Biking in Boston

[Downburst]

^I'll inquire about any progress on that front the next time I'm at the Charles River Conservancy office. I do know that the 25% design was being worked on as of December, but my co-op there has since ended and I'm out of the loop.

 

[Matthew]

Now that I am at my computer:

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/ProjectInfo/Main.asp?ACTION=ViewProject&PROJECT_NO=608129

BOSTON- INTERIM IMPROVEMENTS AT CAMBRIDGE STREET & RIVER STREET
This project will provide upgrades to the traffic signals at the intersections of Cambridge Street/I-90 Ramps and River Street/Cambridge Street/Soldiers Field Road. Traffic signal timings and geometric improvements will increase capacity and enhance the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. ADA compliant ramps will be provided at the intersections, and a new cycle track will be installed along Soldiers Field Road between River Street and Western Avenue. New overhead vehicle indications will be included as well as pedestrian indications. In addition to these improvements, a new traffic signal controller and cabinet will be provided at River Street/Memorial Drive in order to maintain compatibility and communications.

Bidding June 16th.

 

[sm89]

Woah. Only 6 months from idea to bid opening? This got a major push. If you look at a few of the other entries, some date back decades and still aren't anywhere near construction.

 

[Arlington]

Very good to see a re-balancing of these intersections from suburbanite's cut-through to local Boston/Allston/Cambridge needs. The DCR can begin regaining our trust as an entity that balances "state/regional" needs vs "local/neighborhood" needs with more projects like this.

 

[dwash59]

Wow.

The bike lane running down Cambridge Street into that intersection has always been bittersweet to me. Gets you to the intersection, but if you want to get over the bridge, madness awaits. Crossing my fingers that these improvements help.

Do you know if the "new Cycle track" a replacement for the existing path, or something new on the road? I often ride down Western Ave as an alternative to Cambridge Street, then have to cut over to River. That is also a rough route to take because once Western hits Soldier's Field, it is one way the opposite direction, so crossing to get to the path (on either Boston or Cambridge sides) is not simple.

 

[Matthew]

Woah. Only 6 months from idea to bid opening? This got a major push. If you look at a few of the other entries, some date back decades and still aren't anywhere near construction.

We've been begging them to do something about Cambridge Street for years and there's a high profile project now, I suppose, too.

By coincidence I got a glimpse of the plans an hour or so after I posted that quote.

They are intending to stripe and cut crosswalks all over that intersection, with a curb extension as well. They will also deal with the curving Pike off-ramp that meets Cambridge Street about 50 yards west of the intersection, by narrowing it and putting a proper crosswalk. No plans shown for the hideous Mass Pike on-ramp further west.

The bike lane running down Cambridge Street into that intersection has always been bittersweet to me. Gets you to the intersection, but if you want to get over the bridge, madness awaits. Crossing my fingers that these improvements help.

Here's the trick: the cycle works like this: "Mass Pike off-ramp green" followed by "Doubletree parking lot green" followed by "Cambridge Street eastbound green".

There's two windows of opportunity that are pretty safe: starting with the "Mass Pike on-ramp green" phase, if the queues clear for the Mass Pike off-ramp then there's usually a period of time when no cars are moving because the second traffic light at the intersection with Soldiers Field Rd is still red. That's a good time to sneak out and get behind the cars. Then the Soldiers Field Rd light turns green while the Cambridge Street eastbound light remains red.

If the Mass Pike queues don't clear, then you wait for their light to turn red. The following phase is the Doubletree parking lot, which usually has only 1-2 cars, but lasts significantly longer. At that point, the pavement is simply completely empty, the light at Soldiers Field Rd is green, and you can scoot out there without any conflicts.

If you wait for the Cambridge Street light to turn green (and therefore be 'proceeding legally') you will get stuck in the nasty right-turning traffic plus the Soldiers Field Rd light might turn red on you.

It's the second clear example on Cambridge Street where 'breaking the law' by ignoring the red light is much, much, much safer for your health than 'following the law'.

The other one is North Harvard Street, where if you try to behave like a car, and wait for the green light, you will get smushed by angry drivers going 60 mph into the highway on-ramp. Don't do that. Go through the red. It's much safer.

Unfortunately the MassDOT project out to bid fixes neither of these issues.

 

[sm89]

Apparently we have the plans at my office as well.

There isn't much in terms of geometry changes. A lot of the narrowing is just through the use of gore lines and markings. I think the real catalyst for this project was probably coordinating signals with the Western Ave bridge project. But hey, at least they're making improvements for other users as well.

The cycle track from on Cambridge St from Allston turns into a bike lane as it approaches the intersection and then just disappears after the pike ramp joins on the right. Not even shared markings are proposed. No bike accommodations across the bridge. It does look like it will really improve pedestrian safety at least.

The cycle track they propose will run down the Soldier's Field service road inbound from Western Ave towards Cambridge St/River St and then turn down Cambridge St to join the existing cycle track. That's good for Allston-bound bikes at least.

 

[jass]

Whatever happened to that plan in Somerville for a fully protected bicycle lane?

 

[The EGE]

After Summer street there is another two blocks of RoW, then a bridge, then the commuter rail tracks. I’m not sure how the Bike to the Sea people propose linking the Lynn portions to Nahant since they run out of right of way about a mile from Nahant. Either they will need to travel directly alongside the active tracks or convince Lynn to build some on-street facilities that will feel safe enough to entice casual path users to continue on to the beach.

The commuter rail right of way through Lynn is one of the few 4-track-width ROWs in the Boston area. During its brief period of control over the B&M, the New Haven Railroad built 4-track infrastructure from the Saugus River all the way to Swampscott. Full report for the interested. Lynn station was actually used as four tracks for a while, but due to the Salem tunnel and the Chelsea grade crossing clusterfuck the main line was never actually four tracked, and instead there were just local freight sidings.

If you can hop over or under the active tracks where the Saugus Branch joined the mainline, you could occupy the slots of the now-disused freight sidings as far as Pleasant Street.

 

[Arlington]

Whatever happened to that plan in Somerville for a fully protected bicycle lane?

If you are talking about Beacon St Reconstruction (which includes a protected bike lane, the green zones in this PDF) between Porter Sq and Inman Sq (Cambridge City Line @ Hampshire), they say "two construction seasons" because the bike lane is part of a whole-street reconstruction, starting with utility reconstruction (since 2014 and currently still chewing up the street) and a full-depth (down to the dirt) pavement reconstruction.

If the progress is anything like the Mass Ave reconstruction in Arlington, street repaving will come last, and I'd suspect that once the utility re-lining is done (it is nearing its end, it seems) that they'll start with cutting and placing curbs this year and the road surface won't be smooth and striped until the summer 2016 season :-/

{EDIT the MassDOT '16-17 plan shows (search for project 607209) most of the "Beacon St Reconstruction" (project # 607209) funds being spent in Fiscal 2017, so it is all going to take as sadly-long as we think}

 

[FK4]

In the past 3-4 years, Ive seen increasing numbers of cyclists riding in really stupid places. As a cyclist who believes that traffic laws for bikes and cars should be totally different and takes plenty of liberties (safely) with those rules, this makes me even more angry. And one rule that is idiotic is that which allows bikes on all non-limited access roads that cars use. The Riverway is not a road anyone should ever bike on, and I see more and more people using it. Tonight there was someone riding southbound between the bridge over Rt 9 and Bynner - the darkest, twistiest stretch. I seriously wanted to force them to stop and give them a talking to. There are TWO bike lanes, a very nice wide sidewalk that nobody ever walks on (on the east side of the Riverway, a great cement sidewalk that I used to commute on for three years), AND South Huntington, all leading to the same locations. There is absolutely zero excuse to ride on the Riverway, and even if there was - even if there werent several much safer, bike friendly alternatives, it is pure stupidity and arrogance because it is dangerous for everyone, not just the moron who rides the bike. I cant help but imagine that most of the people I see on these types of dangerous DCR roads are generally die hard fools who in their head think they're following the law so it's all just A-OK. Well, it's not, and there should be signs on the Riverway (and Mem Drive, too, though at least visibility is better than the R-way) prohibiting bikes. That is all. That's my rant. I'm pissed.

 

[Matthew]

I agree about Riverway but I do have some sympathy for biking on Mem Drive since DCR paves it oh so nicely; while leaving the sidepath to rot and heave, narrowed, with tons of people walking too.

But I saw the stupidest thing today while going west on Comm Ave near the BU Bridge... it's normally a clusterfuck: with all the box-blockers dragging across the intersection on their way to the BU Bridge. Then add into the merging mix a clueless, vaguely student-looking, absolute moron SALMONING right at me -- with headphones plugged into his ears to boot.

Really.

 

[fattony]

In the past 3-4 years, Ive seen increasing numbers of cyclists riding in really stupid places. As a cyclist who believes that traffic laws for bikes and cars should be totally different and takes plenty of liberties (safely) with those rules, this makes me even more angry. And one rule that is idiotic is that which allows bikes on all non-limited access roads that cars use. The Riverway is not a road anyone should ever bike on, and I see more and more people using it. Tonight there was someone riding southbound between the bridge over Rt 9 and Bynner - the darkest, twistiest stretch. I seriously wanted to force them to stop and give them a talking to. There are TWO bike lanes, a very nice wide sidewalk that nobody ever walks on (on the east side of the Riverway, a great cement sidewalk that I used to commute on for three years), AND South Huntington, all leading to the same locations. There is absolutely zero excuse to ride on the Riverway, and even if there was - even if there werent several much safer, bike friendly alternatives, it is pure stupidity and arrogance because it is dangerous for everyone, not just the moron who rides the bike. I cant help but imagine that most of the people I see on these types of dangerous DCR roads are generally die hard fools who in their head think they're following the law so it's all just A-OK. Well, it's not, and there should be signs on the Riverway (and Mem Drive, too, though at least visibility is better than the R-way) prohibiting bikes. That is all. That's my rant. I'm pissed.

I'm just putting this out there, but did you ever consider the guy might not be familiar with the road? You plot a course from point A to point B, but if you don't know the roads to avoid you can end up in a pickle. Several times I've found myself on very uncomfortable roads because I didn't know any better. What are you going to do? You plow through, what else can you do?

So before calling the guy a moron, consider that he might have been more terrified than you were angry. And with a long, unbroken curb he may never have had an opportunity to safely get out of the road and onto the sidewalk. These parkways were designed completely hostile to bicycles and that isn't the cyclists' fault.

I get angry on the road too, even with cyclists. Matthew's story above infuriates me. But if some guy is cycling (otherwise safely) on a parkway, just slow down and pass him when it is safe. I only costs you about 5 seconds of your life.

 

[whsurveyor]

I'm just putting this out there, but did you ever consider the guy might not be familiar with the road? You plot a course from point A to point B, but if you don't know the roads to avoid you can end up in a pickle. Several times I've found myself on very uncomfortable roads because I didn't know any better. What are you going to do? You plow through, what else can you do?

So before calling the guy a moron, consider that he might have been more terrified than you were angry. And with a long, unbroken curb he may never have had an opportunity to safely get out of the road and onto the sidewalk. These parkways were designed completely hostile to bicycles and that isn't the cyclists' fault.

I get angry on the road too, even with cyclists. Matthew's story above infuriates me. But if some guy is cycling (otherwise safely) on a parkway, just slow down and pass him when it is safe. I only costs you about 5 seconds of your life.

Agreed, the bicyclist may not have been familiar with the road and could have entered from Bynner when Riverway traffic had a red light. If you saw all the trees, the surrounding parks, the 25 MPH speed limit signs, the narrow lanes, lots of curves, an extra lane for cars to safely pass you -- you might think this is just a leisurely park road that's an ideal place to bike. You wouldn't know that most drivers think this is the Autobahn.

 

[FK4]

Agreed, the bicyclist may not have been familiar with the road and could have entered from Bynner when Riverway traffic had a red light. If you saw all the trees, the surrounding parks, the 25 MPH speed limit signs, the narrow lanes, lots of curves, an extra lane for cars to safely pass you -- you might think this is just a leisurely park road that's an ideal place to bike. You wouldn't know that most drivers think this is the Autobahn.

This was at 11pm on a weeknight, making it extremely unlikely that this was a random chance trip to this area by an unfamiliar visitor. Also, the biker was headed southbound, so they didnt come from Bynner. They were after the bridge over the Riverway but before hitting Bynner, so they would have already had to have ridden over the bridge - the bridge that spans the Riverway.

A few seconds on the Riverway in the daytime is scary enough. This person, given their location, had definitely been on a fair amount of distance on the Riverway by this point. I have absolutely zero sympathy for this. Even in the daytime, let alone at night. Yes, I have found myself erroneously on scary roads before, and it is a judgment call. However, since I have a brain and value my own life, if it's too scary - and the Riverway is the worst case scenario - I have no problem backtracking and finding a safer course. So even if this person was unfamiliar with the local routes, which again, is very unlikely, they still should not be riding on the road here and had been on this very scary road for long enough to know better.

And lastly, the reason this came to attention is that suddenly, multiple cars all slammed on their brakes in front of me, and there was very early a multiple car accident ahead. So no, it's not so simple as just blasély passing, and if it were that easy, the road wouldnt be dangerous in the first place.

 

[Matthew]

If he went over the bridge then I'm leaning more towards the 'lost' theory.

Why? Because think about it: if I didn't know that the 'proper' way to cross Rt 9 was to navigate around to a little 3-foot gap in the concrete median, where I dart across 6 lanes of traffic, just in order to connect between two pieces of the 'Emerald Necklace', then I would probably be lost too. The only reason I know about the gap in the median is because other people showed it to me.

If you're coming along the necklace and you reach the Riverway, it might seem that the proper way to go across is to use the fancy stone bridge. Surely no city planner / street designer / landscape architect would be so insane as to require pedestrians and bicyclists to dart across 6 lanes of traffic and a concrete median? Right?

 

[FK4]

well, at any rate, im seeing an increasing amount of people biking on the riverway each year, and there should be should be signs, regardless of this person's motive. and again, if that biker had been me, i wouldve walked my bike on the side of the road if i had to.. it's not worth the risk.

 

[JeffDowntown]

If he went over the bridge then I'm leaning more towards the 'lost' theory.

Why? Because think about it: if I didn't know that the 'proper' way to cross Rt 9 was to navigate around to a little 3-foot gap in the concrete median, where I dart across 6 lanes of traffic, just in order to connect between two pieces of the 'Emerald Necklace', then I would probably be lost too. The only reason I know about the gap in the median is because other people showed it to me.

If you're coming along the necklace and you reach the Riverway, it might seem that the proper way to go across is to use the fancy stone bridge. Surely no city planner / street designer / landscape architect would be so insane as to require pedestrians and bicyclists to dart across 6 lanes of traffic and a concrete median? Right?

I have to agree that the "right" way to cross Rt 9 on the Riverway bike path is certainly not obvious (nor safe for that matter).

 

[FK4]

to belabor the point again, that has nothing to do with the general increase in riverway bikers.

i hate the rt 9 crossing. the entire road should be narrowed and there should be a crosswalk. alternatively, a sweet bridge just for bikes, but that would be next to impossible given the layout there.

eventually, brookline will do it since it's been planned for years and years.

 

[chmeeee]

to belabor the point again, that has nothing to do with the general increase in riverway bikers.

i hate the rt 9 crossing. the entire road should be narrowed and there should be a crosswalk. alternatively, a sweet bridge just for bikes, but that would be next to impossible given the layout there.

eventually, brookline will do it since it's been planned for years and years.

New crossing, signal, and improved roadway geometry going in this season.

http://www.massbids.net/bid-opportu...shington-StEmerald-Necklace-Improvements.html