Biking in Boston

ant8904 said:
To be fair, it's been done since last fall if not earlier (memory escapes me). We been using it and ignoring the fence (as in someone open up a gap and we all just been going through them). As for why they only bother to call it until 2 years, 3 months after groundbreaking when it has been a finished state for a long time, I don't know. I would love for someone to explain that.
Click to expand...

It mostly has to do with ADA compliance. The path was not accessible from Lowell Street, and the city does not want to engage in a lawsuit with ADA Lawyers (who are plentiful and always get $$$). Therefore, they make sure to wait until the ramp is open and everything is ADA compliant before they publicly state that anyone is allowed to use the path. If they say the path is not open, they are not liable for any potential ADA non-conformity.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
Nice, smug hit-and-run with that one DZ...
Click to expand...

Thanks, just spurring some discussion. Since then another person rode on the highway, and sadly that surgeon died. Been a busy news week for this stuff.

Also, I was on Memorial Drive yesterday telling my friend how I sometimes see bicycles there. He was actually doubting anybody would do that, when LO AND BEHOLD we passed a guy riding in the 3 inches of breakdown lane. I pulled over down the road and got my camera out, ready for a shaming/confrontation, but he must have turned off before making it that far.

You'd all be amazed how much more tolerant I am of bicycles than I used to be. But a guy on Memorial Drive (don't even get me started about the HIGHWAY) deserves all the scorn and ridicule I can muster.

What's the policy with one way streets? I have seen (almost hit/been hit by) a bunch of bikes lately going the wrong way down these. Also watched a mother and father, with a BABY on board, ride bicycles right through a red light intersection by Post Office Square. (across 3 lanes of Congress St) They didn't even look, let alone stop. Also a guy rode by me the other night coming down the wrong way on a highway-type ramp. I have definitely noticed an uptick of unsafe, unhinged behavior.
 
DZH22 said:
What's the policy with one way streets? I have seen (almost hit/been hit by) a bunch of bikes lately going the wrong way down these.
Click to expand...
Wrong-way on 1-way is a puzzle.

The law is clear (it is illegal), the stats are clear (it is 3-times more dangerous), but its prevalence is taken by many that something's wrong with the system (and not just that folks of a certain age were taught to ride this way in Elementary school.

It has a derogatory nickname too: Salmoning (as in swimming upstream)

Personally, I'd like to see a lot more contra-flow bike lanes. They just make sense...bike are used for shorter/local trips. Circuitous one-way routings end up being a big tax, percentage-wise, on the length of a trip, in a way that they aren't in longer "commute" car trips. In the same spirit, there's a larger movement to making more city streets 2-way because it ends up promoting calmer & collaborative use of the streets, rather than the bobsled runs between lines of cars that we get now.

My own 1-way street in West Medford is paired with another street. This was done purely for the convenience of drivers who want easy parking: our kids all know they have to look both ways, because plenty of people are lost/inattentive. Exactly the people who'd not see a kid playing are the ones who probably missed the one-way sign to begin with. And our street is treated as a .2mi drag strip in the "right" direction.

When I see bikes Salmoning around the Cambridge Public Library (where the 1-ways are paired) I try to say cheerfully something like: "Trowbridge goes your way" (when on Ellery or Irving in as non-judgmental a tone as I can muster), but I'll admit that in the (relative) quiet of West Medford I ride the wrong way at the end of a trip to get to my house. (but I pull over as soon as I see anyone coming) (and would cheerfully concede that any critic has a great point).

Interestingly, Google Maps also suggests that I start most rides with a little wrong-way leg to get to nearby two-way/preferred route, even though going the *right way* on my street is more direct. What's up with that?
 
That's because roads are made one ways for vehicular reasons ONLY. Pedestrians aren't affected, but once again no is concerned about the impact on cyclists ("they can walk their bikes on the sidewalk"). As I've said in the past, we have two way roads without center lines, but it seems that whenever we want cyclists to go the "wrong way" it involves contra flow lanes, paint, maintenance, etc. Just put an "except bikes" sign under the Do Not Enter like every other country. There are no One Way signs posted at the entrance to streets, so cars shouldn't expect the street to be one way and shouldn't be surprised by opposing bikes.
 
I generally agree with (and behave like) Arlington describes above. But some one way roads are flat out dangerous for bikes to violate. My building abuts Walnut Street at the bottom of Prospect Hill in Union Square. For cars, it's a drag strip connecting Union with Highland Ave one way up the hill. It's a street with parking on both sides and sharrows aiming UP the hill. Bikers often bomb down the hill the wrong way (against legal auto and bicycle traffic) and either dangerously weave to avoid oncoming obstacles, or jump onto the sidewalk at speed, which is dangerous due to fairly dense pedestrian activity. It always pisses me off because there is an easy and legal downhill option one block north of Walnut on Highland...
 
The reason people ride on Memorial Drive is (a) the sidepaths are in atrocious, absolutely atrocious condition, (b) the DCR pumps all (literally ALL) of its money into ensuring that Memorial Drive is smoothly paved and (c) it's legal to ride there, in fact. So knock off your 'shaming', DZH. You're being a dick. We're not impressed.

Regarding the 'salmoning' I believe the problem is that people in other countries are taught to ride that way. Today in a casual conversation, I actually had a Chinese national (friend-of-a-friend) tell me that he was taught to ride that way. I may have reacted a bit too strongly in response... oh well.
 
Matthew said:
Regarding the 'salmoning' I believe the problem is that people in other countries are taught to ride that way. Today in a casual conversation, I actually had a Chinese national (friend-of-a-friend) tell me that he was taught to ride that way. I may have reacted a bit too strongly in response... oh well.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Though I have a feeling most of those "salmoning" aren't foreign-taught cyclists. They're American assholes.
 
Most of the salmoners that I see tend to appear like they're not from around here originally... but obviously appearance is not a reliable guide. They usually don't stop to talk about it, or even pay attention when I yell at them to stop doing it, so I can't be sure.

Also, I think there were some American 'schools' that taught salmoning too. I seem to recall hearing about that advice long, long ago, before I knew better. It's a bit confusing to some people because the FHWA advises you to walk on the side facing traffic for safety purposes. For example, that's why the Chinese guy claimed that it was 'safer' to bike on the wrong side. But walking is much different from biking.
 
Matthew said:
The reason people ride on Memorial Drive is (a) the sidepaths are in atrocious, absolutely atrocious condition, (b) the DCR pumps all (literally ALL) of its money into ensuring that Memorial Drive is smoothly paved and (c) it's legal to ride there, in fact. So knock off your 'shaming', DZH. You're being a dick. We're not impressed.
Click to expand...

If you're riding on Memorial Drive, you're being a PSYCHO and I am a bit impressed with your gonads, but it won't stop me from confronting you. I'll have my camera out too. Looking forward to meeting, Matthew.
 
In light of the recent attention to the danger (and resulting tragedy) of trucks (and busses) catching cyclists in a right hook, I thought it was intreresting to learn that Paris is now allowing cyclists to jump the red light at a large number of dangerous intersections.

One specific reason called out is allowing the cyclists to {legally} get out of dangerous situations with a truck or bus pulled up along side.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33773868
 
JeffDowntown said:
In light of the recent attention to the danger (and resulting tragedy) of trucks (and busses) catching cyclists in a right hook, I thought it was intreresting to learn that Paris is now allowing cyclists to jump the red light at a large number of dangerous intersections.

One specific reason called out is allowing the cyclists to {legally} get out of dangerous situations with a truck or bus pulled up along side.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33773868
Click to expand...

We're 3/4 of the way there in much of Cambridge. Pedestrians get a 4-second head-start on their white "walk" signal before the cars get their green. Without a change in the law, I suspect you could just put a bike box + a "Bikes Use Pedestrian Signal" sign (such as the new Mass Ave "Flagstaff Park" bypass has

The pedestrian head-start is a fabulous invention: it formalizes the reality that street crossing pedestrians have priority over left-and-right turn makers. With 3 seconds head start, they've often cleared the "conflict" part of their trip before the cars get the green

ANd the beauty of a "Bikes Use Pedestrian Signal" is that (like the Idaho Stop) it formalizes a safer practice than bikes waiting and mixing in-line with cars. Even better, it seems a Home Rule kinda option
 
Arlington said:
The pedestrian head-start is a fabulous invention: it formalizes the reality that street crossing pedestrians have priority over left-and-right turn makers. With 3 seconds head start, they've often cleared the "conflict" part of their trip before the cars get the green
Click to expand...

Does anyone know the cost of installing, programming, and maintaing bike-specific signal infra? Assuming it meets LoS codes (which it very well might not), it's not that hard to implement the same principle for bikes. Lights can preempt the general green by a few seconds to clear the first line of bikers, the cycle can in turn end earlier than the general green to allow for a protected right should the need be there.
 
CantabAmager said:
Does anyone know the cost of installing, programming, and maintaing bike-specific signal infra? Assuming it meets LoS codes (which it very well might not), it's not that hard to implement the same principle for bikes. Lights can preempt the general green by a few seconds to clear the first line of bikers, the cycle can in turn end earlier than the general green to allow for a protected right should the need be there.
Click to expand...

I'd rather see intersections redesigned in a way that makes sharing the road by automobiles feel natural. We don't want to add layer upon layer of control devices. Maybe there are some specific oversize intersections that could benefit, but I wouldn't want to see bike traffic lights everywhere.

We need the Idaho Stop made official policy as our primary upgrade to bicycle traffic control. The Idaho Stop is free to install and allows bikes to proceed before the light turns green for cars.

re: Salmoning

I have never biked in a place where salmoning was the official policy, but it makes me very nervous as a cyclist and a motorist. Many narrow streets do not have enough room for a bike and car to pass each other safely. It is relatively cheap and easy to paint a double yellow to create a contraflow bike lane on streets that are wide enough to accommodate it. Honestly though, on quiet residential streets a little salmoning is fine as long as the road isn't particularly narrow and the bike yields in any conflict.
 
CantabAmager said:
Does anyone know the cost of installing, programming, and maintaing bike-specific signal infra? Assuming it meets LoS codes (which it very well might not), it's not that hard to implement the same principle for bikes. Lights can preempt the general green by a few seconds to clear the first line of bikers, the cycle can in turn end earlier than the general green to allow for a protected right should the need be there.
Click to expand...

You are basically describing the bike priority signals used in much of Northern Europe (Denmark for example).

One annoying consequence for drivers (due to high bike traffic) is that there are often light cycles when NO cars get to turn right across the bike lane. The bikes get a signal head start and never get a red during the entire green light cycle for the cars. (I cannot ever see us doing that in the US.)
 
DZH22 said:
If you're riding on Memorial Drive, you're being a PSYCHO and I am a bit impressed with your gonads, but it won't stop me from confronting you. I'll have my camera out too. Looking forward to meeting, Matthew.
Click to expand...

Memorial Drive has unsignalized crosswalks! Stop driving on it like it's a highway. It's not. There are people walking across there!

Personally I avoid the whole damn place as much as humanly possible. So you won't find me there.

But you have quite clearly cemented your reputation as complete and total douchebag, DZH22.
 
Matthew said:
Memorial Drive has unsignalized crosswalks! Stop driving on it like it's a highway. It's not. There are people walking across there!
Click to expand...
Yes, and remind ourselves that Mem Drive (Speed Limit 35) was designed for Model Ts with an average speed of 25mph, size of a Honda Fit (but half the weight), and a top speed of 40. I keep saying this because you have to keep picturing "That '20s Car" (It Memorializes WWI, not II) when any of us (including DZH22) think about safely sharing these roads.

(it also underscores how freakishly large, by historical standards, an 8-passenger SUV (permitted) or Tractor Trailer (forbidden here) are)
 
The passengers themselves are also freakishly large by historical standards, FWIW
 
Matthew said:
But you have quite clearly cemented your reputation as complete and total douchebag, DZH22.
Click to expand...

I'm actually pretty nice in real life, but I'm happy to troll bikers and sometimes I just can't resist an internet argument. (or even, a real argument, if you catch me at the "right" time) But if you ever met me I'd probably say hello, shake your hand, crack a joke about our disagreements, buy you a drink, share my parking secrets... that kind of thing.

But yeah, I agree with you in that I can get pretty nasty. For sure. I'm overly opinionated, will aggressively defend my stances, and (analogy here) turn into an attack dog when I smell blood. Sorry. At least I offer pictures. ;)
 
DZH22 said:
I'm actually pretty nice in real life, but I'm happy to troll bikers and sometimes I just can't resist an internet argument. (or even, a real argument, if you catch me at the "right" time) But if you ever met me I'd probably say hello, shake your hand, crack a joke about our disagreements, buy you a drink, share my parking secrets... that kind of thing.

But yeah, I agree with you in that I can get pretty nasty. For sure. I'm overly opinionated, will aggressively defend my stances, and (analogy here) turn into an attack dog when I smell blood. Sorry. At least I offer pictures. ;)
Click to expand...

DZH22 2016
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top