Somerville is intentionally making roads harder to drive on. It's getting results.

Somerville is redesigning part of Tufts Street in East Somerville to make driving slower and riskier routes less appealing, aiming to cut crashes by changing street geometry rather than relying only on enforcement. Work began in summer 2025 and is scheduled to finish in the coming days, with new signage and pavement markings, speed humps, “windy” curbs, artificially narrow sections, and a large mural covering several hundred feet. The city calls these changes “neighborways,” turning side streets into safer spaces for people walking, cycling, and biking. Officials say tight corners and narrow lanes slow cars, citing a goal of best practice across North America. Somerville reports no traffic deaths in four years despite heavy cycling. The project follows complaints that Tufts Street became a popular cut-through near the highway, with a city study previously estimating up to 3,000 cars.