Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project

[jass]

I've seen the solar-electric compactors in front of Faneuil Hall (on the Sam Adams statue side) and on Hanover Street in the North End.

Theyre also on Boylston street, near the Pru, and all around Fenway Park.

They're from a local company, and the city started a trial with them a year or two ago. I guess they liked it, because I see them in more and more places. They have two models, a large green one, and a smaller black one for places like the north end.

They have a solar panel on top which powers a compactor, so it can fit as much as 3 regular garbage bins. The other benefit is that its closed like a mailbox, so once trash is in it wont fly away.

The lack of this on comm ave tells me that soon the new stone will be chopped up for hundreds of ugly parking meters instead of the newer parking machines seen on Newbury street.

 

[Ron Newman]

One advantage of old-style parking meters over the newer machines: they double as parking places for bicycles.

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

^^LOL nice. But there's quite a few new trees from this project that bicyclists can use (and I'm pretty sure most are thin enough).

 

[sidewalks]

I drove down Comm Ave yesterday and it looks like they are about ready to put in grass in the median strip between the roadway and the tracks. I really hope they don't make this mistake again. One only need look at Huntington Avenue to see what happens to grass planted in the median. Earlier this spring new sod was planted in the median and it is already overgrown and weeds are peeking through. It is only a matter of time that it looks completely destitute. It happens everywhere in the city and yet the "deciders" seem bent on continuing this practice. Why not just adopt a realistic approach and plant a ground cover or replinish mulch on an annual basis. At least we could keep the weeds out and it might look vaguely presentable.

 

[Ron Newman]

Locking bicycles to trees damages the trees -- please don't.

 

[jass]

One advantage of old-style parking meters over the newer machines: they double as parking places for bicycles.

Not on comm ave. A couple months ago BU and the city removed every bike not attached to an official bike parking thing.

 

[ablarc]

...redesign the compactors to better fit into the "neighborhood aesthetic" or some rot.

I personally find the machines revolting.

Photo?

 

[Suffolk 83]

Locking bicycles to trees damages the trees -- please don't.

are you kiddin?

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

All trash talk goes here: http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=2312

 

[Pierce]

Not on comm ave. A couple months ago BU and the city removed every bike not attached to an official bike parking thing.

Wasn't it to remove the meters for this project though?

 

[jass]

Wasn't it to remove the meters for this project though?

No, the meters have been gone for over a year. The sidewalk was made smaller and the curb moved in. Comm ave has offered free parking for a very long time.

 

[kz1000ps]

Blandford St stop:

Trying to get across:

 

[ablarc]

Nice. ^

Lose the cyclone fence. ^

Flowers behind bars. ^

 

[jass]

The last two pictures make me sad. Blandford street stop wants to be bigger, and they stick in plants? And the fact that they completely ignored how that u-turn is used (more pedestrians than cars) makes me angry.

 

[bdurden]

^The Blanford T stop has been widened--look closer. The planters were clearly designed to encourage pedestrians to use the crosswalk rather than jetting out into Comm Ave; it appears to have worked.

 

[saltbox]

there was some chatter a while back about the inclusion of bike lanes in this project. can anyone confirm whether they are part of the plan? as someone who rides comm ave almost daily, i am salivating at the prospect.

 

[tommym96]

there was some chatter a while back about the inclusion of bike lanes in this project. can anyone confirm whether they are part of the plan? as someone who rides comm ave almost daily, i am salivating at the prospect.

As someone who drives Comm Ave. daily and has to swerve around bikers darting into the middle of the road, I, too, salivate at this prospect.

 

[cden4]

Yes, bike lanes are definitely coming. They were not originally (wide outside lanes were the original plan), but the city agreed to update their striping plan to have bike lanes throughout. This project is the mayor's first major commitment to bike lanes since he introduced his new Boston Bikes initiative.

 

[choo]

Yes, bike lanes are definitely coming. - cden

Great news I live right on comm ave but cut across to beacon street to bike in town because the bike line just makes everything feel safer. I'm definitely glad they will be doing this, and I will be checking when they drawn the lanes (which can't be too far away considering they paved part of the eastbound side the other day.)

 

[jass]

Yes, bike lanes are definitely coming. They were not originally (wide outside lanes were the original plan), but the city agreed to update their striping plan to have bike lanes throughout. This project is the mayor's first major commitment to bike lanes since he introduced his new Boston Bikes initiative.

Boston is finally entering the 1990s!