Committee hears plan to expand Safe Routes to School, update school-zone guidelines

Boston City Council Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation Chair Councilor Sharon Durkin convened a hearing on April 3 to consider an order (docket 0309) to explore creation of state safe school zones and broader, citywide pedestrian-safety measures around Boston schools.

The proposal under review would expand the city’s Safe Routes to School work — a multiagency task force led by the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Public Schools and the Boston Transportation Department — by completing school-area assessments, updating school-zone guidelines and advancing both near-term safety interventions and longer-term design changes in prioritized locations.

Mary Bovenzie, director of chronic disease prevention and control at the Boston Public Health Commission, told the committee that pedestrian injuries and fatalities remain serious public-health concerns in Boston. “In 2024, just last year, EMS reported 466 injuries to pedestrians involved in crashes on our streets,” Bovenzie said. “And sadly, there were 12 pedestrian fatalities.” She said children are “vulnerable road users,” and that speed reductions, safer street design, enforcement and education together “will lead to many lives saved.”

City staff described a framework for identifying priority schools and the interventions the city is…