Biking in Boston

Ruairi said:
I ride a class 1 ebike and have been passed countless times by the tour de france time trial types with their ass in the air and chin on the handlebars!
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This is getting away from the GLX conversation so bringing it here.

On my class 1 in the SW Corridor Park I was gapped by a Northeastern student on a standard commuter bike with saddle bags. The weight of e-bikes makes it difficult to get them any further than their 20mph limits.

I feel as though a major problem exists in our private vehicle prioritized society where what is supposed to be this; View attachment 34753
is actually treated flipped upside down. Cyclists themselves often treat this the wrong way around as well. We have ingrained it into the minds of everyone that pedestrians are the last priority on roads under the BS guise of safety. In the currently limited and congested space for non-car transport in Boston, unneeded conflict arises between cyclists and pedestrians due to not following the above hierarchy. Pedestrians should know they shouldn’t be limited to walking how they want. Countless times I’ll be on my bike and pedestrians will stop like a deer in headlights or try to dive to one side and get out of my way for no reason when I’m slowing down or coming to a stop to let them do their thing. There is no need for this, pedestrians have a right to that space and I, as the cyclist, need to yield to them. A bike is not a car and can slow or stop in a few feet. In the event of a rare and unfortunate collision, only minor injuries would occur if any (this is all with class 1 e-bikes at most). Of course, pedestrians and cyclists should also try to avoid making sudden or erratic changes in direction but again a bike can stop quick.
As the two most vulnerable road users we can coexist in the same spaces if we are more conscious of each other and how each navigates the space.
 
Cambridge is installing a separated bike lane on Main St. from Mass/Main toward Kendall:
www.cambridgema.gov

Cambridge Launches Separated Bike Lane Project on Main Street

The City of Cambridge plans to install quick-build separated bike lanes on Main Street between Massachusetts Avenue and Portland Street in 2023 and will launch the project with a virtual community meeting and in-person open house in March.
www.cambridgema.gov www.cambridgema.gov

Zoom community meeting (March 16) and in-person open house (March 22) info within above link for those interested
 
bigpicture7 said:
Cambridge is installing a separated bike lane on Main St. from Mass/Main toward Kendall:
www.cambridgema.gov

Cambridge Launches Separated Bike Lane Project on Main Street

The City of Cambridge plans to install quick-build separated bike lanes on Main Street between Massachusetts Avenue and Portland Street in 2023 and will launch the project with a virtual community meeting and in-person open house in March.
www.cambridgema.gov www.cambridgema.gov

Zoom community meeting (March 16) and in-person open house (March 22) info within above link for those interested
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Thanks for sharing! I bike this stretch regularly and am interested to see what the city plans to do.
 
Medford is planning bike lanes on Winthrop St -- the north south route from Winchester Center to Tufts U.
If you feel like doing a little advocacy (and seeing how a Traffic Commission functions) please join today (Tue Apr 11 2023) on this Zoom 5pm
(Medford is borderline between "Blue Bike" and "Burb." As a topic, this bike lane is more a "errand/school/work commute" bike lane, I put it in the "Biking in Boston" thread instead of the 'Burbs thread (which has a more "leisure trip" vibe)
Traffic Commission Meeting Subscribe to Alerts
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/...ouid=101072951732054968420&rtpof=true&sd=true

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85621862602?pwd=ZHJ4bDg4RkJhdlJDQVdnZTIwOWlpZz09
Meeting ID: 856 2186 2602
Passcode: 985723
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Meeting ID: 856 2186 2602
Passcode: 985723
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PDF, which presents the project from North (winchester town line at left) to South (South Street, on the south shore of the Mystic)
 
Arlington said:
Medford is planning bike lanes on Winthrop St -- the north south route from Winchester Center to Tufts U.
If you feel like doing a little advocacy (and seeing how a Traffic Commission functions) please join today (Tue Apr 11 2023) on this Zoom 5pm
(Medford is borderline between "Blue Bike" and "Burb." As a topic, this bike lane is more a "errand/school/work commute" bike lane, I put it in the "Biking in Boston" thread instead of the 'Burbs thread (which has a more "leisure trip" vibe)


PDF, which presents the project from North (winchester town line at left) to South (South Street, on the south shore of the Mystic)
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Lord help any bikers going through that Winthrop rotary. The "intentional slow zone" on Rt 16 causes so many side street backups and dangerous behavior.
 
Vagabond said:
Lord help any bikers going through that Winthrop rotary. The "intentional slow zone" on Rt 16 causes so many side street backups and dangerous behavior.
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seems like the rotary is generally wide enough - seems like there should be space to fit a dutch-style protected bike intersection around that rotary. I guess this is Winthrop, not Cambridge we're talking about here..
 
I guarantee the bizarre right turn lane that has the dashed bike lane line down the middle will be understood by approximately zero people. (Winthrop at Mystic Valley). Should just be a shared lane with shared lane markings and right turn arrows.
 
Boston is planning to add protected bike lanes on Tremont and Charles St. South north of the Pike: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/connect-downtown#charles-south--tremont

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sm89 said:
I guarantee the bizarre right turn lane that has the dashed bike lane line down the middle will be understood by approximately zero people. (Winthrop at Mystic Valley). Should just be a shared lane with shared lane markings and right turn arrows.
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The same kind of right turn lane already exists on the southbound portion of Boston Ave @ Mystic Valley Parkway not too far from here. People generally seem to understand it.
 
It is really bizarre just how bad Columbus Ave is between Mass Ave and Stuart Street. The entire length should get the same parking protected treatment there is between the SW Corridor path and just before Mass Ave. This is so emblematic of bike infrastructure in Boston -- build something really good for a few blocks, then just dump people in to something bad for the next several blocks. Looking at Tremont St., that's an important connection to the South End, so definitely needed. And it will connect to the really good curb protected route under construction. But what it should do, is connect all the way to Melnea Cass, yet riders will instead be dumped off at Mass Ave. to go several blocks in mixed traffic. Why?
 
Mostly striped from that intersection down to Heath this morning. Looks good.
 
These look great. I am very much in favor of doing what you can when you can, but I nevertheless wonder how the city decides what areas to target for such treatments? I generally feel pretty comfortable riding on South Huntington as is, whereas there are some other roads that could go from very uncomfortable to very bikeable with similar installations. If I were bike czar, I'd definitely focus on the missing links. Is this a missing link? It connects Centre St. (so so bikeability) to Huntington (situational bikeability). This could be an important corridor once Huntington gets good infrastructure on the north end of the route, and if Centre St. gets an upgrade between Hyde Square and Jackson Square.
 
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HenryAlan said:
These look great. I am very much in favor of doing what you can when you can, but I nevertheless wonder how the city decides what areas to target for such treatments? I generally feel pretty comfortable riding on South Huntington as is, whereas there are some other roads that could go from very uncomfortable to very bikeable with similar installations. If I were bike czar, I'd definitely focus on the missing links. Is this a missing link? It connects Centre St. (so so bikeability) to Huntington (situational bikeability). This could be an important corridor once Huntington gets good infrastructure on the north end of the route, and if Centre St. gets an upgrade between Hyde Square and Jackson Square.
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Valid criticism much of the time, but it doesn’t apply here. I, too am comfortable riding on South Huntington, but not everybody is and this is part of a larger project to improve connectivity for JP.

Boylston Street is getting a major upgrade this year with contraflow bike lanes and traffic calming. South Huntington and Boylston are being pitched as the corridor to connect the Southwest Corridor to the Emerald Necklace.

As someone who regularly rides this corridor, I can attest that defining a NW/SE path of travel (Boylston <-> South Huntington) is a huge value-add.

At present, when going northwest (from JP to Brookline, Newton, Allston, or Brighton) my path is Boylston -> South Huntington. The biggest problem here is that the stretch of Boylston between Burr St and Centre St is uphill and too narrow for cars to pass, with cars desiring to go faster than a cyclist can (I’m no slow-poke, I’m in the top-10 for that segment on Strava).

I obey one-ways, to a fault, so when going southeast I take Perkins to the Hyde Square traffic circle, to Centre, to Paul Gore, to Lamartine. That turn onto and off-of Lamartine is dangerous for even experienced cyclists.

All of those issues are solved with these projects. By defining this corridor and making it safer for cyclists of all abilities, a huge gap in the network is bridged.

Here is more information for you. I encourage you to come join us at one of the meetings. If you’re coming, shoot me a DM and I’ll introduce myself!
 
Thanks, good info! I knew about the plan for Boylston St., but somehow wasn't connecting it to this work on South Huntington. I'm planning to attend the Eliot/Mcbride community walk, may be able to fit some of these other advocacy opportunities in to my schedule. I am a huge fan of contra flow lanes and have been particularly impressed by the work Brookline has done in that regard. It's good to see Boston getting on board with the idea.
 
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