Biking in Boston

Re: Longfellow Bridge update

[*grabs popcorn*]

Well, this thread should be tons of fun for a couple days.
 
Re: Longfellow Bridge update

F-Line to Dudley said:
[*grabs popcorn*]

Well, this thread should be tons of fun for a couple days.
Click to expand...

POPCORNforeveryone.jpg
 
Re: Longfellow Bridge update

JumboBuc is absolutely right about who pays for what. People who only bike or only walk do pay their fair share (more so actually), but this whole discussion is irrelevant to my point.

People complain all the time that bicyclists don't pay excise and gas taxes. OK fine, I say. The excise tax for my car is $30 a year. So what would it be for my bike? $5? $2? I'd gladly pay that to get these people to shut the heck up. Also, bikes don't use gas, so I'm not sure why I should be paying a gas tax. (Electric car owners don't pay gas tax either.)

Anyways, we don't design our roads based on who pays the most. We design them based on safety and access. But even that is irrelevant to my point here.

In the case of accommodating bikes on the Longfellow Bridge, my main complaint it that MassDOT promised one thing but is doing another. They said they would maintain two-way bike access throughout construction. And now they are not. That's the point. They're doing everything else for drivers and for pedestrians that they promised, but they somehow think walking your bike is a reasonable thing. (Note that they could provide a bike lane on the sidewalk as they are doing today. But they're unnecessarily worried about bike/ped conflict. Why, I don't know. Bikes and peds tend to get along pretty well overall.)
 
When I walk my bike I take up most of the sidewalk; when I ride I use a narrower cross-section than your typical walking person.

I think there's some concern about people riding at speed among pedestrians and that is reasonable. But a bunch of people walking bikes is going to be way more obnoxious.

Here in Cambridge, people walk and ride in extremely close proximity in very narrow places. It's not ideal... but they're used to it. The path I use to get to work is about 6 feet wide and shared by bike riders in both directions and people walking. They wouldn't build that today (I hope) but it's old. I'm probably going to marvel at the 'wide' Charles River paths when I get back...
 
Re: Longfellow Bridge update

cden4 said:
Anyways, we don't design our roads based on who pays the most. We design them based on safety and access. ...my main complaint it that MassDOT promised one thing but is doing another. They said they would maintain two-way bike access throughout construction.
Click to expand...

I worry that MassDOT is still car-centric because swing voters are car-centric and likely also due to the mass delusion that roads are paid for by cars.

This is the kind of thing that Stephanie Pollack should be responsive to when it is pointed out to her, though. I don't care who's governor next, but I want her re-elected ;-)

The "who pays" is also a hopeless muddle. My household drives 20k miles a year but near-none of them at rush hour. We pay a lot in gas tax (and property and sales and income...), but because I bike to work 80% of the time and our gas-miles are mostly Mrs. Arlington running kids to activities (at non-rush times), we are fully paying for "congestion relief" (road building), even though we cause virtually zero congestion (but do pound on potholes just like all other drivers). And then we bought an electric car as the primary kid-hauler (minivan will be backup), so now we drive and will be paying much less in gas tax.

So I like Cden4's formulation that roads be designed for safety and access (safe mobility) as the primary consideration. That means Complete Streets that integrate bikes.
 
The East Boston Greenway is going to be complete any day now:

http://www.eastietimes.com/2015/10/22/greenway-extension-nears-completion/

This is going to be a great route once it's open. Assuming the Silver Line fleet has bike racks on the front, a hop from Airport Station to Silver Line Way will be the easiest cycling route from Eastie, Chelsea, and Winthrop to Boston.

One caveat: although a lot of area paths are technically "closed" at night, the East Boston Greenway is the only one I've been on that's actually gated and locked at night, at least by the library. This pushes bikes and peds onto the roads when they're most at-risk.
 
Scipio said:
The East Boston Greenway is going to be complete any day now:
http://www.eastietimes.com/2015/10/22/greenway-extension-nears-completion/
Click to expand...

The article says that this is the eastern-most section from the 2011 concept depicted below, being the round-dotted "Idea A" alongside the MBTA, and being built from Short Street (the tiny segment that spans the gap as Idea A and Idea B diverge at their western edge) eastward to Constitution Beach. The eastern edge of Massport's section ended at Short Street (a logical connection/stopping point). Can anyone say what the final terminus/connection at Constitution Beach will look like?

GREENWAY%20CONCEPTS%20PLAN_4-7-2011.jpg
 
Scipio said:
This is going to be a great route once it's open. Assuming the Silver Line fleet has bike racks on the front, a hop from Airport Station to Silver Line Way will be the easiest cycling route from Eastie, Chelsea, and Winthrop to Boston.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the MBTA does not offer bicycle racks on trolleybuses (including the dual-modes used on the Silver Line). I'm sure why that is - it may have to deal with the trolleybus routes being high-frequency and thus sensitive to delays from using bike racks, or for safety reasons due to the potential for shocks.
 
Ah, well that sucks. I did a google image search for the T's silver line buses, but I guess the ones with bike racks are diesel buses used for the SL4 and 5.

In that case semi-secure bike parking like at Wonderland, Back Bay, and Alewife would be a good investment at Airport station to make a "cycling" Greenway -> Seaport connection more viable.
 
Maverick does have some variety of bike cage, but it's not the more secure Pedal and Park branded type.

640px-Maverick_station_secondary_entrance_and_vent%2C_August_2015.JPG


Early on, the Silver Line used a variety of buses including standard 40-foot and 60-foot buses from elsewhere on the system, with custom wraps. At times those intermixed with the custom buses; that's what you're seeing in those pictures.

If you're looking for well-categorized images of the MBTA, I tend to keep the relevant category on Wikimedia Commons (the image/media wiki that's part of Wikipedia) fairly organized. All images there (including about 1,300 I've taken) are released under public domain or Creative Commons licenses so they can be used (almost) anywhere.
 
I saw in the Northpoint thread photos that there's a new strip of bike line behind the new Zinc building. Does that connect to anything yet or is it an island, entire of itself, neither piece of the continent nor part of the main?
 
I think that's the planned landing spot for the GLX Community Path Extension, and quite to close to where that path is supposed to intersect with the Grand Junction Path. Not sure what it will connect to on the east side since there are quite a few half-built protected bike lanes in that neighborhood.
 
It connects to the bike lanes on North Point Blvd. Also, as more development happens, that street (North Street) will continue further.
 
Will turnover on the Boston City Council change the balance on bike issues?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top