Biking in Boston

The EGE said:
Cycletracks on Blue Hill Ave would interfere with any future Green Line or 28X-type service due to the limited width of the road. Businesses complaining about losing a few parking spots was one of the death knells of the original 28X proposal.
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do you have any info on this? I didn't know there was proposed light rail for blue hill ave.
 
There has been from time to time, but I think it's pretty much off the table for the short to medium term (and that's in T years) for the moment. The last major time anything came up was when Governor Patrick announced a plan for a beefed up 28 bus sort of like the Silver Line (maybe even a SL extension?), but even that's been moved to the back burner.
 
The last serious discussion of it was the RDM Transit Needs Study released last fall. Specifically mentioned that both Washington and Blue Hill Ave would require lane or parking loss.
 
One possible option might be Priority shared-lane markings, now being trialed on Brighton St. They don't take any space from the cars, just kind of establish more priority for bikes in the right lane than a naked sharrow.
 
BHA is too much of a highway for those I think. They may not even work on Brighton Ave, we'll see.

It needs a diet. Period.
 
Fairly good reception to Causeway Street cycle tracks I think. They really want to get started on them. Construction in Fall 2014.

Mostly the critiques were nitpicking on the particular design choices. And they didn't really tackle the whole North Washington Street / Causeway (Keany Square) intersection disaster.
 
Isn't Blue Hill Avenue mostly a 4 lane road with parking and pretty big median for a lot of the way? I rather shrink the median for the cycle tracks. I mean, my view is to try to serve all, and it seems to me that it is there is space to fit that. Dieting it just seems to going out of the way to reduce service to driving when there's no need to do so to make such gains for cycling.
 
Is there any issue you won't try to triangulate, Antoine?

Actually, the reason I would like to see a diet on BHA is mainly because it's a nasty, dangerous highway which depresses the surrounding neighborhood.
 
BHA needs to become a more transit heavy corridor with appropriately scaled up zoning density.
 
Matthew said:
Is there any issue you won't try to triangulate, Antoine?
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Umm... I guess not Matthew?

Matthew said:
Actually, the reason I would like to see a diet on BHA is mainly because it's a nasty, dangerous highway which depresses the surrounding neighborhood.
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The neighborhoods has way more factors making it depressed than that road. And besides, going around areas - like Mattapan. I don't feel it's the road that been hurting it. The urban bones are there. What keeping it from being a more prominent place is other issues than the road. Dieting it just to diet because it's a 4 lane road than a real beneficial elevation to the area.
 
I was on the city of cambridge website, I assume they mean this year.

On November 18th and 19th new markings to create a “protected bicycle lane” were installed on Ames Street in Kendall Square. This work was done as part of repaving the street and removing the construction barriers that had been needed to allow for the construction of 75 Ames Street, the expansion of the Broad Center. This work was done by Boston Properties working closely with the 3 city departments – DPW, TP&T and CDD.
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http://www2.cambridgema.gov/traffic/AmesSt.cfm

Amesphoto3.jpg

Ames.gif
 
Here's a recent shot of what I assume is the new cycle track that's part of the reconstruction of Western Avenue in Cambridge. A few blocks are completed like this so far, but, of course, it'll be about a million years before this whole project is done.

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Sigh, sidewalk level cycle track while the pedestrian area is narrow and obstructed. This is going to produce conflict.
 
Yeah, I want them to hurry up the experiment already. Just had to dodge speeding cars in the crosswalk on Brighton Ave again.
 
The sidewalk was too small before. As is the case with most Boston-area streets, sadly. And they are usually blocked further by utility boxes, trees, poles and trash cans.
 
jass said:
Lets not forget that a cycle track was announced, approved, vouched by the public, put to bid...

....and then cancelled essentially the night before the paint went down.
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Are you talking about the cycle tracks on Commercial? They actually did install bike lanes, and are working on the cycle tracks now. It's getting a lot of neighborhood blow back from the usual suspects though. In any case, the project is... uh... moving along? At least as much as any other project in Boston moves along.
 
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