Biking in Boston

[JeffDowntown]

Flexposts are going up in the next week presuming no delays

That will certainly help.

 

[ErnieAdams]

Boston is in the process of installing separated bike lanes Downtown. Looks like a parking protected lane on Stuart St and a separated lane on Washington St (which also gets a bus lane).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1266041509842948096

Is the plan only to do something on Stuart Street eastbound or will they also do something westbound? The protected lane on Kneeland Street westbound ends extremely abruptly at Washington. Getting anywhere westbound from South Station on a bike is a remarkable pain in the ass and I know it deters would-be bike commuters who have no problem getting to that area from the west, because the return trip is circuitous and/or unsafe. Fixing these couple blocks (probably have to take away that brick median to do it if the parking stays) and then making a protected route on the Surface Road (swap bike lane with parking lane) would be a huge upgrade for that pattern.

 

[JeffDowntown]

Really nice review of recent bridge additions to the biking and pedestrian infrastructure in Boston from the Boston Globe:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/29/opinion/walk-this-way-celebrating-bostons-pedestrian-bridges/

 

[George_Apley]

Nice highlights. It's a testament to their design that two of the bridges mentioned were nominated for "Best Completed Infrastructure" aB Awards.

 

[kjdonovan]

With the Northern Strand trail progressing and recent upgrades to the River's Edge area paths and the Revere Beach Pkwy bridges, the last remaining section of the "Wellington Greenway" is the stretch along the T parking lot. I can find nothing official saying this is funded but old news reports say it was scheduled to be completed last year. Hasn't even begun yet.

 

[BuilditDenser]

A couple of days ago, there was a virtual open house for making Tremont street safer in the South End. Projects limits are roughly from Mass ave to where it meets 90 - so this is a good sized project that stretches the length of the South End

A couple of links: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/aeef112aceeb493597fb442f1dafdf8b - virtual open house presentation. Super clean layout, I really like the format

See here for the 75% design: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wYth1dsFsUMrB9evl6xFn2MKSKK2n1vs/view

Highlights - protected bike lanes for the street protected by low profile concrete barriers. Narrows travel lanes from 2 to 1. Consolidation of rt 43 bus stops, floating bus stops similar to Ft Point or Comm ave. Raised sidewalks

 

[JeffDowntown]

^ The Tremont Street design improvements seem really thoughtful!

 

[BuilditDenser]

^ The Tremont Street design improvements seem really thoughtful!

While the Tremont improvements seem to be well thought out, I wish that the improvements for COVID created a more fluid connection than what's pictured on the map. How hard could it be to route it over Tremont instead of Shawmut?

Mayor Walsh Announces Details of New 'Healthy Streets' Initiative - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The initial plans include a network of new protected bike lanes across downtown Boston and around the Public Garden, expanded bus stop waiting areas, and processes to let restaurants expand their outdoor seating areas on sidewalks and on-street parking lanes.

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[HelloBostonHi]

While the Tremont improvements seem to be well thought out, I wish that the improvements for COVID created a more fluid connection than what's pictured on the map. How hard could it be to route it over Tremont instead of Shawmut?

Mayor Walsh Announces Details of New 'Healthy Streets' Initiative - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The initial plans include a network of new protected bike lanes across downtown Boston and around the Public Garden, expanded bus stop waiting areas, and processes to let restaurants expand their outdoor seating areas on sidewalks and on-street parking lanes.

mass.streetsblog.org

Once you get over the pike Tremont really doesn't connect anywhere useful, it becomes a lot of one way roads and badly designed intersections. And then Shawmut basically becomes Tremont at a certain point.

 

[George_Apley]

While the Tremont improvements seem to be well thought out, I wish that the improvements for COVID created a more fluid connection than what's pictured on the map. How hard could it be to route it over Tremont instead of Shawmut?

Mayor Walsh Announces Details of New 'Healthy Streets' Initiative - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The initial plans include a network of new protected bike lanes across downtown Boston and around the Public Garden, expanded bus stop waiting areas, and processes to let restaurants expand their outdoor seating areas on sidewalks and on-street parking lanes.

mass.streetsblog.org

Shawmut is a much quieter street than Tremont in general and it's only a block parallel in the South End. It makes sense for it to be a cycling corridor where folks can easily divert to Tremont or Washington as needed.

 

[sm89]

Once you get over the pike Tremont really doesn't connect anywhere useful, it becomes a lot of one way roads and badly designed intersections. And then Shawmut basically becomes Tremont at a certain point.

Tremont St is being redone later year. Adding protected bike lanes and going from 4 lanes to 2 (1 lane each direction). The final plans and open house are available here:

Making Tremont Street Safer

Tremont Street is a vibrant anchor for Boston's walkable South End. But, it's not as safe as it could be for people walking.

storymaps.arcgis.com

Physically Protected Bike Lanes to Replace Car Lanes on Tremont Street - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The City of Boston Transportation Department expects to solicit construction bids later this year for physically protected bike lanes, new bus stops, and safer crosswalks on Tremont Street through the South End.

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[JeffDowntown]

Shawmut is a much quieter street than Tremont in general and it's only a block parallel in the South End. It makes sense for it to be a cycling corridor where folks can easily divert to Tremont or Washington as needed.

Shawmut does not have the bus traffic, and does not have the pedestrian crossing incentives for the rework. If you read the study, the bike portion is only part of the motivation. If you want this to happen, it needs to happen on Tremont, where multiple constituencies benefit. It is not just about the bike route. That's how politics work.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

Tremont St is being redone later year. Adding protected bike lanes and going from 4 lanes to 2 (1 lane each direction). The final plans and open house are available here:

Making Tremont Street Safer

Tremont Street is a vibrant anchor for Boston's walkable South End. But, it's not as safe as it could be for people walking.

storymaps.arcgis.com

Physically Protected Bike Lanes to Replace Car Lanes on Tremont Street - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The City of Boston Transportation Department expects to solicit construction bids later this year for physically protected bike lanes, new bus stops, and safer crosswalks on Tremont Street through the South End.

mass.streetsblog.org

Yes I'm well aware of that project, I was talking about Tremont St North of the Pike.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1283395646511357970

 

[mass88]

In general, how would people who ride bikes in the city rate the upgrades, additions and overall bike infrastructure the city has done over the last decade?

 

[HelloBostonHi]

In general, how would people who ride bikes in the city rate the upgrades, additions and overall bike infrastructure the city has done over the last decade?

I'm impressed, but I just happen to ride in areas that have seen some great improvements. Columbus Ave from Ruggles to Mass Ave was a night and day improvement, the bike lanes on Kneeland and now Stuart St in Chinatown have changed my entire commute, Longfellow bridge is great, as is the North End path, but I only really go on those for leisure. Mass Ave has seen some great changes over the past few years and with more hopefully to come this fall, If we can work on the connectivity between all these great sections then I think Boston will have some best in nation bike infrastructure. Does that live up to worldwide examples? No absolutely not but for America I think we're doing pretty damn well.

 

[kjdonovan]

In general, how would people who ride bikes in the city rate the upgrades, additions and overall bike infrastructure the city has done over the last decade?

C+. We went from nearly nothing a decade ago to a grab bag of options, most minor, with a few fundamental improvements (Cycletrack around North End/Downtown, protected lanes on the bridges). If you compare what NYC has done or, if you're getting really crazy, a place like Montreal, we are still kowtowing to parking needs over bike infrastructure. And there's little appetite for partnering with Camberville/Brookline on a common and funded strategy.
We should not be doing cartwheels every time they repaint existing streets to squeeze in bikelanes.

A B+ would have been to create dedicated off-street cycle tracks for the top XX east-west and north-south routes throughout the city (Blue Hills, Comm Ave, Tremont, Boylston, Broadway, etc.) ensuring you have a safe ride with a uniform amenity.

 

[Vagabond]

A decade is tough, especially with the 2014 change in leadership. I can say that those who had not been downtown for a few years do not recognize it- I hear it all the time from those visiting the city.

It is obvious that Boston has been taking advantage of the shutdown to sneak biking improvements in before traffic returns, and therefore will not shock the system with changes. The success of outdoor restaurants taking away parking and creating road diets also is making the roads a bit safer.

Looking at biking from a more historic perspective, the bike share story is a very positive one. People are getting used to riding bikes, and drivers are getting used to sharing roads with them.

2019 City of Boston Bike Counts Report

Measuring how many people are riding bikes in the City. By 2030, our goal is to increase bicycling fourfold.

storymaps.arcgis.com

 

[Bananarama]

When are the damn Melnea Cass bike lanes coming? Hands down one of the worst roads to bike on in the city, and it's the last leg of my commute. The sidewalk isn't even viable for most of the way because of how it's degraded by roots, potholes, and haphazard utility access points (the S Bay Harbor trail is honestly a joke).

The improvements and lanes downtown are nice, but aren't a drastic improvement over just riding in the road since the surfaces are usually better and traffic more amicable (relatively speaking).

 

[#bancars]

In general, how would people who ride bikes in the city rate the upgrades, additions and overall bike infrastructure the city has done over the last decade?

In addition to what others have said, I have personally benefited from the new Comm Ave protected cycletracks, as well as to a lesser extent the Brighton Ave bus/bike lane.

I will also note that Brookline has slowly been improving and has a very forward-looking transportation department that has implemented some good, if modest, improvements, especially at some intersections and connection points.

However, neither Boston nor Brookline are as comfortable to cycle in as Cambridge/Somerville -- yet.

The biggest issues throughout the inner core of Boston and surrounding municipalities are connectivity and continuous safe, protected cycle infrastructure (whether off or on-street). Most people aren't going to try biking if they don't feel relatively safe for 100% of their journey. It doesn't matter if 90% of the commute is on the Charles River PDW bike path; if the last 10% of the commute requires one to navigate a 4-lane, high-speed stroad or huge intersections with no protection, most people are not going to bike.