Two Councilors Ask Wu to Pause Blue Hill Avenue Bus Lane Plan Before Accepting $80 Million Federal Grant

Two Boston city councilors have asked Mayor Michelle Wu to halt the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan, including any steps needed to fully accept an $80 million federal grant, until civil rights concerns raised at a council hearing last week are addressed, according to a letter filed with the council for its Wednesday meeting.

The letter, from District 7 Councilor Miniard Culpepper and District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell, is addressed to Wu and to Phillip Eng, general manager of the MBTA. Culpepper has separately filed an order to summon Eng, who is also the state's interim transportation secretary, to testify before the council's civil rights committee on Nov. 6 at 10 a.m.

The documents follow an Oct. 14 field hearing of the council's Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement at the William E. Reed Auditorium in Grove Hall. According to the summons order, MBTA and MassDOT representatives, including Eng, were invited to testify, and Eng did not appear.

The plan at issue would run buses in dedicated lanes down the center of Blue Hill Avenue between Mattapan Square and Grove Hall. The Dorchester Reporter, which covered the Oct. 14 hearing, reported that the $163 million project would eliminate nine of the 19 existing stops on the route and, according to proponents, cut 10 to 15 minutes from bus trips between Mattapan Square and Grove Hall.

In their letter, Culpepper and Worrell write that the center-running bus lane "has faced vehement opposition from many residents and business owners along the corridor" and that the planning process, design and potential harms "raise serious and direct civil rights concerns that must be addressed before the City moves forward with implementation."

The councilors ask the administration to provide a written response identifying what civil rights reviews or assessments have been conducted, how residents' concerns have been incorporated into planning, and what additional steps will be taken. They request that the administration "immediately halt further advancement" of the plan, "including the proposed center-running bus lane redesign and any steps required to fully accept the $80,000,000 federal Small Starts grant," until those concerns have been examined and affected communities have been "meaningfully engaged."

The letter recounts a moment from the hearing in which the first public testifier asked the councilors present whether they considered transportation inequities on the corridor a civil rights issue. All seven councilors present at that time, Culpepper, Worrell, Ed Flynn, Erin Murphy, Ruthzee Louijeune, Henry Santana and Julia Mejia, raised their hands in agreement, according to the letter. It also says former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson urged those councilors to put their concerns to the administration in writing. Copies were sent to members of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization board and to officials of the Federal Transit Administration.

The administration has defended the funding as secure. The Reporter reported that MBTA officials say $95 million in federal money has been earmarked for the project, including a $15 million grant secured in 2024 that must be spent by 2029 and $80 million approved by Congress. The larger grant has been appropriated, but the agreements have not been signed; that would happen after the MBTA submits a final plan, likely next year, the Reporter reported. Culpepper said at the hearing that federal officials had told him and Worrell that no money had yet been transferred to the project.

A Wu spokesperson told the Reporter that Congress "has already allocated and directly appropriated more than $80 million" for Blue Hill Avenue and that "this funding is not hypothetical." The spokesperson said the city was working with residents and the MBTA to finalize the design, adding, "This is not either/or—we can and we must do both."

Not every councilor opposes the project. District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepén, whose district includes part of Mattapan, said at the hearing that he supports it, according to the Reporter.

Culpepper and Worrell have proposed an alternative: a new Orange Line branch running from Ruggles through Nubian Square and Grove Hall to Mattapan Square. WBUR reported in June that the two councilors proposed a subway extension instead of the center bus lane. Universal Hub reported in March that the two had sought to cancel the bus lane plans and use the money to continue fare-free service on three bus routes, a resolution that was referred to committee rather than voted on.

The summons order says Eng should address the feasibility, funding and planning of an Orange Line extension and other rapid transit options for Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, as well as the state's efforts to address transportation inequities. It also directs him to produce official crash data for 2022 through 2026 on Blue Hill Avenue and comparable corridors, including Columbus Avenue, where a center-running bus lane is already in place, so the safety effects of that design can be compared. The order cites Massachusetts General Laws chapter 233, section 8, as its authority.

The order notes that the 1987 removal of the elevated Orange Line on Washington Street eliminated a direct rapid transit connection between Roxbury and downtown "that has never been replaced with comparable service." City and state officials have said they plan more community meetings on the project in 2027 and hope to begin construction in 2028, the Reporter reported.

The council meets at noon Wednesday.