General Infrastructure

[Delvin4519]

New news for streets in Boston:

More Speed Humps Coming to Boston in Major New Street Safety Initiative

Boston is set to ramp up the number of its streets with speed humps as part of a major new initiative to make the city safer for all, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday. Under the Safety Surge program, the city will no longer place speed bumps on streets where residents ask for them. Instead...

www.nbcboston.com

Just in: Streetsblog has obtained a map of installation of speed humps:

Wu Admin Announces ‘Safety Surge’ of Traffic Calming for Neighborhood Streets

The city says it aims to install up to 500 new speed humps and redesign at least two dozen intersections every year.

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[Equilibria]

Agreed, but one of the things that excites me about this announcement is that speed humps can be scaled up and deployed very quickly, even compared to other quick-build traffic calming interventions. The city's map for where they could do speed humps is extensive, too - would be great to see Boston keep this commitment and roll it out ASAP: https://www.boston.gov/making-neighborhood-streets-safer

I'd be interested in what speeds are like in the locations where they want to put the humps. If they're in places were people are typically driving under 25 already, they serve as punitive (and virtue-signaling) more than protective. The map here basically just includes every neighborhood street in Boston, including a lot where they probably aren't necessary.

 

[Delvin4519]

I'd be interested in what speeds are like in the locations where they want to put the humps. If they're in places were people are typically driving under 25 already, they serve as punitive (and virtue-signaling) more than protective. The map here basically just includes every neighborhood street in Boston, including a lot where they probably aren't necessary.

Deterring rat running is also desirable as well. Sometimes if the main street is backed up with traffic, a side street could be inviting for thru traffic, so a speed hump might still be useful in that sense.

 

[Codman89]

I'd be interested in what speeds are like in the locations where they want to put the humps. If they're in places were people are typically driving under 25 already, they serve as punitive (and virtue-signaling) more than protective. The map here basically just includes every neighborhood street in Boston, including a lot where they probably aren't necessary.

Another important metric, I'd argue more important than typical/average speed, is how speed humps affect the fastest drivers. If the average speed on a street is 20-25mph and the speed limit is 25mph, you could design your speed humps to enforce the speed most people are already travelling. BUT, it will become much more difficult to drive 40+ mph down that street. Which is where a lot of the danger comes in.

Personally I'm quite pleased with this announcement. Successful speed management involves both horizontal and vertical deflection, as well as other cues to drivers that they need to slow down. A few lumps of asphalt aren't going to win any design awards, but they're an effective and meaningful part of the toolkit in keeping vehicle speeds under control. Especially as we enter the EV era where the speeding capabilities of your average car are likely to skyrocket (unless we legislate otherwise).

 

[ritchiew]

This article might touch on a half dozen threads on here.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05...tation-face-daily-bottleneck-along-sidewalks/

Downtown sidewalks, which are already too narrow in many places, are getting more crowded. More people are commuting into North Station, and they’re getting bottlenecked on their walk by the closed road and sidewalks around the GC Garage demolition. As a result, people are walking along a dangerous edge of the road and into the (narrow, unprotected) bike lanes. Pedestrians are trying to not get hit by bikes and trucks, while bikers are having to swerve into traffic. And, the specific congested block the article shows runs along what could be another block of the Greenway, which would be a nice way to walk through downtown. But it is instead ramps for the Central Artery.

The general disregard for anyone not in a car is infuriating. But I started swearing out loud at the quote from BTD spokesperson who can assure us that "BTD has no indication that pedestrians are directly impacting vehicular traffic." That is not comforting. If this is the situation, pedestrians should be impacting car traffic. Take a car lane on JFK and give it to bikes and pedestrians temporarily. When the garage demolition is done, make the lane closure permanent.

 

[Charlie_mta]

This article might touch on a half dozen threads on here.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05...tation-face-daily-bottleneck-along-sidewalks/

Downtown sidewalks, which are already too narrow in many places, are getting more crowded. More people are commuting into North Station, and they’re getting bottlenecked on their walk by the closed road and sidewalks around the GC Garage demolition. As a result, people are walking along a dangerous edge of the road and into the (narrow, unprotected) bike lanes. Pedestrians are trying to not get hit by bikes and trucks, while bikers are having to swerve into traffic. And, the specific congested block the article shows runs along what could be another block of the Greenway, which would be a nice way to walk through downtown. But it is instead ramps for the Central Artery.

The general disregard for anyone not in a car is infuriating. But I started swearing out loud at the quote from BTD spokesperson who can assure us that "BTD has no indication that pedestrians are directly impacting vehicular traffic." That is not comforting. If this is the situation, pedestrians should be impacting car traffic. Take a car lane on JFK and give it to bikes and pedestrians temporarily. When the garage demolition is done, make the lane closure permanent.

A lot of the problem is the road engineers default to the AASHTO roadside design guide when setting up temporary traffic control around construction sights, which of course is auto-centric in its setup.

 

[fatnoah]

As a result, people are walking along a dangerous edge of the road and into the (narrow, unprotected) bike lanes. Pedestrians are trying to not get hit by bikes and trucks, while bikers are having to swerve into traffic.

This is my daily commute, and it doesn't feel nearly as dire to me as the article makes it sound. It is annoying to have to go around the construction when I could just follow Congress street all the way to my office, but the only people dodging cars are those that insist on crossing mid-block instead of at the crosswalk.

 

[North Shore]

A lot of the problem is the road engineers default to the AASHTO roadside design guide when setting up temporary traffic control around construction sights, which of course is auto-centric in its setup.

TBH, MassDOT has been much more adamant in their reviews of my projects about ensuring temporary (and sufficient) pedestrian access during construction.