General Infrastructure

That is an absolutely hilarious artifact; thank you. for sharing. Do you know whether it was meant in sarcasm or is there some other interpretation? It's hard to imagine even in 1948 that was serious...
Well, as all things Mayor Curley, I am pretty sure he was serious - I mean who wouldn't want to use flamethrowers to remove snow.

For completeness, here is MIT's response, which I think is equally as amusing:

 
Well, as all things Mayor Curley, I am pretty sure he was serious - I mean who wouldn't want to use flamethrowers to remove snow.

For completeness, here is MIT's response, which I think is equally as amusing:

I finally was able to use my propane torch to melt some snow and ice this winter. The only downfall is that if it's windy, I have to constantly relight the torch however it works incredibly well for ice, and especially in the past several weeks with lack of salt.
 
Actually... So I have a super niche question. I was looking at the new Harvard Square Plaza plans, and I realized that the crosswalks there make zero sense. Specifically, why are there 3 distinct Mass Ave pedestrian crossings on the "western" / Brattle / Kennedy side of the Plaza? Because it's fed by one ways it's controlled by a single traffic phase... So in practice it's a single 170+ft wide crossing. It should be a free for all, but it isn't- Locals treat it like that, tourists are confused by it, but people absolutely gravitate towards the markings. I get that because it's so wide you'd need multiple pedestrian signal heads... but it's already so wide that there's several already there. The tiny interspersions of not-crosswalk are so minimal to basically provide zero lane guidance for drivers. Worse, the last presentation from the Mass Ave reconstruction plan, plus the plaza reconstruction, shows the status quo state of affairs to be the plan into the future, so... Why?

I've never questioned it because I'm so used to it, but is there a standard for maximum crosswalks width or something? Crossing distances for timing? I imagine there isn't a max width, because otherwise speed tables wouldn't be a thing - is this worth writing an email to the massave reconstruction folks asking for a sidewalk level raised crossing spanning the full distance?
 
Last edited:

Back
Top