Cambridge Launches Safety Improvement Project at Mt. Auburn Street/Aberdeen Avenue Intersection

Cambridge is making changes to Mt. Auburn Street near the intersection with Aberdeen Avenue to improve safety and mobility for everyone on the street, whether they’re walking, biking, driving, or riding buses. 

The Mt. Auburn Street at Aberdeen Avenue Intersection Safety Improvement Project will include a full replacement and upgrade of all traffic signal equipment at the intersection of Mt. Auburn Street and Aberdeen Avenue and changes to the layout of Mt. Auburn Street between Belmont Street and Brattle Street.

The project will:  

• Improve bus reliability: Extend the shared bus-bike lanes on Mt. Auburn Street about 500 feet to the Homer Avenue bus stop and make changes to signal timing to improve bus travel time reliability. 
• Improve safety for people walking: Give pedestrians a separate time to cross the street without traffic turning onto Aberdeen Avenue.  
• Improve safety for people biking: Improve bike facilities on Mt. Auburn Street with a combination of quick-build separated bike lanes, shared bus/bike lanes, and standard bike lanes.  
• Improve safety for people driving: Install new signal equipment, including a new dedicated turn signal for left turns from Mt. Auburn Street onto Aberdeen Avenue. This signal will hang directly above the left turn lane, making the intersection signals easier for drivers to understand.  

To make these changes, the City will remove one of the travel lanes on Mt. Auburn Street between Aberdeen Avenue and Homer Avenue. There will be a single traffic lane for traffic headed west toward Belmont and Watertown. We’re able to make this change with limited impacts to traffic by making changes to signal timing and adding dedicated turn lanes for cars turning onto Aberdeen Avenue and Homer Avenue. 

City staff will discuss the draft plans at a Community Open House at the Collins Branch of the Cambridge Public Library (64 Aberdeen Ave.) on Wednesday, May 24 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Community members can stop by to review draft plans and learn more about the project. This is not the only opportunity to hear about the project from City staff: we will be holding a more in-depth online community meeting later this year. Sign up for the project email list to stay informed. 

The City will post draft plans on the project webpage in the coming weeks, before the open house on May 24.  

Interested in getting involved? Sign up for the project email list or visit the project webpage to learn more.