Family members have identified the victim of Thursday morning’s homicide crash near Roxbury Crossing as Louisa Gag, a longtime street safety advocate and transportation planner at Boston’s City Hall.

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Gag grew up in Roslindale and spent most of her career working for safer, healthier streets in the City of Boston – first in the nonprofit sector, then at Boston City Hall.

“She was the type of person who was so at ease with herself, and grounded in some way that anyone around her would immediately feel more OK,” said Jen Rowe, one of Gag’s colleagues at the Boston Transportation Department (BTD). “And she worked to cultivate that to support the people she worked with… She loved people, and everyone on our team.”

“Everyone adored Louisa, and we’re all in shock and in disbelief and angry,” BTD planner William Moose told StreetsblogMASS. “She just cared so damn much about this city and was so invested in the work she did.”

Before she joined City Hall, Louisa Gag spent several years as a public policy advocate with the LivableStreets Alliance, a regional nonprofit organization that fights for safe and accessible transportation options.

In 2020, Gag was the lead author of “Not On A Shelf,” a 58-page report card on how well Boston was implementing its 2017 long-range transportation plan.

She was also deeply involved in the advocacy and action behind the region’s “Vision Zero” policies – the international roadway safety initiative that aims to reduce and eliminate the risks of death and injury on city streets.

In 2017, Gag co-authored – a resource that’s been used in cities across the country. While at LivableStreets, she also helped the City of Somerville develop its own highly successful Vision Zero action plan (which we interviewed her about in 2020).

Gag moved her career to the public sector in 2022, shortly after the inauguration of Mayor Michelle Wu. There, she was able to put some of her safety advocacy into action through initiatives like the Lower Roxbury Slow Streets project, which recently went under construction.

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“When she was applying (to work at City Hall), I talked with her about how hard this work is for so many reasons – including working on a thing that can be life-and-death, but not everyone wants to see it that way,” recalls Rowe. “And she joined anyway, because that’s the kind of person she was – she cared so much.”

Over the past two years, Gag was also facilitating a major citywide expansion in the city’s bikesharing network with dozens of new bikesharing docks in neighborhoods across the city.

“I would say she’s responsible more than any other individual for the amazing growth – and the thoughtful growth – of our bikeshare system,” Moose said. “She had the technical skills but also really good people skills in the public meetings she hosted to decide where those stations would go.”

All of the City Hall employees that StreetsblogMASS spoke with on Friday recalled Gag’s infectious laugh and wry sense of humor.

“Once I assisted her at a Bluebikes event that was pretty sparsely attended. Basically nobody came,” recalls Mike Mike Tormey, another BTD colleague. “At the end of it, she told me, ‘Well, we couldn’t have done it without you, Mike.’”

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Mayor Wu said that she was “absolutely devastated by this unfathomable loss.”

“Louisa led programs and improvements that made our streets safer, our communities stronger, and our residents’ daily lives better. Her legacy will endure in the work she advanced across the City, and in the commitment of her colleagues, friends, and fellow advocates to carry it forward,” said Mayor Wu.

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