Biking in Boston

It's obvious that Walsh has been giving lip service to Vision Zero, Complete Streets, etc, all along. When it comes to taking away any space from cars, even in order to save lives, we know what his position will be. Boston is falling very far behind in terms of safe, livable streets. Pretty much every large US city is passing us by. It's pathetic.
 
That idiotic Globe editorial posted in the Kendall thread is such typical Boston hogwash. This city is so provincial it's a joke.
 
Lots of meetings and a little infrastructure going in this week. So far:

Monday: Meetings on two short separated bike lanes (Brattle Street leaving Harvard and Mass Ave approaching Harvard) in Cambridge
Tuesday: Meeting on the South Bay Trail, and on the Dorchester Greenway.
Wednesday: Boston is meeting on the Sullivan Square/Rutherford avenue project, and Cambridge is meeting on the Cambridge Street separated bike lane demonstration project.
Thursday: Boston is striping parking-protected bike lanes on Westland Street, and Somerville is having a meeting on building cycle tracks from Union Square to McGrath.
 
datadyne007 said:
Walsh just blamed cyclists & pedestrians for getting hit on Boston Public Radio. Also said we can't have cycle tracks in some places because we can't remove a lane when there is only 3 lanes one way (Boylston and Comm Ave. as examples). Then called for an "educational program." He was also proud that 2 of the 47 places the City has identified for VisionZero related changes are funded. He also has no idea whatsoever of what GoBoston2030 is/is aiming to do.

This was a DISASTROUS interview.
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All he had to do was say that the city was working on street safety and that they may rethink their level of funding. Totally non-commital and non-confrontational without admitting he doesn't know anything. Instead he's actively bullying safe street advocates - many of whom are connected to the local development and building industry, MassDOT, several state senators and reps, and his senior staff. Sure - he'll get the usual ignorant bike-haters defending his comments, but he needs to tread carefully with this stuff because he's pissing off people who are very capable of bringing him down. His own chief of staff was on twitter defending the chief of streets a few days ago.

Not to mention he's also managed to piss off the teachers union and the police union. In an election year.
 
Also tonight (Thursday), the Rutherford Ave/Sullivan Square public meeting, where the City is almost certain to announce that despite years of community process and a decision to build a surface street, that have decided to add underpasses back into the design. It will be interesting to see how this meeting goes. People were already pissed and now after the Mayor's recent comments they should be even more riled up.
 
rinserepeat said:
All he had to do was say that the city was working on street safety and that they may rethink their level of funding. Totally non-commital and non-confrontational without admitting he doesn't know anything. Instead he's actively bullying safe street advocates - many of whom are connected to the local development and building industry, MassDOT, several state senators and reps, and his senior staff. Sure - he'll get the usual ignorant bike-haters defending his comments, but he needs to tread carefully with this stuff because he's pissing off people who are very capable of bringing him down. His own chief of staff was on twitter defending the chief of streets a few days ago.

Not to mention he's also managed to piss off the teachers union and the police union. In an election year.
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Exactly and he could have even mentioned that it's a shared responsibility between drivers, cyclists & pedestrians. We all know and accept that. Instead he went with the route that drivers take priority:
1.) In their mistakes - cyclists have to be ready to REACT & victim blaming
2.) In the physical space on the roads dedicated to them
 
Scipio said:
Lots of meetings and a little infrastructure going in this week. So far:

Monday: Meetings on two short separated bike lanes (Brattle Street leaving Harvard and Mass Ave approaching Harvard) in Cambridge
Tuesday: Meeting on the South Bay Trail, and on the Dorchester Greenway.
Wednesday: Boston is meeting on the Sullivan Square/Rutherford avenue project, and Cambridge is meeting on the Cambridge Street separated bike lane demonstration project.
Thursday: Boston is striping parking-protected bike lanes on Westland Street, and Somerville is having a meeting on building cycle tracks from Union Square to McGrath.
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Also, Stuart St got its bike lanes last night (from Clarendon St to Arlington St)
 
sm89 said:
That's not true. I can't think of any location in Boston where a crosswalk conflicts with a right turn arrow. If you know of a location, please let me know. I bet the City would fix it ASAP if they knew too.
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I just remembered this!

https://goo.gl/maps/jVbgqmzKcFt

Right turn green arrow.

"turning vehicles yield to bikes" who have a green straight arrow.

Fail.

Also, did the project contractor get paid to install as many godamned poles as they could?

They really couldnt consolidate this shit?

https://goo.gl/maps/pEnsajyba2R2

https://goo.gl/maps/xGKSJsimGyK2

This intersection went from 4 to 12 poles

https://goo.gl/maps/zs5G5se8F5k
 
Oh wow. I never noticed that one. That's a DCR intersection. I guess it would be too much for them to follow MUTCD standards :p
 
jass said:
This intersection went from 4 to 12 poles

https://goo.gl/maps/zs5G5se8F5k
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One sure-win suggestion: Consolidate the "No Turn on Red" sign onto the relevant signal pole or arm.

I've long thought that the "No Turn on Red" sign should go on the traffic light's pole, because only 1 car (the car in front, stopped at a red) really needs to see it.

Conversely, putting "No Turn on Red" on a sign pole before or at the stop line almost guarantees that that it will never be seen by exactly the driver who needs to know it applies.
 
Arlington said:
One sure-win suggestion: Consolidate the "No Turn on Red" sign onto the relevant signal pole or arm.

I've long thought that the "No Turn on Red" sign should go on the traffic light's pole, because only 1 car (the car in front, stopped at a red) really needs to see it.

Conversely, putting "No Turn on Red" on a sign pole before or at the stop line almost guarantees that that it will never be seen by exactly the driver who needs to know it applies.
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I ddidnt even count those! I was just counting the lights and signal poles
 
Boston has been working on a new parking-protected bike lane on Westland Street:
DApX3_QW0AAKk-X.jpg


It isn't finished yet, they tweeted that they are going to finish work once the rain and the long weekend are over.
 
Biked the neponset extension today - very, very nice.
 
If you really think about what you're seeing in this video-gone-viral is that it illustrates the importance of not going underneath big trucks, and therefore the importance of side guards on trucks...and that pedestrians and cyclists need them on all trucks on the road.

Almost no matter how hard you're hit by a vehicle this video illustrates that it is better to be bounced/thrown than to be drawn under the full weight of the bus.

This bus is low-to-the-ground in front and all along its sides, and so no matter who or what it hits, they are much more likely to be bounced away (at great force) rather than fatally squashed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgmtpc34sDE
 
Stuart Street in lower Back Bay got bicycle lane striping recently. The new configuration includes a bike box at the complex intersection with Arlington Street and Columbus Avenue. Sorry, no pics.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Stuart Street in lower Back Bay got bicycle lane striping recently. The new configuration includes a bike box at the complex intersection with Arlington Street and Columbus Avenue. Sorry, no pics.
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Finally!

Now, they need to shrink the pavement area of that horrible intersection.
 
Is the Connect Historic Boston trail on Causeway St complete?
 
Sorta? The hub on causeway construction makes one side of the street basically useless for all non motorized users
 
Answer: not done on Causeway or the southern arc of Commercial St in the North End

Still a fabulous aimless bike ride from Northpoint over Miller's River to City Square to Spaulding Rehab to Old Wash St bridge (sidewalk) to Haymarket to Aquarium around North End to North Station and Lechmere. A fabulous way to be a tourist on a glorious day.
 
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