{"id":166,"date":"2026-07-22T04:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:11:10","slug":"the-crash-deaths-of-transportation-planners-riley-oneil-and-louisa-gag-should-be-a-turning-point-for-safe-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=166","title":{"rendered":"The crash deaths of transportation planners Riley O’Neil and Louisa Gag should be a turning point for Safe Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Thanks to StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil for his reporting on the Louisa Gag case, and input for this piece.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Big Brother\u2019 At U.S. DOT: Bike Lanes Aren\u2019t Just \u2018DEI,\u2019 They\u2019re Also Unsafe<\/a><\/p>\n

The last two months have been heartbreaking for sustainable transportation professionals and advocates in Chicago and Boston, where two hauntingly similar bike crashes took the lives of well-loved Complete Streets planners Riley O\u2019Neil and Louisa Gag. But there\u2019s reason to be hopeful that these tragedies will spur new political support for Vision Zero efforts in these cities, and possibly have a ripple effect across the country.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil\u2019s and Gag\u2019s stories<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil, 35, was a planner with the Chicago Department of Transportation. In the afternoon of Friday, June 5, he was cycling home from work on a non-protected bike lane on Halsted Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood, when a car driver opened his door without checking for bike traffic. O\u2019Neil swerved to avoid the door but clipped it, and was thrown under the rear wheels of an oncoming semi. If the bikeway he was riding in had been a curbside protected lane, he would still be alive.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil\u2019s friend and colleague fellow CDOT planner David Powe posted a eulogy the next day. \u201cRiley O\u2019Neil led Chicago\u2019s bike parking program for several years and completely transformed it,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMore recently, he was helping lead both CDOT\u2019s school zone safety work and bus priority projects. He cared deeply about making biking, rolling, walking, and riding better for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRiley could get anyone excited about making Chicago better,\u201d Powe added. \u201cHe never met a person he couldn\u2019t immediately connect with. His enthusiasm and love for bikes, transit, infrastructure, and public service was contagious.\u201d Powe said CDOT would start calling the bike parking racks \u201cRiley Racks\u201d as a tribute.<\/p>\n

Just over a month after O\u2019Neil\u2019s death, on the morning Thursday, July 9, there were terrible parallels in Louisa Gag\u2019s case. A year older than O\u2019Neil at 36, she also served as a planner at her city\u2019s transportation department. Gag previously worked for several years as a public policy advocate with the Boston area\u2019s LivableStreets Alliance. She was also commuting by bike that day, riding to work in a paint-only bike lane on Tremont Street in Boston\u2019s Mission Hill community. And, like O\u2019Neil, Gag died in a truck collision. The Boston Globe reported today that a recycling truck driver maneuvered around another vehicle before striking her.<\/p>\n

According to StreetsblogMASS, Gag spent most of her career on efforts to make Boston Streets more livable. As an advocate, she worked on projects to promote Vision Zero and hold the City accountable for following through on its 2017 long-range transportation plan. At the Boston Transportation Department, she was involved in initiatives like the\u00a0Lower Roxbury Slow Streets project, and the expansion of the Bluebikes bike-share network.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe 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,\u201d Gag\u2019s BTD colleague Jen Rowe told StreetsblogMASS. \u201cAnd she worked to cultivate that to support the people she worked with\u2026 She loved people, and everyone on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safe Streets advocates respond in Chicago and Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three days after O\u2019Neil\u2019s death, on June 8, hundreds of Chicagoans hit the streets for a memorial ride and \u201cdie-in\u201d at his crash site, organized by the grassroots group, Chicago, Bike Grid Now! They urged City leaders to create a continuous network of safe, low-stress cycling routes. \u201cA preventable incident, not an \u2018accident,\u2019 has brought us here today,\u201d said Eli Orozco of the neighborhood bike group\u00a0Gage Park Cyclists in a speech at the start of the event, also mentioning four other recent Chicago bike and e-scooter crash victims. \u201cThere is no reason why families should have ever been destroyed with loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week later on June 15, dozens of advocates again gathered in Bridgeport for CBGN!\u2019s\u00a0\u201cBike Protest for a Bike Grid,\u201d riding to local City Council member Alderwoman Nicole Lee\u2019s office to lobby for safety upgrades on Halsted and elsewhere in her district.<\/p>\n

And more recently, the Bridgeport Alliance, a community group which advocates for traffic safety, launched a letter writing campaign so Ald. Lee\u2019s constituents can ask her to support bold street redesigns. The petition has almost 400 signees.<\/p>\n

Likewise in Boston, advocates are demanding action on Vision Zero in the wake of Gag\u2019s killing. In a July 14 StreetsblogMASS op-ed, several residents in Boston\u2019s Forest Hills neighborhood blamed the City\u2019s foot-dragging for the recent crash death. \u201cThis week, the consequences of inaction were brought home painfully when one of our neighbors, Louisa Gag, was\u00a0killed by a driver\u00a0while commuting to work,\u201d they wrote. \u201cLouisa died a block away from a stretch of Tremont Street near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA station where earlier this year, Boston\u2019s Acting Chief of Streets, Nick Gove,\u00a0postponed a major traffic calming and center-running busway project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018The Vibes Were Impeccable\u2019: World Cup, Knicks Showed Promise of Livable Streets in New York City<\/a><\/p>\n

Not unlike Chicago\u2019s \u201cdie-in,\u201d on July 16 hundreds of Bostonians converged on the plaza of their City Hall to honor Gag, and put pressure on politicians.<\/p>\n

Reactions from local elected officials<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Windy City, politicians have been taking notice of the Riley O\u2019Neil case, and its significance for Chicago. \u201cRiley O\u2019Neil was an incredible public servant who contributed deeply to the work of making our city a safer and more sustainable place,\u201d said Mayor Brandon Johnson on social media. \u201cA member of the Complete Streets team, Riley was a valued and dedicated advocate whose work touched communities across Chicago.\u201d That statement was later included on the permanent display panel of the \u201cThe Riley O\u2019Neil Memorial Station\u201d for Divvy bike-share cycles, located across the street from City Hall.<\/p>\n

And six of Chicago\u2019s 50 City Council members showed in Bridgeport for the June 8 memorial, with five of them riding bikes. While Ald. Lee didn\u2019t bicycle that day, as the ride departed, she indicated to me that she\u2019s open to a street redesign on Halsted and other roads in her district. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take all of us working together to get physical infrastructure that protects people better,\u201d she said. Lee mentioned that her own nephew was recently injured on his bicycle by a negligent driver in Chicago\u2019s nearby Chinatown.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Boston\u2019s Mayor Wu made a surprise appearance at the July 16 Government Center event. According to StreetsblogMASS, prior to her speech, Gag\u2019s former LivableStreets Alliance boss Stacy Thompson, who was emceeing, asked the frustrated Vision Zero advocates present to follow the fallen cyclist\u2019s example by listening respectfully.<\/p>\n

Mayor Wu was contrite, StreetsblogMASS reported. \u201cWe owe Louisa more than our grief,\u201d she said. \u201cWe owe her our action. We have to do better.\u201d She listed a number of ways \u201cthe City is taking action,\u201d including a full analysis of the street design of the crash site, with plans to make that standard practice. She also promised better enforcement of bikeways and crosswalks; more protected bike lane installation and maintenance; and the assignment of two of her key staff members \u201cto accelerate the policies, planning, and capital delivery work that will make our streets safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil told me, \u201cIt\u2019s still early days here but people are fired up, and there may be a shakeup at our City transportation department.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ripple effect<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are signs that O\u2019Neil\u2019s and Gag\u2019s stories are attracting the attention of decision-makers across the country. For example, the New York City-based\u00a0National Association of City Transportation Officials\u00a0honored each of them in blog posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransportation planning often involves navigating complex political landscapes and conflicting stakeholder demands,\u201d\u00a0NACTO said in its tribute to O\u2019Neil.\u00a0\u201cWhen facing challenging issues or difficult days with aldermen and community members, Riley\u2019s colleagues turned to him. He was a master of cutting through bureaucracy without creating unnecessary conflict. He maintained an infectious positive attitude, thought creatively, and found collaborative paths forward where others saw roadblocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLouisa\u2019s work for the City of Boston focused on improving bike-share and street safety, including growing the Bluebikes system by adding\u00a0100 new stations across the city\u00a0and leading engagement for street redesigns in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods,\u201d NACTO said in its memorial. \u201cBeyond the technical work, Louisa was an integral force in spreading community bike joy, taking over the organization of Boston\u2019s annual Bike to Work Day Festival and teaching Bostonians how to bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that more politicians and city planners \u2013 from Seattle to Miami, and from Los Angeles to Portland, ME \u2013 take notice of these stories, and are inspired to support progressive street designs and policies to prevent future heartbreak. If that happens, the deaths of Riley O\u2019Neil and Louisa Gag will not have been in vain.<\/p>\n

If you value Streetsblog Chicago\u2019s livable streets reporting and advocacy,\u00a0please consider\u00a0making a tax-deductible donation\u00a0to support our work. Thank you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Monday\u2019s Headlines Score a Goal for Transit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil for his reporting on the Louisa Gag case, and input for this piece. Read more \u2018Big Brother\u2019 At U.S. DOT: Bike Lanes Aren\u2019t Just \u2018DEI,\u2019 They\u2019re Also Unsafe The last two months have been heartbreaking for sustainable transportation professionals and advocates in Chicago and Boston, where two hauntingly similar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-complete-streets"],"yoast_head":"\nThe crash deaths of transportation planners Riley O’Neil and Louisa Gag should be a turning point for Safe Streets - Urban Atlas Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The crash deaths of transportation planners Riley O’Neil and Louisa Gag should be a turning point for Safe Streets - Urban Atlas Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil for his reporting on the Louisa Gag case, and input for this piece. 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