Biking in Boston

Huntington has too many travel lanes for its size. There is just not enough room in the street cross-section. The sidewalks get as tiny as 3 ft wide in some places to accommodate the ridiculous motorway. This crazy situation is unsustainable, the number of people walking on Huntington always makes this a problem, and it will only get worse. Unfortunately, it seems, more people are going to end up getting killed before the auto-centric attitude changes. It's astonishing to me that the city is not held liable for the deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists on this corridor.

Eventually Huntington will have to be road-dieted. Probably at the same time as Arborway restoration.

So, decades from now. If it happens. And then the cycle track can be addressed.
 
Matthew said:
Huntington has too many travel lanes for its size. There is just not enough room in the street cross-section. The sidewalks get as tiny as 3 ft wide in some places to accommodate the ridiculous motorway. This crazy situation is unsustainable, the number of people walking on Huntington always makes this a problem, and it will only get worse. Unfortunately, it seems, more people are going to end up getting killed before the auto-centric attitude changes. It's astonishing to me that the city is not held liable for the deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists on this corridor.

Eventually Huntington will have to be road-dieted. Probably at the same time as Arborway restoration.

So, decades from now. If it happens. And then the cycle track can be addressed.
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FIRST Huntington (and Chestnut Hill Ave) is in dire need of these
bike_sign.jpg


Then perhaps looking into rubber filled flangeways as discussed here.

Then we can talk about road diets. I still have scars from eating it after swerving to avoid getting hit when someone cut me off and going into the tracks. I know many more people with shattered collar bones, concussions, etc.
 
Oh, I was talking about the portion of Huntington with the MBTA reservation.

The street-running portion should be 2 travel lanes. Today. There simply isn't enough room for the 4 lanes that BTD allows, and drivers should not be encouraged to pass trolleys anyway. It seems like there's a crash happening every time it rains because some idiot tries to gun it around the tracks, slips and spins out.

Move the parked cars in and create a cycle track outside of them, or something like that. That should minimize bike wheel/track issues. Heath Street will still need something to be worked out.
 
Matthew said:
Huntington has too many travel lanes for its size. There is just not enough room in the street cross-section. The sidewalks get as tiny as 3 ft wide in some places to accommodate the ridiculous motorway. This crazy situation is unsustainable, the number of people walking on Huntington always makes this a problem, and it will only get worse. Unfortunately, it seems, more people are going to end up getting killed before the auto-centric attitude changes. It's astonishing to me that the city is not held liable for the deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists on this corridor.

Eventually Huntington will have to be road-dieted. Probably at the same time as Arborway restoration.

So, decades from now. If it happens. And then the cycle track can be addressed.
Click to expand...

Mathew -- Huntington does have a sidewalk problem for a bit near Symphony -- However as it is a major thoroughfare [Rt-9] from Rt-128 to the Back Bay -- no one is going to reduce the travel lanes without a big fight

Best long-term solution is to extend the underground portion of the E line past MFA and take over the T reservation for other uses [aka Commonwealth Ave]

Two new underground stations NEU and MFA and then bring the E to the Street somewhere on the way to Heath
 
If I'm not mistaken, huntington ave traffic counts are just under the threshold for a "road diet"

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/traffic.asp?f=1&c=boston

I think the threshold is 20,000 cars a day with turn lanes (according to wikipedia page on road diets), and huntington ave sees around 18,800 cars a day.

Hyde Park Ave south of Ukraine Way is another candidate - the Boston bike map shows that it'll be "improved" to have a bus/bike only lane in the 5 year plan - probably will end up looking like Washington street in the South End - which if they do similar treatments for bus stops, would make that area look much nicer.
 
rinserepeat said:
If I'm not mistaken, huntington ave traffic counts are just under the threshold for a "road diet"

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/traffic.asp?f=1&c=boston

I think the threshold is 20,000 cars a day with turn lanes (according to wikipedia page on road diets), and huntington ave sees around 18,800 cars a day.

Hyde Park Ave south of Ukraine Way is another candidate - the Boston bike map shows that it'll be "improved" to have a bus/bike only lane in the 5 year plan - probably will end up looking like Washington street in the South End - which if they do similar treatments for bus stops, would make that area look much nicer.
Click to expand...

I suspect traffic would flow better on Huntington with a single through lane and generous turn lanes than in its current configuration as well. In my experiance, a lot of the backups are due to someone making a left, with everyone behind cutting each other off to get around them.

This does nothing for the issue with the tracks though. You will still have drivers slipping on them in the winter and cyclists crashing. Its a shame the political will isn't there to bury the small street running stretch (and build the D to E at the same time).
 
Huntington has a sidewalk problem all along its length within the city of Boston, with some exceptions (like near the MFA). If you haven't walked the length of Huntington, then I recommend doing so, and check out both sides. It really gets squeezed in various spots. There are many buildings which pre-date the automobile era, particularly on both sides of Northeastern and up near Brigham Circle, and the sidewalks in front of them were simply not intended to be a pedestrian ghetto.

I have no problem with a tunnel being constructed underneath but I suspect that won't happen since it costs money. In lieu of that, 2 thru-travel lanes, and dedicated turn lanes that are interspersed between the MBTA platforms, seems to be the way to go, as davem suggests.
 
Connect Historic Boston trail coming on strong, information from NorthEndWaterfront.com, March 2nd -

Spring 2014
100% design complete
Project filing/approvals complete

Summer 2014
Advertise construction Contracts

Fall 2014
Construction funds obligated
Begin construction activities
 
Yeah, nice website. The lighting, bollards and signage shown appear to be first class for a bike/walk trail. I hope the paving is new the entire length and is kept clean. If the trail is as good as those in downtown Indianapolis, it will be notable and make an impact. I would enjoy walking on it and could envision stopping at Lovejoy Wharf and relaxing at their outdoor cafe. I love the fact that locals thought of this idea and thought enough of their city to make it a reality. These are people who help make a city dynamic and stimulating. Bravo.
 
Very impressive presentation, and very impressive proposals. I would LOVE to see this happen, although taking away parking is always going to be a fight.

I like that they pointed out that some intersections only need simple stuff; "repoint brick, fix asphalt on cobblestone patches, repave and paint lane markings". It's a shame this isn't already happening on its own though...
 
From what I remember, they've been pretty careful to remove as little parking as possible. (Sadly ;)

And you know... back in the 70s, the area around Faneuil Hall was like ... all parking.

tumblr_mymgwrwoFr1rrufk0o1_1280.jpg
 
Will a similar treatment ever be considered for the Greenway?
 
I like the redesign on Union a lot. Boston Magazine just had a story that BPD approved food trucks staying open until midnight. I think it's just limited to Copley, by BU, and one other place that I can't remember at the moment, but it'd be great to expand to spots like Union.
 
The other place is at Northeastern. I think it's a great idea to expand food truck service to active late-night areas. Union would be great.
 
are they adding bike signals for the cycletracks - especially the switch to the mid-road one? I couldn't find anything in the presentation that mentions this.
 
Believe so. Bike signals are now standardized so they can be used as a matter of course.
 
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