Jiaqi Zhang

This past fall I worked at Boston Cyclists Union (BCU) as a community organizing intern. BCU is a grassroots organization and is one of the most active and effective transportation advocacy groups in Metro Boston. BCU works to increase ridership in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline. The aim is to connect homes, parks, schools, paths and business districts with a network of low-stress bike routes including quiet neighborhood streets and protected bike lanes so that people of all ages and abilities feel safe and comfortable riding a bike.

In terms of my responsibilities, I spent most of my time researching bikeability and analyzing crash data in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline. I also prepared the bike lanes design write-up with future design and reconstruction suggestions. This four-month hands-on internship allowed me to gain experience by using technical skills and professional research methods.

The main responsibility of the internship includes research and analysis of the most dangerous intersections and roads owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline. Based on the number of crashes, a future design and reconstruction plan will be provided, including how to reduce the crashes and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. After filtering and analyzing the crash data, the most dangerous DCR arterials would be concluded. The crashes resulted from a lot of factors, such as bike infrastructure, weather, road condition, or car speed.

The safety improvement of pedestrians and bicyclists is a long-term process, so the early crash data analysis is an essential and significant start to gain a basic understanding. Each small step will make big differences. Additionally, the bottom-up approach and human-centered design should be a priority for urban planners. Community engagement is beneficial for bikeability because residents are the only group who know the current problems and straightforward needs. Regular campaigns are a good way to hear from everyone. It is also important to communicate with other related organizations to gather more helpful information.

I am grateful to have worked at the BCU because I was able to work with such a fast-growing organization that focuses all their efforts on building pedestrian-friendly and bicyclist-friendly arterials, such as physically protected bike lanes. They gave me the opportunity to adapt my skills and work on what I am interested in. In the future, I am willing to gain more practical experience within the planning field, like transportation and data analysis.