we prove that we can process in one lane and hopefully cut down on bike and vehicle accidents in that area and improve operations, Kirrane told the TAB earlier this year.