Recent content by sneijder

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2025/06/05/eyes-on-the-street-a-little-better-on-the-b-u-bridge The recent reconstruction of the BU-bridge included a widening of the river path for a short section (though west of the bridge the path narrows to 4 feet again :mad:). The southbound bike lane over the...

This bikeway is decent and will provide a useful link once complete south of Comm Ave. However, I'm dumbfounded how they didnt make room for ANY bike infrastructure in the Copley Square park rebuild. You know if Cambridge built this they would've added side-walk level bike lanes on every side of...

But to be fair, if we really are able to achieve 2 hours from NYC <> BOS and NYC <> DC (which is a BIG IF), there would be a ton of induced demand and modeshare shift. We'd expect tons of people to stop driving and the flight schedules can be pared down to be for connecting flights only. I think...

the concept of a "shared-use path" is lazy, car-centric planning. As in, we're saving all the money and ROW space to build extra car lanes, so everybody else can just be lumped in together into a 10 foot path. It's like if I-90 was built with a single lane in either direction as a "shared-use...

The memorial drive reconstruction (from Harvard JFK bridge to Eliot bridge) reduces car lanes to build a 10ft path + dirt walking path. At certain pinch points the two paths are adjacent, but at least we're moving in the right direction. This really needs to be the bare minimum.

This is maybe a more minor point, but we need to advocate at these meetings to get away from the default "shared-use path" design for everything next to the river. Anyone who has been on the riverbank on a nice day knows that the 10-foot path creates constant conflict between faster bike...

I don't disagree here. I mean that of the streets that are identified as missing links (and are critical holes in a otherwise connected complete network), the ones with the lowest bike modes are highest priority. Those are often the same roads that have the most hostile design.

when looking at the biggest missing links in a connected bike network, I'd argue that missing-link streets with the highest driving mode-share actually need protected bike infrastructure the most. Yes, if you pave over the entire city in wide driving lanes, more people will drive. If you close...

Let's be real, there are CONVENTIONAL (non-HSR) intercity rail routes in Europe & Japan that have higher average speeds (90+mph) than the Acela (which ranges from 60-85mph depending on route). Acela isn't really about speed, it's about getting priority over other trains, greater seating comfort...

Amazing! I assume this will be a gradual rollout as the old rolling stock is retired? Do we know how many new trainsets Amtrak already has on hand for day 1 service?

seems like a great opportunity to extend third rail all the way to wonderland and beyond? That way we don't need to order customized railcars for the next fleet.

Adding to the flexpost removals, the Longfellow bridge has more than half its flexposts missing in both directions. Hopefully just a result of flexposts needing replacement after some were destroyed by plows & cars over the winter. Whenever roads have lane closures and configuration changes...

This removal is quite odd. I'm hoping in the coming few days the city will announce a press release saying they will replace with new/more sturdy barriers by a certain date. It'd be really weird just to leave the lanes unprotected since it doesn't make car throughput any better (since causing...

Love them too. I do wish the newer generation bikes could be a built a (bit) more lightweight, however. I get that it helps with reliability and lifespan but a 45lb bike really deters people who are smaller or have less muscle strength (younger teenagers, smaller women, elderly) from using them...

This is the most absurd thing for NIMBY's to rally against lol. Fine, I get the "undesirables" that a subway line will bring in, but a damn bike trail?? Lexington should be plenty of proof that having a greenway makes real estate values go up.