Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)

[Arlington]

Is anyone a regular user of the Card-secured bike-parking cages--these are the ones where you have to register your Charlie Card in advance and scan it at the cage's gate. (for reference they are at)

Alewife (Central)
Alewife (east, by Russell Field)
Alewife (west)
Ashmont
Back Bay
Braintree
Davis
Dudley
Forest Hills
Malden
Oak Grove
South Station
Wollaston
Wonderland

 

[Randomgear]

I'm not a regular user, but, from time to time I use the ones at Forest Hills and South Stations. The doors and hardware are crappy - chain link fence doors, chain link fence door hinges coupled with panic hardware and a card reader (sure recipe for failure) and, at least at Forest Hills, the door doesn't open a full 90 degrees. It opens even less when there's a snow pile beside it. I also find the upper racks not so easy to use - I think that the pull down ramp types might be far easier to use.
Despite my whining, I do think that they are a big improvement over just locking to a open bike rack.

 

[Arlington]

BTW, there's Somerville police captain--a cyclist himself--out writing tickets to red-light runners (its a $25 "civil infraction"--like a marijuana ticket-- not a moving violation). Spotted him behind Porter Sq at the Mossland / Somerville Ave / Beacon / Oxford mess, which is an awful place in its mix of congestion and temptation (long cycles and odd geometry produce long stretches of empty asphalt begging cyclists to sneak across)

(my advice, walk your bike through it. Pedestrians make out pretty well there)

 

[ant8904]

Wait, does he operate on the Idaho Stop? Or does he write the ticket anytime unless you hop down to walk?

 

[Arlington]

Wait, does he operate on the Idaho Stop? Or does he write the ticket anytime unless you hop down to walk?

(sorry for the late response)
He ticketed if you were a vehicle (no feet on the ground) that didn't obey the traffic lights.

 

[Arlington]

Check out this statewide list of MHD system of all bike projects now in design

Some interesting Arlington-Medford-Winchester-Stoneham bike projects to watch in coming years, as seen in the 2014-2018 Capital Improvement plan:

ARLINGTON- BIKEWAY CONNECTION AT INTERSECTION ROUTE 3 & ROUTE 60, MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, PLEASANT STREET & MYSTIC STREET
The Arlington Center Safe Travel Project will provide a vital link in the Minuteman Bikeway, an 11-mile bikeway connecting Cambridge with Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford. In addition to connecting the two legs of the Minuteman Bikeway, traffic operations and safety and pedestrian safety in the Arlington Center area will be improved through additional advance signing, and upgrades to signal equipment, phasing, and timing at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue/Mystic Street/Pleasant Street. Retiming and coordinating the intersections at Chestnut Street and Medford Street and increasing storage length on Mystic Street southbound at Massachusetts Avenue are also included.

STONEHAM- WINCHESTER- WOBURN- TRI-COMMUNITY BIKEWAY INCLUDING NEW BRIDGE, W-43-029, OVER THE ABERJONA RIVER
The proposed project involves the construction of a bikeway from the Wedgemere MBTA Station in Winchester northerly to Horn Pond in Woburn and Recreation Park in Stoneham, a total distance of approximately 7 miles. The objective of this project is to provide non-motorized access to commuter rail property, schools, recreation and commercial areas along the length of the bikeway and, subsequently, reduce congestion and improve air quality by converting some motorized traffic to non-motorized.

 

[autonomy]

Check out this statewide list of MHD system of all bike projects now in design

Some interesting Arlington-Medford-Winchester-Stoneham bike projects to watch in coming years, as seen in the 2014-2018 Capital Improvement plan:

That's exciting, I hope they add a much-needed cyclist storage lane on Mass Ave westbound. Even if they don't, any improvements they make to make it easier to cross are welcome.

 

[Arlington]

That's exciting, I hope they add a much-needed cyclist storage lane on Mass Ave westbound. Even if they don't, any improvements they make to make it easier to cross are welcome.

On thing they looked at (I don't know if they went with it) was a painted-and-separately-signalled diagonal crossing of Mass Ave for bikes that would used during the "turns" cycles of the lights.

It would permit the Minuteman to cross Mass Ave diagonally (in line with its segment on the northwest Mass-Mystic-Uncle-Sam corner) while cars were doing these turns on either side of it:

Right from Mass Outbound to Mystic Ave
Left from Mystic Ave to Mass Inbound
Right from Mass Inbound to Pleasant
Left from Pleasant to Mass Outbound

One way to give the bike diagonal more space was to have the bike diagonal only "run" during the right turns (the lefts looked scary-close)

 

[Arlington]

MedfordBikes.org has an update on the fatal Motorcycle-Bike "16 at 93", with the new location being where a parking lot abuts the parkway:

http://www.medfordbikes.org/medfordbikes-blog/lessons-from-the-death-of-a-cyclist-on-rt-16

 

[matredsoxfan]

Recent Bicycle improvements in Waltham include....

-Sharrows on Main Street (Hill Rd to Everett St) This means continuous bike sharrows from Bear Hill Rd to Prospect Hill Rd.

-Sharrows on Beaver Street (Waverley Oaks Rd to Forest St)


Currently in planning includes...

-5 Foot Bike lanes on Forest Street

-Bike lanes on Winter Street (Reservoir Woods office park to Lincoln Line)

-Sharrows on Maple, Prospect & High Streets

-Bike lane on High Street (Newton to Cedar St)

 

[Arlington]

Please get a headlight tail light as dark "sneaks up" on your morning or evening rides.

if you get hit by a car at night, and you don't have lights, you will almost certainly be found responsible for the crash. That's a big deal.

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/...sletter&utm_medium=dd&utm_campaign=2014_10_03

 

[bigeman312]

Please get a headlight tail light as dark "sneaks up" on your morning or evening rides.

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/...sletter&utm_medium=dd&utm_campaign=2014_10_03

Agreed. I'm planning on biking deeper into the winter this year (last year I rode every day right up to the end of Daylight Savings and then stopped). You can get some affordable lights that really make a difference. It's always nice to have a 1000 lumen headlight, but even a $15 headlight like the Blackburn Voyager 2.0 will make a world of difference when on the road. Also - multiple taillights is so important.

 

[Matthew]

The cynic in me says that you'll be blamed no matter what. That's the way things go. It's a political thing: if you ride a bike you are going to blamed, period. Maybe not if the other guy is drunk, maybe, but that's about it.

So the best thing to do is not to get in a crash at all. So get lots of lights! I have four now, and I'm thinking of getting another. Livable Streets tried to run a campaign of giving out free bike lights last year as well... sometimes it was difficult to get people to accept a free light! No idea why.

My favorite bike light that I've seen is the laser one that projects the picture of a bike on the ground.

 

[autonomy]

Please get a headlight tail light as dark "sneaks up" on your morning or evening rides.

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/...sletter&utm_medium=dd&utm_campaign=2014_10_03

To add to that, if you are a pedestrian on a bike path after dark, make sure you are visible. At the least wear something with a reflector - could be something on your shoes, on your backpack, etc. A decent bike light will make your reflectors visible to the cyclist from over 100 yards away; I actually find that more helpful than flashing lights.

I've seen too many people wearing dark clothing in the dark on the Minuteman. I've also seen cyclists without any lights whatsoever, usually random 'non-commuters', wear a light to make yourself visible to those.

Also, there was recently a police officer on the Minuteman/Lake St. in Arlington educating cyclists about the correct way to cross. I thought that was rather interesting - I know they're trying to prevent people from darting into the road and/or cutting off pedestrians, but I don't think that many cyclists are going to come to a complete stop and 'wait for a break in traffic'.

 

[Arlington]

I've seen too many people wearing dark clothing in the dark on the Minuteman.

It turns my stomach to see all the cycling pants and jogging clothes being available only in black--which obviously sells because its sexy and slimming.
But kills because its while it may look great in the mirror, it can't be seen at all on the street or path. Buy some day-glo or reflective clothing--its usually on clearance :-/ Pick almost any style in Amazon, and the most-visible one will be cheapest. Make people's vanity and stupidity work for you.

Now, if we could also get motorists to turn their headlights on at the same time. Way too many people are clearly only turning the headlights dial until their instrument panel lights come on, grr.

 

[cden4]

So apparently DCR is at it again trying to pull a fast one and do nothing for bikes and peds. They sent out a last second press announcement that they are repaving Hammond Pond Parkway in Newton, which has 4 travel lanes, no shoulders or bike lanes, and no sidewalks. DCR of course planned to restripe it exactly as it is now. They've gotten in a lot of sh*t in the past for not trying to improve their parkways for bikes and peds in these cases, and the DCR leadership has promised folks that they will do better.

Citizens and advocates are asking DCR to do a road diet on Hammond Pond Parkway and restripe with 3 lanes and bike lanes or something similar. We'll see if they do it, but it's not looking good. Apparently what's been happening now is that the engineering department is just silently ignoring the leadership, not having any public process, or attempting to come up with new striping plans when they repave parkways. How these people still have a job, I have no idea...

 

[BPLange7]

So apparently DCR is at it again trying to pull a fast one and do nothing for bikes and peds. They sent out a last second press announcement that they are repaving Hammond Pond Parkway in Newton, which has 4 travel lanes, no shoulders or bike lanes, and no sidewalks. DCR of course planned to restripe it exactly as it is now. They've gotten in a lot of sh*t in the past for not trying to improve their parkways for bikes and peds in these cases, and the DCR leadership has promised folks that they will do better.

Citizens and advocates are asking DCR to do a road diet on Hammond Pond Parkway and restripe with 3 lanes and bike lanes or something similar. We'll see if they do it, but it's not looking good. Apparently what's been happening now is that the engineering department is just silently ignoring the leadership, not having any public process, or attempting to come up with new striping plans when they repave parkways. How these people still have a job, I have no idea...

Which section is up for the work? I used to live in Newton and am more familiar with the section from Beacon to Boylston than from Boylston to West Rox. I don't think I've ever seen more than a handful of cars on that stretch at the same time.

 

[cden4]

Beacon to Boylston

 

[Arlington]

What has to be done to get a better "pedestrian crossing" sign at this point in Arlington (MVP @ Palmer St)?
http://goo.gl/maps/S6nQW

 

[Matthew]

The Neponset River Trail and Pope John Paul park. Not bad.