Biking in Boston

davem said:
I was mistaken, and was talking about people driving here, after the sorrow entrance. People use the entire right side as a lane, making the right turn onto bay state road a pain. A driver expects a cyclist to be there, not a car roaring up at 40mph
Click to expand...

Yes in that case cars should only use the bike lane in the last 25-50 feet or so, to merge towards Bay State.

Is parking even legal there? If not, that whole area should be better striped
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Having a hard time picturing how it'll be possible to underpass River St. with there being absolute zero lateral room around the retaining walls and narrow sidewalk, but 2 out of 3 would be outstanding.
Click to expand...

Here's a rendering from thecharles.org:

28jfx3o.jpg


It looks like a boardwalk, outside of the existing retaining wall, with an underpass cut in the middle of the solid, walled section.
 
Great news! With the Pike straightening and now this, running and riding on the Boston side between BU Bridge and Eliot Bridge might just be an enjoyable experience within my lifetime.
 
bigeman312 said:
Here's a rendering from thecharles.org:

28jfx3o.jpg


It looks like a boardwalk, outside of the existing retaining wall, with an underpass cut in the middle of the solid, walled section.
Click to expand...

Yes! In the case of limited space, then the next option would be to extend the path out over the riverbank itself. I believe this is true for all the bridges if the need arises.
 
bigeman312 said:
Here's a rendering from thecharles.org:


It looks like a boardwalk, outside of the existing retaining wall, with an underpass cut in the middle of the solid, walled section.
Click to expand...

This should be twice as wide if they expect bikers and walkers to co-exist on this thing.
 
I doubt that's going to work in the Charles Basin floodplain. Those times the BU Sailing Pavilion area of the Esplanade floods this would-be boardwalk is well below the high-water mark on the retaining wall. The only reason the boardwalk under BU Bridge doesn't get waterlogged is because the parkland by the Sailing Pavilion eats it instead.
 
Knowing DCR, this is going to end up being a tiny little thing that seems like it's in constant danger of falling into the river, much like the under pass of the BU Bridge.

Meanwhile, DCR will rebuild a big fat roadway with huge lanes for the cars (no trucks!) on the "parkway", while it's almost impossible to have two bikes side-by-side on the fenced in little sidepath (as it is today).
 
Does the signal timing along Comm Ave through the Back Bay feel off to any other cyclists? It seems like I hit a red, stop like a good little cyclist, the light turns green and I get 90% of the way down the block only for the next one to turn from green to red. Out of curiosity I dragged the whole length of Comm Ave westbound the other night and had this happen at every signal from Berkeley until Mass Ave. The sad thing is if I act like a scofflaw and jump one or two reds and bike really fast I can stay ahead of this rolling wave of red, but if I bike legally in the designated infrastructure it takes forever to get through.
 
Yes, I've noticed the same thing. I typically head over to the Esplanade for westbound travel.

Eastbound on Comm Ave works out alright though. I suspect the lights are simply timed in a way that works out for bikes going east and screws them over completely going west.
 
Interesting article from Fast Company about a recent study from New Zealand:


The Cities That Spend The Most On Bike Lanes Later Reap The Most Reward

Investing in a network of fully separated bike lanes could save cities huge sums in the long-term. But too little investment in wimpy infrastructure could actually decrease enthusiasm for cycling.

For every dollar spent to build new separated bike lanes, cities could save as much as $24 thanks to lower health care costs and less pollution and traffic, according to a new study from researchers in New Zealand.

"At the moment in most car-dominated cities, it’s easy to justify spending transport money on new roads as a response to increasing car use, despite the negative impacts this has on the environment and people’s health now and in the future," says lead author Alexandra Macmillan. "We wanted to explore some policy choices that were realistic, affordable, transformative and healthy."

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3034354/...-lanes-later-reap-the-most-reward?partner=rss

The article include an explanation of why the study is germane to American cities as well as New Zealand cities (similar car centricity, similarly poor biking infrastructure...).

One key observation is that if cities only invest a little in biking infrastructure, it actually has a negative impact on cycling and financial return. The investment needs to be significant (really promoting cycling as an important alternative to cars).
 
Great. Boston is the poster child for only investing a little bit. Anything more than paint, and it doesn't get done.

Well maybe CHB will alleviate my cynicism somewhat.
 
Comm. Ave. redesign lacks adequate plans for bikes

Few Boston roadways scream out for redesign more than Commonwealth Avenue does. The spine of Boston University and a connector of commerce from Kenmore Square through Allston and out to Boston College, the avenue abounds with speeding traffic, fearless pedestrians, weaving buses, and double-parked vehicles. But it also accommodates a growing number of bicyclists — 5,000 a day — whose safety must figure into a pending reconstruction of the roadway.

From 2010 to 2012, there were 70 bicycle accidents reported on the stretch of Commonwealth leading from the BU Bridge to Packard’s Corner in Brighton. Seventeen of them involved car occupants opening doors into the path of cyclists. The crash that killed Christopher Weigl, the BU photojournalism graduate student who was struck by a turning tractor-trailer, occurred on that stretch, too.

Because of this accumulation of dangers, any major upgrade of Comm. Ave. should incorporate protective bicycle infrastructure, such as the segregated lanes known as cycle tracks. But after four years of planning for a $16 million overhaul of the three-quarter-mile section between the BU Bridge and Packard’s Corner, the city’s current design pays too little heed to cyclists. The redesign includes a federally required widening of the avenue’s median to provide more passenger and maintenance access to the Green Line T. The plan also calls for more left-turn lanes for cars. But the avenue’s 5-foot-wide bike lane, too narrow to protect cyclists from carelessly opened car doors, remains.

James Gillooly, the city’s interim transportation commissioner, said most of the changes were consistent with federal guidelines, and that a wider bike lane would have meant less space for car lanes or sidewalks. But failing to accommodate cyclists carries its own cost to the city’s transportation objectives. Boston has set a target of increasing its percentage of bike commuters from the current 2 percent to 10 percent by 2020. But no city, not even bike-friendly Amsterdam or Copenhagen, has achieved such high levels of cycling without protected bike lanes. Motorists benefit from forward-looking planning, too. Cities well designed for bicycles, walking, and public transportation almost always reduce car traffic on crowded thoroughfares like Commonwealth Avenue, with its 31,000 to 36,000 automobiles a day.

Facing a petition drive and last-minute pleas by activists, Gillooly promised to look into creating an additional 3-foot buffer for the existing bike lane by slightly narrowing the car lanes and the T median. But the conflicts with cars will remain.

Meanwhile, it’s disappointing that the Comm. Ave. plan got this far without a better provision for cyclists. Many cities in Europe, with streets and sidewalks much older and narrower than Commonwealth Avenue, have figured out how to incorporate safe biking infrastructure. If a safe cycle track cannot be installed on one of Boston’s widest and straightest thoroughfares, it bodes ill for the city’s broader plan for cycling and its dreams of curtailing congestion.
Click to expand...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/...bI/story.html?p1=Article_InThisSection_Bottom
 
While Infrequent, Thefts Still Occur Inside the MBTA’s Secure Bike Cages

People can only access the “Pedal and Park” bike cages, which are set up outside of various stations, by using a pre-registered MBTA CharlieCard. The facilities, installed by the T in partnership with MassBike, Livable Streets Alliance, and the MBTA’s Bikes and Transit Advisory Committee, are also equipped with six high-tech security cameras, lighting, and a police intercom system.

But T police said Monday that bikes still go missing, especially when left unattended for lengthy periods of time. T Police said thieves are gaining access to the facilities in the same manner that scofflaws try and avoid paying the fare at MBTA kiosks—by piggybacking people who have registered cards.
Click to expand...

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/08/18/infrequent-thefts-occur-mbtas-secure-bike-cages/
 
Duh. Putting your bike in there is like putting a sign up that says: "I won't be around for the next 8 hours, have at it."

And piggybacking -- big deal... it takes nothing to get yourself a Bike CharlieCard. I had one for a long time (until it failed) because it was handed out at an event.

The reasons why bike locks work at all is because (a) good locks take a decent amount of time to break and (b) there's always the uncertainty of whether the rightful owner might return at any moment.

Without (b) even the best bike locks are going to get cracked.
 
You don't. You can register any CharlieCard for bike cage access. I have an auto-reload CharlieCard that I got through my workplace and I was able to register for bike access.
 
The registration process can be a bit painful; it took me two tries to get mine registered.
When I did it the first time, I tried the lock at Forest Hills Station, it wouldn't work for me, but I did see someone else use it just after I complained to the T about it. After I got home I went through the process again and it worked.
 
Maybe it's just the nice weather we've been having lately, but the bike traffic on the Hampshire/Beacon corridor feels like it has reached another level lately. It has been super busy this week, even relative to normal busy standards.

Glad they're finally handling Beacon St next year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top