There has been a lot of discussion in the Allston task force about street widths in the area there. Since Google Maps and StreetView gives us a great way to measure the widths of streets and look at their profiles, here are many streets in Boston—most of them commercial streets but some others shown as well. They start from narrow streets in the oldest neighborhoods and range to the widest streets of the Seaport (I left out highways and streets with transit reservations). This should be a good resource for looking at what different street widths can accommodate.
Note that these widths are building-to-building, or the outside edge of the sidewalk on each side.
There seem to be groups of streets, and how a street is built is often very different even when the width is similar. In Boston, there are many streets that are 36 feet wide, 50 feet, 60 feet, 66 feet, 80 feet, 90 feet and 98 feet (many major roads are this wide, and their character varies significantly). Very few roads are any wider than that, except for some streets in the Seaport which are 132 feet wide. Here are streets shown, from narrowest to widest.
20 feet, Margaret Street, North End.
32 feet, Temple Street, Beacon Hill.
32 feet: Melrose Street, Bay Village.
36 feet: Pinckney Street, Beacon Hill.
36 feet: School Street, Downtown.
50 feet: Mount Auburn Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge.
50 feet: Washington Street, Downtown Crossing.
50 feet: West Newton Street, South End.
58 feet: Centre Street, Jamaica Plain.
58 feet, Tremont Street, Downtown
60 feet: Elm Street, Davis Square
60 feet: JFK Street, Harvard Square.
66 feet: Cambridge Street, Inman Square.
66 feet: Charles Street, Beacon Hill.
66 feet: Harvard Ave, Allston.
75 feet: Beacon Street, Back Bay.
80 feet: Washington Street, Brookline Village.
82 feet: Mass Ave, Back Bay.
82 feet: Kneeland St, Chinatown
82 feet: Columbus Ave, Egleston.
90 feet: Newbury Street, Back Bay.
90 feet: Boylston Street, Copley Square.
90 feet: Columbus Ave, South End.
90 feet, Main Street, Kendall Square (under reconstruction).
98 feet: Cambridge Street, Beacon Hill .
98 feet: Brighton Ave, Allston.
98 feet: Cambridge St, Allston.
98 feet: Mass Ave, Central Square.
98 feet: Mass Ave, north of Harvard
98 feet: Summer Street, Seaport.
98 feet: Tremont Street, South End.
98 feet: Boylston Street, Fenway.
98 feet: Mass Ave, South End
110 feet: Columbia Road, Uphams Corner.
120 feet: Blue Hill Avenue.
132 feet: Seaport Blvd
132 feet: Congress Street, Seaport.
