Since its debut five years ago, the center-running bus lane on Columbus Avenue in Roxbury has been lauded by Mayor Michelle Wu and the MBTA, who say the project helped speed up bus travel and slow cars.
But officials have scrapped longstanding plans to extend it by another mile in favor of a more traditional curb-hugging design, pivoting away from a concept that has caused an uproar in other closely watched transit projects, including along Blue Hill Avenue.
The Wu administration and the T altered the latest design for Columbus Avenue to instead include side-running bus lanes in both directions between Jackson Square and Ruggles Station, said Boston’s interim Chief of Streets Chris Osgood. That means the forthcoming red-painted artery will differ from the existing center bus lane that runs less than a mile between Jackson Square and Franklin Park.
In the past, critics have argued the center-running lanes, which split car traffic, go too far in narrowing the roadway and thinning available parking. City officials have countered that it’s helped dramatically shorten bus travel times and led to fewer injuries on Columbus Avenue.
The original plan to extend the center-running lane there was supposed to be completed by 2025.
Now the decision to scrap that design is a significant change to a project officials saw as a proof of concept for better bus infrastructure in Boston and beyond. The existing center-running bus lane on Columbus Avenue was the first of its kind in New England and envisioned as a precursor to similar roadway layouts on Blue Hill Avenue and the Lynnway. But in both instances, proposals for center-running bus lanes have faced a firestorm of opposition.
During a Sept. 10 public meeting about the $163 million revamp of Blue Hill Avenue, Wu tried to put distance between that proposed center-running bus lane design and the one currently along Columbus Avenue.
Blue Hill Avenue “cannot look like Columbus Ave.,” Wu told the crowd. “It cannot feel like Columbus Ave. The design of the stations over there, how tight it is, the concrete slab — that is not what we need.”
Osgood said Friday that the Columbus Avenue stretch slated for construction in the project’s second phase is a suitable candidate for a curbside bus lane because it is not as heavily lined with businesses, loading zones, and parking spots as Blue Hill Avenue, or the portion of Columbus Avenue south of Jackson Square that currently has the center-running lane.
Columbus Avenue also largely has two travel lanes per side. By contrast, Blue Hill Avenue is wider than most city streets with three lanes in each direction.
The demand for access to “the curb, whether it’s for parking, pick-up and drop-off, or for commercial loading, is simply different in this corridor” of Columbus Avenue, Osgood said. “And that’s why the city has been open to side-running [bus lane] in that stretch.”
Asked about the opposition to a similar design on Blue Hill Avenue, Osgood said that “really for me, it is about how to design a street that works for everybody who is both on it and along it.”
“Phase II” of the Columbus Avenue project, he added, also preserves safety improvements for Roxbury Crossing and beyond. That area sees among the highest bus ridership in Boston and is among the city’s most dangerous roadways.
Maya Bingaman, a T spokesperson, said in a statement that Columbus Avenue congestion is largely caused by traffic signal delay at intersections, rather than by competition with other cars and delivery trucks like on Blue Hill Avenue.
“With very few curb cuts (driveways), a side-running bus lane can be very successful here,” Bingaman said of Columbus Avenue. She said that the updated curbside bus lane design is also “expected to be less expensive than the original since there will be less excavation required,” though she did not say by how much.
Chris Friend, interim executive director of the Boston-based transportation advocacy group TransitMatters, said the organization believes center-running bus lanes are “the most effective way to increase speeds and reliability for tens of thousands of daily bus riders” in the Columbus Avenue corridor.
“We hope to see them included in the final design of this project,” Friend said in a statement.
Public officials have otherwise applauded the existing center-running lane on Columbus Avenue, which launched in October 2021 with $14.5 million of funding. In addition to the center-running bus lane, the project created eight bus stops in the middle of the roadway with roofs, benches, and informational screens. They’re separated from the sidewalk with a signalized crosswalk over the car travel lane.
The lane can also be used by school buses, the T’s paratransit service, and emergency vehicles.
City studies have found that the center-running bus lane shortens bus travel times by up to 4 minutes. As a tradeoff, drivers behind the wheel spent between 20 and 40 seconds more on the road. Roadway injuries on that portion of Columbus Avenue fell by 27 percent in the years after the lane was installed, a steeper drop than the city as a whole, according to City Hall calculations released in 2025.
City surveyors found that most riders were satisfied with the center-running lane and new bus stops. Amanda Brown, a lifelong Roxbury resident who often rides the 22 bus to Jackson Square to get her groceries, said she’s among those who like the layout.
“I like the stop better here,” Brown said Tuesday. “It makes me feel safer than being on the sidewalk near the cars.”
But the Columbus Avenue project’s “Phase II” northward expansion faced roadblock after roadblock. It became mired in delays after Wu slowed a myriad of street improvement projects amid pushback about bike lanes and other roadway redesigns, and the city reportedly canceled meetings with the T on the project.
In March, Wu shared an internal letter on social media, in which city officials recommended installing a curbside bus lane on a half-mile stretch of Columbus Avenue to “mitigate bus operational and safety issues” and leave room for cars and T buses during rail shutdowns.
Public meetings on the new design for Columbus Avenue are expected in November, according to a city streets project tracker obtained by the Globe. Construction is scheduled to begin later in 2027 and last up to 18 months, the T said.
The Columbus Avenue extension is funded by $34 million in federal funds and $3.3 million in city dollars.
The existing Columbus Avenue bus lane has raised some concerns. Impatient drivers and cyclists occasionally weave through the restricted lane or use it to make U-turns. And some local business owners believe the removal of 52 parking spots for the bus lane in 2021 hurt their bottom line.
Clayton Turnbull, owner of the Dunkin’ franchise off Columbus Avenue and Bray Street, said his sales dropped 30 percent, and never recovered, once construction of the center-running lane began.
“As a merchant, you depend on convenience for your customer,” he said. “People are looking for places to park.”
And while injuries on the corridor have dropped, the number of crashes seesawed after the center bus lane was installed, and major collisions involving T buses jumped on the corridor in 2023 and 2024, data show.
Opponents of other bus lane projects have pointed to similar concerns.
In Lynn, for example, state officials initially proposed a redesign of the Lynnway with a center-running bus lane. Facing opponents’ qualms about safety and congestion, they scaled back the design earlier this year to only include a center lane in the southbound direction, and a curbside bus lane northbound.
The most raucous debate on bus infrastructure is underway on Blue Hill Avenue, the primary thoroughfare through Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. Its latest design keeps plans for a center-running bus lane, while preserving most of the existing parking and car travel lanes.
Those changes have not quelled the fiercest opponents. Two city councilors, Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper, are urging City Hall and the T to eliminate the center-running lane and immediately explore an extension of the Orange Line instead.
“The solution now is to give this community realistic, comprehensive transportation planning, so we understand all the details before we lock ourselves into this project,” Worrell said.
At least one frequent bus rider on Columbus Avenue agrees. Evelyn Foley, a Roslindale resident, said at the Dimock Street bus stop Tuesday that, with a center-running bus lane, “you’re opening a can of worms for accidents, here and on Blue Hill Avenue. They need to leave Mattapan alone.”
Niki Griswold of the Globe staff contributed to this story.
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_.