Biking in Boston
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Any update on a reconfiguration of bike lanes over the Mass Ave Bridge/Harvard Bridge? Much of the street in cambridge is already protected with flexposts & parked cars, but people often bike on the sidewalk over the bridge since the bike lane is narrow and exposed.
HenryAlan
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Agreed, very good news. It is too bad that Meng Jin had to die before the state finally decided to move on safety features planned long ago.
Ummmm, this is definitely not good news if it forces the backup beyond the Memorial Drive turnoff. Then it will be non-stop gridlock on that road. This is a major thoroughfare that commuters use to get the hell out of the city! (via 93 or Storrow)
What I will say is that it enrages me that the lines separating the lanes are practically invisible for about 200 yards next to the museum. It's incredibly unsafe to have 3 lanes of traffic without lines (it has the same issue further back by the underpass at Cambridge Street). However, the solution is to REPAINT THE DAMN LINES not remove an entire lane!
Frankly, there seems to be a good deal of wasted space by the Science Museum where they should be able to have the bike lane kind of going along with the MoS driveway and not have to steal a lane of traffic from the O'Brien HIGHWAY. I almost never even see bikes on this section of road so we are catering to very few people at the expense of allowing more cars to get OUT of the city faster. What's next, a bike lane on 93?
What I will say is that it enrages me that the lines separating the lanes are practically invisible for about 200 yards next to the museum. It's incredibly unsafe to have 3 lanes of traffic without lines (it has the same issue further back by the underpass at Cambridge Street). However, the solution is to REPAINT THE DAMN LINES not remove an entire lane!
Frankly, there seems to be a good deal of wasted space by the Science Museum where they should be able to have the bike lane kind of going along with the MoS driveway and not have to steal a lane of traffic from the O'Brien HIGHWAY. I almost never even see bikes on this section of road so we are catering to very few people at the expense of allowing more cars to get OUT of the city faster. What's next, a bike lane on 93?
FINALLY. One of the worst, most dangerous connections between multiple, heavily traveled bike routes.
It's already gridlock here; if the state really cares about that, they can always build a catwalk out over the water at a later date... but this is serious needed. It's incredibly scary to bike here right now (I use the sidewalk every time).
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I'm not aware of any memorial drive turn off, but if you mean Edwin Land Boulevard that is something that they are specifically dedicating a lane to.
When you say "getting out of the city" do you mean leaving Cambridge for Boston or leaving Boston for Cambridge?
I think we will soon see that the bike Lanes carry substantially more people per hour than the corresponding car Lanes did.
In his defense I assume he meant McGrath -> Fellways E & W and beyond. I also doubt we're going to see that number (more bike-persons than car-persons per hour) realized. But, that doesn't mean this project shouldn't have been done eons ago.
millerm277
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I'd like to see exact drawings of the implementation, but as currently described, I've looked it over a few times, and I don't see how this isn't going to cripple a bunch of congested intersections and kill throughput in an already problematic area, especially with the additional signal phases further limiting flow.
My primary points of concern are:
- Leverett Circle inbound.
- Land Blvd both directions, but especially outbound. It currently has 2 left turn lanes which both develop very lengthy backups, not one.
My primary points of concern are:
- Leverett Circle inbound.
- Land Blvd both directions, but especially outbound. It currently has 2 left turn lanes which both develop very lengthy backups, not one.
I always assumed it's Memorial Drive but it looks like it's technically Edwin Land. Also McGrath turns into O'Brien but I guess at this point it turns into Charles River Dam Road. I guess because I am always going straight from one to the next I never realized the names changed.
I don't mean Cambridge to Boston or vice versa. I mean GETTING THE HECK OUT OF THE CITY as in Route 93. In fact, in this area 3 lanes feed into 4 major outputs, those being: Storrow Drive West, North Station neighborhood, 93S/Airport, and 93N/1N. The traffic flow is immense because it's one of the key points to get on the highways out of town.
Already, there are many times where the full 3 lanes of traffic backs up all the way to the Edwin Land turn. So, if the demand is there for 3, then 2 will likely create punishing gridlock and back up more lights in the process. It's going to be a true nightmare.
Also, the bike lanes carrying substantially more people on this particular road is one of the craziest things I have ever heard. This is a truly critical junction for cars in Cambridge/Boston. Something needs to be done regarding bike safety, but cutting a lane is unbelievably short-sighted.
North Shore
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oh no drivers waiting in their enclosed air conditioned vehicles with plush seats and sound systems may be delayed slightly to ensure other people dont die
It's that condescending attitude that only contributes to the animosity between bicyclists and motorists.
Multimodal upgrades are here to stay. It's a process, though. Made way more difficult by physical constraints in built up urban locations. Part of that process is analyzing the potential effects on existing traffic patterns. It's a legitimate concern.
Bike lanes are vastly more efficient at transporting people in cities than vehicle lanes, so person-throughput (not car-throughput) will be increased by adding bike lanes.
HenryAlan
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oh no drivers waiting in their enclosed air conditioned vehicles with plush seats and sound systems may be delayed slightly to ensure other people dont die
Bingo. The existence of back-ups despite the multiple destination points leading out of that route in either direction means the issue isn't car storage on the dam, but timing of access at the end destinations. More or fewer lanes won't fix the problem of feeding in to a congested highway on the other side. Safety must always be the greater concern.
If safety was always the greater concern, nobody would ride a bike in Boston.
It's not a neighborhood. It's a connecting street used to funnel cars out of the city. There's a museum on one side and a body of water on the other. It's not a neighborhood and it will never be a neighborhood.
Except this street is not about transporting people in the city. It's about getting people the heck out of the city!
I have a hard time taking the congestion tolling screamers seriously when, on the other hand, they are actively working to cripple the most critical junctions for clearing out the existing congestion.
That's really not true in this case; this is not a situation where we're talking about local, intercity transportation; to suggest that traffic on the 1/4-mile-long Charles River Dam Road, which is used mainly to connect to major arteries in and out of the city, is going to get better by adding a bike lane is not rational. I am 100% behind the change here, but as with so many things these days, there's a lot of bad evidence and irrelevant data that gets thrown around. This is really important to pay attention to, because it drives away a lot of would-be converts, because it only makes them more cynical toward what they read. For example, the cited article states,
This may be factually true, but it completely ignores the fact that London, like Boston, is a massive, interconnected metropolitan area; simply documenting how many bikes are moving along a very circumscribed length of space in no way takes into account larger scale transportation patterns or efficiency of movement on a broader scale. This article is a stub without any analysis at all. If we are to win people to the cause, we need to do it wisely, and thoroughly.
There are many reasons to support bike infrastructure. We have a crisis of social isolation and sedentary behavior in this country, leading to unprecedented levels of metabolic disease and mental health conditions. That should be reason enough. If it's not, then understand that this area is, whether you like it or not, used by bikes, and it's incredibly unsafe; it is necessary to do something, now, to protect them. You don't have to buy into the bike revolution culture to accept this fact.
The tones on this debate could, as usual, be moderated a bit. It doesn't have to be a war. And, if the city/people really care enough to sink the money in, they could build a cycle boardwalk over the water to connect Nashua Street Park to points north in the future.
Putting a bike lane on the MOS driveway was evaluated, and discarded:
(1) The grades are too steep to meet engineering standards
(2) The MOS doesn't want it there
(3) It doesn't go the full length of Charles River Dam Road
Charles River Dam road is a major connection for EVERYONE. Yes, in itself, it is not a neighborhood, although North Point isn't that far away. It is however one of the few places to cross the river between Boston and Cambridge. I used to cross it daily on my bike when I commuted from Somerville to Boston. River crossings and bridges in general MUST safely accommodate all modes of transportation.
You joke about a bike lane on I-93, but if there were not other bridges near by, that is something to consider. For example, the Whittier Bridge that's part of I-95 that was just reconstructed has a multi-use path as part of it so that pedestrians and bicyclists can get across the Merrimack River at that location.
(1) The grades are too steep to meet engineering standards
(2) The MOS doesn't want it there
(3) It doesn't go the full length of Charles River Dam Road
Charles River Dam road is a major connection for EVERYONE. Yes, in itself, it is not a neighborhood, although North Point isn't that far away. It is however one of the few places to cross the river between Boston and Cambridge. I used to cross it daily on my bike when I commuted from Somerville to Boston. River crossings and bridges in general MUST safely accommodate all modes of transportation.
You joke about a bike lane on I-93, but if there were not other bridges near by, that is something to consider. For example, the Whittier Bridge that's part of I-95 that was just reconstructed has a multi-use path as part of it so that pedestrians and bicyclists can get across the Merrimack River at that location.