Biking in Boston

[HenryAlan]

I have mixed feelings about this idea. On the one hand, I've always thought it was kind of weird that the tunnel roof just runs along fenced off and behind people's houses. But at the same time, it doesn't really offer much as a path. It's a very short distance, and doesn't really connect to anything of significance. If it made it all the way to Ashmont, I might be more enthusiastic about creating a path.

Not to say that it shouldn't be done, but it doesn't seem like it helps biking as much as some other options.

 

[sneijder]

I have mixed feelings about this idea. On the one hand, I've always thought it was kind of weird that the tunnel roof just runs along fenced off and behind people's houses. But at the same time, it doesn't really offer much as a path. It's a very short distance, and doesn't really connect to anything of significance. If it made it all the way to Ashmont, I might be more enthusiastic about creating a path.

Not to say that it shouldn't be done, but it doesn't seem like it helps biking as much as some other options.

It may be better off as a gravel/dirt path with some outdoor furniture, sitting areas, and fountains for the local community to bring their kids/dogs rather than a formal paved bike path. Kind of makes you wonder why the strip wasn't built this way in the first place and was just left to rot instead.

 

[FK4]

Does anyone have the history around why this roadway was built so wide in the first place?

All part of the city beautiful movement and parks & parkways stuff about 100 years ago. I bet they wanted to keep going north but the Bishopsgate/Grant neighborhood had already been built, so the parkway stopped. It's a shame, really, since low speed parkways would have been an efficient way to get circulation around the whole region.

 

[RandomWalk]

Progress on the Grand Junction path in Kendall.

 

[#bancars]

View attachment 47538
Progress on the Grand Junction path in Kendall.

It's a bummer only this short extension appears to be under construction, as it won't be particularly useful on its own. Can't wait for the path to eventually get to Cambridge Street--that'll be a game changer and make traveling between Kendall and East Cambridge or onto Union Square so much less stressful.

 

[RandomWalk]

The short segment is tied up with the park at Binney St. That park was a requirement for approval of the connector Google built on top of the garage between 355 Main and 90 Broadway.

 

[stick n move]

$32m project along Cummins Highway set to start in April​

“A long-awaited $32 million public works project aimed at improving safety and access along Cummins Highway will begin by mid-April, according to city officials who briefed members of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council on the plan on Monday evening.

Jeffrey Alexis, chief design engineer for the Public Works Department (PWD), said a contractor has been selected and work is slated to begin on April 16. The project, he said, would stretch out over two seasons, with a completion anticipated by late 2025.

“It will be the first significant improvement to the corridor since 1955, when they came in and removed the trolleys in the median,” said Alexis.

McCourt Construction will carry out the project along Cummins from Fairway Street to Wood Avenue. It will include full-depth reconstruction and repaving of the roadway, building wider sidewalks, replacing existing traffic signals with more modern equipment, introducing safer crosswalks, new street lighting, separated bike lanes, 115 new street trees, installing raised crosswalks at all side street entrances, and building a unique roundabout at the complicated Weybosset/Greenwood Street intersection.

Attendees on the virtual GMNC meeting were able to see final design renderings during the discussion.

A key component will be the removal of the median strip that currently bisects the road, with a new-and-improved road going down to one lane in each direction.

“This infrastructure was built as a highway for those passing through the neighborhood. … It was not built for the residents of Mattapan,” said Alexis. “We are rebuilding this street for generations to come – for the residents and the people that live on Cummins Highway. Mattapan has a lot of homeowners who have been here a long time and will be here in the future. This project is for you.”

https://www.dotnews.com/2024/32m-project-along-cummins-highway-set-start-april

 

[TheRatmeister]

$32m project along Cummins Highway set to start in April​

View attachment 47730
View attachment 47731

“A long-awaited $32 million public works project aimed at improving safety and access along Cummins Highway will begin by mid-April, according to city officials who briefed members of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council on the plan on Monday evening.

Jeffrey Alexis, chief design engineer for the Public Works Department (PWD), said a contractor has been selected and work is slated to begin on April 16. The project, he said, would stretch out over two seasons, with a completion anticipated by late 2025.

“It will be the first significant improvement to the corridor since 1955, when they came in and removed the trolleys in the median,” said Alexis.

McCourt Construction will carry out the project along Cummins from Fairway Street to Wood Avenue. It will include full-depth reconstruction and repaving of the roadway, building wider sidewalks, replacing existing traffic signals with more modern equipment, introducing safer crosswalks, new street lighting, separated bike lanes, 115 new street trees, installing raised crosswalks at all side street entrances, and building a unique roundabout at the complicated Weybosset/Greenwood Street intersection.

Attendees on the virtual GMNC meeting were able to see final design renderings during the discussion.

A key component will be the removal of the median strip that currently bisects the road, with a new-and-improved road going down to one lane in each direction.

“This infrastructure was built as a highway for those passing through the neighborhood. … It was not built for the residents of Mattapan,” said Alexis. “We are rebuilding this street for generations to come – for the residents and the people that live on Cummins Highway. Mattapan has a lot of homeowners who have been here a long time and will be here in the future. This project is for you.”

https://www.dotnews.com/2024/32m-project-along-cummins-highway-set-start-april

Not sure if it's just the stellar photoshop job or what but those bike lanes look quite narrow, I don't think you would be able to pass someone on those.

 

[FK4]

Not sure if it's just the stellar photoshop job or what but those bike lanes look quite narrow, I don't think you would be able to pass someone on those.

Would be surprised, since they're removing both the median as well as two driving lanes... it's one of Boston's most depressing roads, so either way this is a huge improvement

 

[-anarresti-]

Not sure if it's just the stellar photoshop job or what but those bike lanes look quite narrow, I don't think you would be able to pass someone on those.

The entire thing looks compressed.

I sort of have the feeling that those involved in producing these types of renderings implicitly underestimate the true width of vehicle lanes, and then just scale the bike lanes until they look right.

 

[sm89]

Not sure if it's just the stellar photoshop job or what but those bike lanes look quite narrow, I don't think you would be able to pass someone on those.

Boston has a 7.5ft min width for bike lanes (likely 5ft paved, with concrete clear zones each side) so that they can be plowed and swept. Can't imagine it would be narrower than that here.

There is an upcoming meeting in March about the project, but they've already awarded the contract so where are the plans?? Last visuals were from an Aug 2021 meeting.... https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-works/cummins-highway

Boston seems very slow with their major reconstruction projects, but they appear to be doing them right (thinking Quincy St and Ruggles St).

 

[FK4]

Boston has a 7.5ft min width for bike lanes (likely 5ft paved, with concrete clear zones each side) so that they can be plowed and swept. Can't imagine it would be narrower than that here.

There is an upcoming meeting in March about the project, but they've already awarded the contract so where are the plans?? Last visuals were from an Aug 2021 meeting.... https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-works/cummins-highway

Boston seems very slow with their major reconstruction projects, but they appear to be doing them right (thinking Quincy St and Ruggles St).

I think for this, given "community opposition" (which usually means like ten loud angry voices) to bike lanes in this part of town, the city is keeping this a very low profile until they just do the construction. And it is in fact taking a major arterial and it will, no doubt, increase traffic substantially for people who use it. I think it's worth it, and this is how things have to go. But people will always fight change.

They should rename this damned thing as well. "Highway" is just awful.

 

[HenryAlan]

Boston seems very slow with their major reconstruction projects, but they appear to be doing them right (thinking Quincy St and Ruggles St).

Yes, this is incredibly frustrating to me. The Tremont Street project (which is great) took four years! Why is this one going to take almost 2 years, if it even manages to stay on schedule? I know it's more complicated than dumping down some asphalt and pre-cast curbs, but we are looking at an average progress of ~20 feet per day. How can somebody propose that with a straight face?

 

[HenryAlan]

I think for this, given "community opposition" (which usually means like ten loud angry voices) to bike lanes in this part of town, the city is keeping this a very low profile until they just do the construction. And it is in fact taking a major arterial and it will, no doubt, increase traffic substantially for people who use it. I think it's worth it, and this is how things have to go. But people will always fight change.

They should rename this damned thing as well. "Highway" is just awful.

I wonder if that's true. The city has lots of data from the pilot when the road was temporarily switched to one lane in each direction. Presumably they can model traffic based on that. My personal experience with Centre St. after they narrowed it is that while average speed is reduced, traffic actually flows better due to elimination of double parking and turning vehicle based stoppages. Cummins mostly seems to handle less volume of traffic than Centre St., so I hope it will be something that obviously works to people once they start to experience it.

 

[ritchiew]

“It will be the first significant improvement to the corridor since 1955, when they came in and removed the trolleys in the median,” said Alexis.

"Improvement" is just road engineer jargon, hunh? Like, it just means any change, but they're all called "improvements"? It's weird to see someone say the last "improvement" here was ripping out the dedicated trolley ROW.

 

[HenryAlan]

Not sure if it's just the stellar photoshop job or what but those bike lanes look quite narrow, I don't think you would be able to pass someone on those.

Including sidewalks, the available width is 80 feet, which should leave plenty of room for 7.5 foot bike lanes within the proposed configuration.

 

[FK4]

I wonder if that's true. The city has lots of data from the pilot when the road was temporarily switched to one lane in each direction. Presumably they can model traffic based on that. My personal experience with Centre St. after they narrowed it is that while average speed is reduced, traffic actually flows better due to elimination of double parking and turning vehicle based stoppages. Cummins mostly seems to handle less volume of traffic than Centre St., so I hope it will be something that obviously works to people once they start to experience it.

I think for commute times the traffic will definitely increase. It’s the main corridor to get between western Boston suburbs and Milton and Quincy. But we’ll see. Agree overall it’s less dense than Centre.

 

[bigeman312]

I think for commute times the traffic will definitely increase. It’s the main corridor to get between western Boston suburbs and Milton and Quincy. But we’ll see. Agree overall it’s less dense than Centre.

Emphasis mine. This DRAMATICALLY overstates the importance of Cummins "Highway."

The "main corridor to get between western Boston suburbs and Milton and Quincy" is:

1. 128 (I-95 <> I-93. I know it's not all technically 128 anymore)

128 serves as the main corridor for autmobile traffic to get between Milton/Quincy and Dedham, Needham, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Waltham, Lexington, Bedford, Carlisle, Acton, Boxborough, Stow, Maynard, Concord, Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury, Hudson, Marlborough, Southborough, Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Dover, Sherborn, Medfield, Millis, Holliston, and Medway. That's a pretty damn comprehensive list of the "western Boston suburbs."

Don't believe me? Plug in Google Maps directions between Milton or Quincy and any one of those municipalities and it will direct you to 128, not to Cummins "Highway."

Try again.

 

[FK4]

Emphasis mine. This DRAMATICALLY overstates the importance of Cummins "Highway."

The "main corridor to get between western Boston suburbs and Milton and Quincy" is:

1. 128 (I-95 <> I-93. I know it's not all technically 128 anymore)

128 serves as the main corridor for autmobile traffic to get between Milton/Quincy and Dedham, Needham, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Waltham, Lexington, Bedford, Carlisle, Acton, Boxborough, Stow, Maynard, Concord, Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury, Hudson, Marlborough, Southborough, Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Dover, Sherborn, Medfield, Millis, Holliston, and Medway. That's a pretty damn comprehensive list of the "western Boston suburbs."

Don't believe me? Plug in Google Maps directions between Milton or Quincy and any one of those municipalities and it will direct you to 128, not to Cummins "Highway."

Try again.

OK dude, I’m not here for an argument but I live in Roslindale, use Cummins all the time, and my wife works in Milton and uses it daily. I’m just tellin you what I see on a regular basis but if you wanna roll in hot with data from an app, have at it. I said already I support a major road diet for this horrible street, but I think it will cause a substantial uptick in traffic in morning and evening since it is the main road that gets people from W Rox and Rozzie down south. No, I did not mean all suburbs west of Boston, I meant the suburban parts of western Boston. Either way, I also said I could be wrong on that and said that already, too. Just reporting my experience as someone who is on Cummins all the time. And either way, it should be done, but maybe consider chilling on your tone.

 

[bigeman312]

OK dude, I’m not here for an argument but I live in Roslindale, use Cummins all the time, and my wife works in Milton and uses it daily. I’m just tellin you what I see on a regular basis but if you wanna roll in hot with data from an app, have at it. I said already I support a major road diet for this horrible street, but I think it will cause a substantial uptick in traffic in morning and evening since it is the main road that gets people from W Rox and Rozzie down south. No, I did not mean all suburbs west of Boston, I meant the suburban parts of western Boston. Either way, I also said I could be wrong on that and said that already, too. Just reporting my experience as someone who is on Cummins all the time. And either way, it should be done, but maybe consider chilling on your tone.

You're right that it's the main road to get people from Rozzie to Milton. Here is an accurate statement:

• Cummins "Highway" is the main corridor to get between Roslindale and Milton/Quincy.

Here is an inaccurate statement:

• Cummins "Highway" is the main corridor to get between western Boston suburbs and Milton/Quincy.

You post edgy and terrible takes in the housing thread, so I assumed based on the statement above that you were trolling again. I also assumed it would be self-evident that something being the main corridor for one neighborhood versus "western Boston suburbs" are not equivalent.

It appears that my assumptions were wrong and maybe you are not trolling. I misjudged why you post the things you do, so I apologize for that. I will be sure to simplify and lighten my tone towards you from now on.