GATEWAY EAST:

DATA, ENGAGEMENT, AND A BALANCED PATH FORWARD

The Gateway East Bus Priority Pilot has reached its conclusion, providing an opportunity to evaluate how dedicated bus lanes affected transit, traffic, and access along an important connection between Brookline and the Longwood area along Washington Street between Station Street and the Brookline town line.

The pilot, a collaboration among the Town of Brookline, MBTA, and MassDOT, began in 2024 and was extended to allow for additional data collection and evaluation. With the Brookline Select Board having recently authorized the next steps, the project is now moving toward a modified roadway configuration.

Photo Credit: Toole Design

Gateway East is an important connection between Brookline and the Longwood area. How the roadway operates affects the people who travel to and through Longwood every day, including thousands of employees, students, patients and visitors. As an academic medical center, Longwood serves a high volume of patients who may have limited alternatives to traveling by car, as well as emergency and delivery vehicles that depend on reliable roadway access.



The pilot created an opportunity to evaluate how dedicated bus lanes could improve bus travel while also understanding how different configurations affected traffic flow and roadway safety across the corridor.

When the Gateway East bus lanes were proposed, Longwood Collective engaged closely with project leaders to understand how the changes could affect access to Longwood and the people who rely on the corridor every day. With concerns about how the eastbound configuration would affect roadway access, we strongly urged for a time-limited pilot that would allow those impacts to be evaluated through data and real-world experience before determining the appropriate path forward.

Longwood Collective remained closely engaged throughout the process, conducting our own analysis of bus lane performance, working with our member institutions, and bringing the perspectives of the broader Longwood community to the table through testimony, formal written comments, and direct engagement with the municipal and transportation leaders involved in the project.

Our analysis identified the eastbound configuration as an area that warranted close evaluation, and we continued to assess the pilot as additional data became available. The pilot ultimately provided real-world evidence that reinforced those concerns, while also demonstrating where bus priority could work effectively.

Images collected from our observational analysis in the Fall of 2024 depict congestion, lack of enforcement and ineffectiveness of parts of the bus lanes

What worked

The westbound bus lane and a portion of the eastbound lane provided travel-time benefits for buses and were found to be functioning effectively.

What did not

The eastbound section between the High Street area and the Brookline town line created the greatest traffic, merging, and safety challenges and experienced the most significant increase in traffic queues.

The outcome

Based on the pilot findings, the Town of Brookline is moving forward with a modified roadway configuration. 


• The eastbound bus lane between High Street and the Brookline town line will be removed.
• The Boylston Street right turn lane at High Street will be restored to a general purpose travel lane.
• The westbound lane from the Town Line/River Road to Station Street will be retained.
• The eastbound lane from Station Street to Boylston Street/High Street will be retained.

What does this mean for Longwood?

For Longwood, this removes the portion of the pilot that created the greatest congestion and safety concerns along an important approach to the area, while preserving bus-priority treatments that have demonstrated benefits. The result is a more balanced roadway configuration that reflects what the pilot showed in practice.

Longwood Collective will continue to engage with project leaders and our member institutions as the modified configuration moves toward implementation.

Gateway East demonstrates the value of giving transportation proposals the opportunity to be tested, evaluated, and refined in real-world conditions. A time-limited pilot creates space to gather data, understand community experience, and assess how a change performs before determining what should be retained, modified, or reconsidered.

Longwood Collective appreciates the collaborative approach taken by the Town of Brookline, MBTA, and MassDOT throughout the pilot and looks forward to continuing to contribute to conversations about transportation improvements that serve the people who rely on the region’s roads and transit network.

Gateway East is one example of Longwood Collective’s broader role in supporting transportation and mobility across the Longwood Medical and Academic Area. Through transportation programs and services, data and analysis, and ongoing engagement with public agencies and transportation partners, we work to help ensure that the needs of the people who rely on Longwood are considered as the region’s transportation network evolves.

Policy Pulse is Longwood Collective's briefing on legislative, regulatory and public policy developments, providing context on issues affecting the Longwood Medical and Academic Area and its member institutions.