Biking in Boston

[Koopzilla24]

I nevertheless wonder how the city decides what areas to target for such treatments?

It seems to me like the city decides to first add bikes lanes to the easiest, least-opposed streets. Whatever they have to fight the least, spend the least, and get the most PR from.
There are a handful of short side streets that have dedicated and painted bike lanes.
Like the Pearl St. bike lanes @ Brookline Village:

It’s just a short street to provide access to a parking garage and the Green Line station that returns right back to the same main road. As a result there is little vehicle traffic and cars that do come down here travel slowly because they’re going the hundred or so feet between the garage and intersection. It’s great that these are here and I use them almost daily to skip the Rt 9 intersection coming from Washington St, but I hardly see anyone else here during rush hour.
The reason they’re here though is because the whole area was redeveloped and they didn’t have to fight against “lost parking” or opposition to lane reductions. That and it adds to the city’s “protected bike lane totals.”

That’s my theory anyway.

 

[bigeman312]

Pictures from today.

Looking north towards Barbara and Perkins St:

Looking north from the Perkins St bus stop .

Those are the two sections that are complete. Most still look like this:

 

[LexSEDotVille]

Lines painted on GLX Community Path @ E Somerville:

 

[#bancars]

Boston is planning to add protected bike lanes on Tremont and Charles St. South north of the Pike: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/connect-downtown#charles-south--tremont

View attachment 36772

The City is hosting a walk tomorrow morning to discuss changes to the street:

Connect Downtown

Project Vision Walking will be pleasant and easy. Safe, separated bikeways will serve and connect residents, employers, and local businesses. Families will explore Boston's neighborhoods and iconic parks together, from the Esplanade to the Boston Common to the Southwest Corridor. Through this...

www.boston.gov

 

[bigeman312]

Overheard between two people who have certainly never heard of this board: “someone’s gonna get killed! You get outta your car and there's like six inches and ‘boom!’”

How would you respond to that person if it was your mom or your brother?

 

[Blackbird]

How would you respond to that person if it was your mom or your brother?

“Shoe’s on the other foot!”

Or - “at least you only need to be worried in one direction”. Getting doored by parked cars is about as dangerous for bikers in traditional bike lanes as being hit by traffic on the left. Maybe worse?

 

[bigeman312]

“Shoe’s on the other foot!”

Or - “at least you only need to be worried in one direction”. Getting doored by parked cars is about as dangerous for bikers in traditional bike lanes as being hit by traffic on the left. Maybe worse?

I’d strive to say something like, “Yes! It’s horrible how dangerous it is to exist in this space outside of an automobile. We all deserve to feel safe existing in this space. That’s why traffic calming measures are so important.”

What do you think? How would that be received?

 

[HenryAlan]

I think I'd explain the safe way to exit the vehicle (looking in the blind spot, exit facing the oncoming traffic, and walking around the back of the car, rather than the front). And yeah, that segues in to a conversation about car speeds and traffic calming. I'd definitely also mention that it's a brief period requiring hyper vigilance, compared to the bike rider in a door zone bike lane needing to continuously be hyper vigilant.

 

[hipster_garbage]

Just found the updated plans for the Winthrop Street resurfacing/restriping in Medford mentioned upthread - changes were made after the latest meeting. Looks like a bunch of parking got added back in and what were at least buffered bike lanes with flex posts are being turned into your standard bicycle gutter. Can't wait for people to park in the bike lane on Winthrop St between the rotary and Mystic Valley since people currently park there and will probably just ignore the new markings. Seems like any place they install bike lanes in Medford the enforcement is awful. Gonna be just like the bike lane on the Fellsway at the intersection with Salem St where people park and leave their garbage barrels.

 

[Delvin4519]

Just found the updated plans for the Winthrop Street resurfacing/restriping in Medford mentioned upthread - changes were made after the latest meeting. Looks like a bunch of parking got added back in and what were at least buffered bike lanes with flex posts are being turned into your standard bicycle gutter. Can't wait for people to park in the bike lane on Winthrop St between the rotary and Mystic Valley since people currently park there and will probably just ignore the new markings. Seems like any place they install bike lanes in Medford the enforcement is awful. Gonna be just like the bike lane on the Fellsway at the intersection with Salem St where people park and leave their garbage barrels.

It blows my mind that this bicycle garbage nonsense is still okay to build, despite the fact that the Netherlands can figure out how to build a bike lane, a crosswork, and how to run a public transport system. Then later on many cyclists and pedestrians lose their lives in fatal crashes from car drivers, and the number continues to climb rapidly. Is there any surprise that the United States has a extremely high rate of traffic deaths compared to even Canada, when American civil engineers sign off and allow these brand new bike "lanes" to begin construction. "We can't slow down cars below 35 MPH on this bike lane street since it will decrease Level of Service to grade F".

There is a clear practice on how to build a brand new bike lane the right way, yet this new "bike lane" plan in Medford gets signed off to be built.

 

[DAVE]

Really excited to see they're adding the protected bike lanes to Mass Ave finally:

 

[cburns]

It's felt like forever....

Noticed that signals between Dorchester Brewery, north to Melnea Cass have already been installed (not operational/ getting the trash bag treatment).

Hopefully this is opened soon.

 

[Delvin4519]

Update on bike lane construction in the South End:

Eyes On the Street: Some Curb Appeal In Dorchester and the South End - Streetsblog Massachusetts

A protected bike lane project that allegedly started construction a year ago is finally showing some visible signs of progress. Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue Better Bike Project will create a two-way protected bikeway along the western curb of Massachusetts Avenue from Melnea Cass Boulevard in...

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[Smuttynose]

Am I the only one who finds the general density of BlueBikes stations (and number of bikes at the stations) lacking a bit? I would argue that neighborhoods like the Seaport could easily support double the number of existing stations and bikes --

 

[cden4]

"We have designed a beautiful network of safe protected bike lanes. Now we are going to have a bunch of community meetings where a bunch of old cranky car drivers complain and then we will make the design worse in order to try to please them (which it will not.)"

 

[HelloBostonHi]

Am I the only one who finds the general density of BlueBikes stations (and number of bikes at the stations) lacking a bit? I would argue that neighborhoods like the Seaport could easily support double the number of existing stations and bikes --

View attachment 38046

The seaport could benefit from more but I will point out that Google is only showing you 5 stations at that zoom level when there's actually several more that close together your need to zoom in to see. Bluebikes app is the way to go (or use the bike navigation feature on GMaps which will route you to the nearest station with bikes)

 

[HenryAlan]

"We have designed a beautiful network of safe protected bike lanes. Now we are going to have a bunch of community meetings where a bunch of old cranky car drivers complain and then we will make the design worse in order to try to please them (which it will not.)"

Which is why we get this, as a result.

The fact that several good projects approach the same 10 block area but none of them connect to each other is a complete travesty.

 

[#bancars]

"We have designed a beautiful network of safe protected bike lanes. Now we are going to have a bunch of community meetings where a bunch of old cranky car drivers complain and then we will make the design worse in order to try to please them (which it will not.)"

This is why Cambridge's Cycling Safety Ordinance is so impactful--the assumption is always that the end product will have solid protected bike lanes, and there's very little opponents can do to kill them.

 

[#bancars]

Am I the only one who finds the general density of BlueBikes stations (and number of bikes at the stations) lacking a bit? I would argue that neighborhoods like the Seaport could easily support double the number of existing stations and bikes --

View attachment 38046

I agree, and in the few areas where stations are plentiful, it's really noticeable how much more convenient BlueBikes can be. Two areas in particular include Kendall Square and Copley Square--both have a ton of BlueBike stations and bike capacity and it makes biking to/from those destinations by BlueBike super convenient.

 

[HenryAlan]

Not entirely bike related, but looks like the Centre Street road diet is back, which includes bike infrastructure as part of the overall plan. This will be a huge win for safe, personal mobility.

City revives plan for major traffic changes along Centre Street in West Roxbury; some residents already gearing up for another fight

Mayor Wu and her transportation chief today announced new measures to make Boston streets safer - including a revival of plans to turn Centre Street between the Holy Name Rotary and Spring Street in West Roxbury into a three-lane road with dedicated turn lanes, pedestrian islands and signal...

www.universalhub.com

And here's the city's own statement about this: https://www.boston.gov/centre-street-design-project