In the midst of the torrents of Boston snow during the historic winter of 2014-2015, Mayor Marty Walsh opted to turn two-way streets in South Boston to one-way only in order to accommodate traffic that was bottlenecked due to the mountainous snowbanks. On Friday, he announced that streets will return to normalcy and accommodate two-way traffic on Wednesday, May 13.

Snow plows pushed the seemingly endless snow accumulation higher and higher through essentially all of February, making Southie’s already narrow streets nearly impassable. The street reconfiguration was initially expected to last until April 1 but once Mother Nature ceased her cruel joke and decided Boston had enough snow, Mayor Walsh extended the initiative indefinitely.

Feedback from two public meetings on the subject yielded positive feedback according to the Walsh administration, and the idea had actually grown organically from discussions with locals in the thick of winter, but it was decided that perhaps traffic will return to regular flow with two-way streets.

“After thoughtful consideration and hearing from the South Boston community, we have decided to end the emergency reconfiguration,” said Mayor Walsh in a statement. “This plan relieved traffic congestion and increased public safety during our most challenging winter months, but now it is time to return to our normal traffic flow and welcome the spring season.”