Huntington Avenue

A secondary thoroughfare through the City of Boston, Huntington Avenue starts at Copley Square and runs west through the Back Bay and Mission Hill neighborhoods. It has been designated by the state as Route 9, and signage can be found along the street’s edge.

It runs along one of the key bus routes within the system, the MBTA #39 bus from Back Bay to Forest Hills. Buses have played a significant role in a number of the high-profile bicycle accidents along Huntington Avenue.

The street has in fact been a notable location for bicycle accidents in the city over the last several years. At the Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers and BikeAttorney.com, our experienced cycling injury lawyers are dedicated to assisting those who have been injured in Huntington Avenue bicycle accidents.

The Boston Cyclist Safety Report , prepared by the Boston Police Department and the Boston Emergency Medical Services department, Huntington Avenue was the third-most commonly cited street for bike crashes in the Boston Bikes Accident Survey.

It may become increasingly so following the recent opening of a new Hubway location at Huntington Station, which will encourage more people to jump on the cycling bandwagon.

Huntington Avenue is an essential roadway for many people making their way through Boston’s Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood and Mission Hill neighborhoods.

Through the Back Bay section, the road is mostly monopolized by the headquarters and Mother Church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, as well as the Prudential Center office and shopping complexes.

The midsection of the road was dubbed the “Avenue of the Arts,” as it is home to numerous institutions of fine arts, architecture, music, theater and education. Some of these include:

• The Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Boston University’s Huntington Theater Company
• New England Conservatory of Music
• Northeastern University
• Wentworth Institute of Technology
• Massachusetts College of Art and Design
• Museum of Fine Arts

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has undertaken an effort to oversee and provide clear direction to individual projects as soon as they progress from a conceptual planning phase. A substantial part of the goal is to set physical parameters and standards for design in order to optimize traffic flow for all road users, including pedestrians and bicyclists.

In the fall of 2015, Boston kicked off another round of expansion to Hubway, its bike-share program, in which it brought a new docking station to Huntington Avenue. The goal is to provide greater access to students from Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) and Northeastern University (NU).

That station was one of 11 added to the Hubway network that month. Other locations were at Fenway, Brighton, Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston, Fenway and Charlestown.

Hubway was launched in 2011 with 60 stations and 600 bikes. Following the 2013 expansion, Hubway had 108 stations with 1,100 bikes.

Many in the neighborhoods around Huntington Avenue will take advantage of the program, which allows riders to rent bikes and helmets from the city at a low cost and then drop them off at any of the nearby stations.

There have been a number of serious and even fatal bicycle accidents along Huntington Avenue in recent years, prompting city officials to propose a number of “Complete Streets” improvements.

Among those accidents:

• A fatal crash in June 2012 on Huntington Avenue at Forsyth Street in which a 28-year-old teacher and graduate student bicyclist was struck and killed by an MBTA bus.
• A fatal crash in April 2010, in which a 22-year-old cyclist from Mission Hill was struck by an MTBA commuter bus that he was trying to pass on Huntington Avenue.
• A fatal crash in April 2007 on Huntington Avenue at Forsyth Street in which a 22-year-old Massachusetts College of Art and Design graduate was struck by a taxi, the impact of which caused him to be thrown under the wheel of a dump truck. He died instantly.

Although there have been promises for improvement from city officials, change has not been swift. If you have been injured or a loved one killed in a bicycle accident on Huntington Avenue in Boston, call our offices today.

Contact the Boston Bicycle Accident Lawyers at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers and BikeAttorney.com at 617-777-7777.