After reading the Hater’s guide to Inman Square, I knew it was time to take a trip.
I started in Davis Square and headed southeast on Elm Street. Davis wouldn’t be Davis without its six-way intersection, featured on T-shirts and magnets for sale at the aptly named Davis Squared gift shop. But it could certainly do without a series of double-parked vehicles. For this section, be prepared to either ride confidently with car traffic or walk your bike on the sidewalk.
Continuing down Elm, the street widened and cars started passing more quickly. There’s no bike lane here yet, so drivers had to maneuver around to get by me.
I turned onto Mossland Street to connect to Somerville Avenue. Mossland was clear on the Friday afternoon I visited, but it is congested with cars and cyclists during morning peak hours. On Somerville Avenue, the bike lane is sandwiched between car travel lanes, so I needed to take the car lane to turn onto Beacon Street. Beacon Street was the most comfortable part of the trip, especially on its grade-separated sections.
Elm-Beacon Connector work starts soon
Biking the route now gives me a deeper appreciation for Somerville’s Elm-Beacon Connector project, which installs protected bike lanes and other safety improvements along parts of Elm Street, Somerville Avenue and Beacon Street. It also creates a neighborway connection on Mossland Street.
The design adds protected bike lanes, removes some parking spots on Elm Street in favor of loading zones and parking on side streets, and installs a pickup and drop-off space near the Kennedy School, among other changes. For the full design, see the Somerville project site.
The work begins soon with signs and pavement markings on Elm Street. The majority of implementation is expected to be complete by November. Design work started in the fall of 2024 and the project held its first community meeting that September. The concept design was published in February 2025, and the design was finalized this April.
The most striking part of the design is turning Mossland Street into a neighborway. It will become a two-way connection for people biking but a dead-end for motor vehicles. Two-way access is allowed for emergency vehicles.
Somerville conducted a traffic analysis and is adjusting signal timings to accommodate new patterns. One conclusion was that the city predicts a 20 percent increase (an additional 160 cars per hour) in the number of vehicles turning right from Elm Street to Somerville Avenue. A signal phasing scheme is being proposed for this intersection that is expected to move more vehicles through than it does today while still providing dedicated time for pedestrians and cyclists to cross safely. The overall cycle length is expected to stay the same, so pedestrians won’t have to wait longer than they do today.
One of the places Somerville shared the design was a block party in May on Mossland Street. Alongside the city information table were booths for the Green Streets Initiative and Petsi Pies – try its Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.
Vision Zero
This work is part of the implementation of the Somerville Bicycle Network Plan and driven by the city’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries.
Somerville recently achieved a Vision Zero milestone. For the three years from 2023 to 2025, the city suffered zero fatal crashes. Crashes involving serious injury also decreased 50 percent in 2025.
That’s in contrast with trends across the country. Nationally, the United States suffers 40,000 traffic-related deaths each year, trending up from 32,000 deaths annually in the early 2010s.
Somerville is closing the gaps in its cycling network with safer infrastructure, and each gap it closes opens the network to more riders. The Elm-Beacon Connector fixes many of the pain points that discourage people from biking between Davis and Inman. With those fixed, more people will be able to reach the popular infrastructure on Beacon Street and the rest of the network. That network effect could be one of the reasons cities such as Cambridge have seen growth in biking activity faster than growth in the network itself.
Comfortable cycling infrastructure is important for getting more people cycling. Cambridge saw a 283 percent increase in the number of children cycling, according to the city’s Biking in Cambridge data report for 2025, especially in locations where bikeways are separated physically from vehicles. The intersection of Cambridge and Hampshire streets at Inman Square saw a 767 percent increase in children biking.
Cargo bikes are a popular option, especially for people wanting to cycle with children. Interested people can borrow a cargo bike from the Community Pedal Power e-bike lending library.
Bike activities calendar
Boston Cafe Bikers. Ride at 10 a.m. Saturday from Boston Common to the Newbery Street Coffee pop-up cafe in Brookline Village. Travel through Fenway and the Riverway on this route. Free.
Intro to Bluebikes Group Ride. The Allston Brighton Health Collaborative has a short demo at 11 a.m. Saturday followed by a beginner-friendly group ride around the neighborhood. Pizza, helmets and Bluebikes coupons are free at the Herter Park Bluebikes station in Brighton. Free, but register.
E-Bike Adventure Rides with Casa Bikes (recurring). Every other Thursday and Saturday, bring your own e-bike or borrow one of Casa’s. The next ride is at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Free, but register.
Cambridge on-road skills workshop. Cambridge offers learn-to-bike workshops at noon Aug. 14 for a variety of skill levels. Free, but register.
Somerville Bike Kitchen 11th Anniversary Bash. Food, art, games, a cash bar and a band at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $10 plus fees.
For more Boston bike events, see bostonbikeevents.net. (No affiliation with The Independent.)
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