Biking in Boston

New Flex post protected lanes have popped up in Harvard Square. Maybe next time we do the lightspeed bike lane implementation before the cyclist dies.
 
George_Apley said:
Hahahahahahaha
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Look, I'm not saying it's likely. It's not like I'm an optimist or anything.

All things considered, it's hard to figure out whether to feel good or bad when presented with hard evidence showing us that Cambridge can build bike infrastructure quickly when it wants.
 
Important gap filled here. Until the mythic pedestrian bridge between Assembly and Encore appears, this bridge is a key link between path networks like the Northern Strand path and the expanding Harborwalk paths. https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/102965

Somerville installing bike lanes on Wellington Bridge
The City of Somerville will install protected bike lanes on Route 28 across the Wellington Bridge thanks to a MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program grant award. This new statewide funding program supports public health by facilitating quick-build projects that provide new or repurposed space for socially-distanced walking, bicycling, dining, retail, and bus travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Wellington Bridge has long represented a gap in the regional network of walking and biking routes along the Mystic River. A narrow 4-foot sidewalk prevents social distancing for people walking, jogging, rolling, and biking across the bridge. Local and regional policy plans identify this crossing as a priority for upgrades to better connect the riverside parklands, employment centers, and transit hubs of Somerville, Medford, Everett, and Boston. Although the City of Somerville will perform the work, the project was planned in partnership with the City of Medford and with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Installation is expected to take place in late fall 2020.

The grant-funded project will reconfigure pavement markings on the bridge, reducing the width of the motor vehicle lanes and using the reclaimed space to establish a physically-separated bike lane in each direction that connects to existing pathways in Assembly Square, Station Landing, MacDonald Park, and Blessing of the Bay Park. The separated bike lanes will reduce crowding on the sidewalks, improving comfort and safety for people on foot or on wheels. Narrower lane widths for motor vehicles are intended to reduce speeding, improving safety for all road users.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Somerville has prepared and implemented strategies for safe and equitable mobility. A citywide Shared Streets network was established to better connect residents to essential services and destinations. A major outdoor dining initiative transformed streets into restaurant seating spaces to support the economic recovery. And to reduce crowding on MBTA buses, the city will build new on-street transit lanes, including a dedicated bus lane and protected bike lane along Washington Street in East Somerville.
 
kjdonovan said:
Important gap filled here. Until the mythic pedestrian bridge between Assembly and Encore appears, this bridge is a key link between path networks like the Northern Strand path and the expanding Harborwalk paths. https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/102965

Somerville installing bike lanes on Wellington Bridge
The City of Somerville will install protected bike lanes on Route 28 across the Wellington Bridge thanks to a MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program grant award. This new statewide funding program supports public health by facilitating quick-build projects that provide new or repurposed space for socially-distanced walking, bicycling, dining, retail, and bus travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Wellington Bridge has long represented a gap in the regional network of walking and biking routes along the Mystic River. A narrow 4-foot sidewalk prevents social distancing for people walking, jogging, rolling, and biking across the bridge. Local and regional policy plans identify this crossing as a priority for upgrades to better connect the riverside parklands, employment centers, and transit hubs of Somerville, Medford, Everett, and Boston. Although the City of Somerville will perform the work, the project was planned in partnership with the City of Medford and with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Installation is expected to take place in late fall 2020.

The grant-funded project will reconfigure pavement markings on the bridge, reducing the width of the motor vehicle lanes and using the reclaimed space to establish a physically-separated bike lane in each direction that connects to existing pathways in Assembly Square, Station Landing, MacDonald Park, and Blessing of the Bay Park. The separated bike lanes will reduce crowding on the sidewalks, improving comfort and safety for people on foot or on wheels. Narrower lane widths for motor vehicles are intended to reduce speeding, improving safety for all road users.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Somerville has prepared and implemented strategies for safe and equitable mobility. A citywide Shared Streets network was established to better connect residents to essential services and destinations. A major outdoor dining initiative transformed streets into restaurant seating spaces to support the economic recovery. And to reduce crowding on MBTA buses, the city will build new on-street transit lanes, including a dedicated bus lane and protected bike lane along Washington Street in East Somerville.
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God I hate hate hate that sidewalk so much. This is about 20 years overdue. 👏
 
Yes, this is fabulous. The sidewalk is so narrow that even friends have to walk single file and you rub shoulders if someone comes the other way (which is common since it is so hard to get onto the "with traffic" direction).

It is such an important link (I'm glad Medford is at least lending its name to the effort) between both sides of the river, which have great parks and paths and transit access, but the bridge, today, is super creepy unless you're the bravest of urban cyclists. (I've done the bridge on the sidewalk with my family...everyone had to walk their bikes, and done the road by myself (on a Saturday) which was one of the scarier crossings for me, even as a cyclist not scared of most city traffic.

The ideal would be to take about 2' from each general travel lane and move the jersey wall 6' inward. and create a 5' bike lane and add a foot to the pedestrian space. Think that's what will happen?

Also it is SO TRUE that the lanes on 28 are over-wide here, and given the timing of the lights on both ends of the bridge, the bridge itself is rarely full of traffic (so it is often full of a 3-lane drag race, with people trying to zoom across the bridge to beat the next light, and always a couple of bozos who are doing 45mph just to then sit at the light that was red anyway)
 
Really interesting to see this section of separated cycling facility starting to take shape in Somerville's Union Square on Washington Street as it meets Prospect Street.

PXL_20200917_221224018.jpg
 
George_Apley said:
They really followed through on significantly narrowing Somerville Ave through the square. Somerville is on the right track.
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I haven't taken snapshots of the other parts of the streets that are being reconstructed but it's nice to see a dramatic streetscape change in the middle of a square. Beats the crazy chariot race that used to be there. The other Washington/Somerville Ave intersection though ....
 
Sort of a tangent, but does anyone else absolutely hate the light timing on that traffic intersection. Somerville Ave is consistently timed way too long with long gaps of no cars.
Also made worse by the Botson area's obsession with each direction getting their own signal dedicated time segment instead of a flashing yellow turn with straight right-of-ways.

Really glad to see the streets get more narrow and bike infrastructure expand.
 
Bananarama said:
Sort of a tangent, but does anyone else absolutely hate the light timing on that traffic intersection. Somerville Ave is consistently timed way too long with long gaps of no cars.
Also made worse by the Botson area's obsession with each direction getting their own signal dedicated time segment instead of a flashing yellow turn with straight right-of-ways.

Really glad to see the streets get more narrow and bike infrastructure expand.
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I wouldn't bank on the light timing since the construction started a couple years ago as reflective of any of the traffic signal timing to be expected. I'm more worried about how many 4-legged intersections in Somerville are *still* exclusive all-walk phased. It significantly delays the bus and (legal) cycling. I hope that we don't get those all-walk exclusive phasing back ever again.
 
ra84970 said:
I wouldn't bank on the light timing since the construction started a couple years ago as reflective of any of the traffic signal timing to be expected. I'm more worried about how many 4-legged intersections in Somerville are *still* exclusive all-walk phased. It significantly delays the bus and (legal) cycling. I hope that we don't get those all-walk exclusive phasing back ever again.
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True. I think my last few memories of this area are actually before construction a couple years back, or at least before I noticed any of it.
I definitely blew this intersection on a bike a few times back then...
 
Walked by again yesterday and was able to snap a couple more shots of the main Somerville/Washington/Prospect intersection.

Great to see the protected intersection coming together!

PXL_20200919_170744779.jpgPXL_20200919_170754039.jpg
 
DCR, being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century about 20 years late.
 
These changes represent a significant improvement, but also significant is the announcement that these are intermediate. A complete planning process will happen with potentially even more changes.
 
Well they've been studying it since 2014 and they've already scrapped some very good plans. The fact that it took until 2020 to do ANYTHING is pretty sad.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but there are new dedicated bike lanes that I noticed on Cummins Highway between Mattapan Square and Harvard St (right before the cemetery). Plastic jersey barriors were used, although it all seems a bit haphazard (with the lanes seemingly closed off at points, and I have already seen cars just ignore and park at the exits/entrances). Also, like the painted bike lanes on Adams St, they seem to... basically go no where and just end/dump you out.
 
greenlinetobrooklyn said:
https://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/20...anes-on-arborway-as-early-as-this-fall/238110

Looks like the Arborway is going to finally get some real bike facilities. The painted lane between the circle and forest hills was a joke.
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Here's the detailed plan. Definitely too late, but I would say not too little. There's a lot of very good in this.

 
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