North Bank Bridge Pedestrian Walkway

As a former and hopefully future bicycle commuter, I welcome every brick and plank of biking infrastructure. Though I do think that cyclists like the idea of more riders on the roads, because it increases awareness and investment, I am seeing more incidents of cycle rage on Cambridge/Boston streets these days. Bikers, who have ridden at full speed for years, are now more and more often getting stuck behind slower riders.

It will be interesting to see if faster riders continue to be as enthusiastic about increased infrastructure if their average speed continues to decline.
 
AmericanFolkLegend said:
Whig, it seems like you're arguing if there is some new, currently non-existent infrastructure being proposed, we should only build it if there is sufficient demand. And the only way to determine if there's sufficient demand is to count the number of people currently using the currently non-existent infrastructure.
You see the problem with that?
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AMF -- No what I'm arguing is that we prioritize our expenditures of SCARCE Tax $ allocated to transportation:

1) fix the things which are critical to the economy / society and are seriously broken -- e.g. holes in Rt-128 where cars disappear, broken rails on the Orange Line where trains can derail
2) planned fixing with improvements to the existing infrastucture to moslty to keep from having to do a whole lot of #1 -- rebuiltng existing Green Line stations, bridges in the structurally deficient category
3) more extensive and more strategic rebuilding and improving of the existing infrastructure to enhance its operations and reduce operatiuonal costs such as building the flyover at Rt-128/I-93 in Woburn
4) Extending T-lines, adding parking garages, widening roads, etc. -- ovrall enhancing of transportation capabilities
5) everything else
 
kjdonovan said:
As a former and hopefully future bicycle commuter, I welcome every brick and plank of biking infrastructure. Though I do think that cyclists like the idea of more riders on the roads, because it increases awareness and investment, I am seeing more incidents of cycle rage on Cambridge/Boston streets these days. Bikers, who have ridden at full speed for years, are now more and more often getting stuck behind slower riders.

It will be interesting to see if faster riders continue to be as enthusiastic about increased infrastructure if their average speed continues to decline.
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I've been thinking that Binney St needs to change from 2 car travel lanes / 1 bike lane in each direction to 2 bike lanes / 1 car .
 
I was there -- were you?

Some observations:

1) the ceremonial opening was fine as even the politicians were unexpectedly brief -- 30 minutes from the approach of Davey to the microphone until the ceremonial ribbon cutting and the ceremonial walk with Devalgreeted on the Chalestown end by one lone Charlestown minuteman in full hot regalia.
a) Note that the political brevity was aided by the sudden loss of voice on the part of Capuano, and sprinklers coming on a bit lower down in the pecking order of speakers.
2) the parks looked very well groomed and prepared including fresh mulch on both sides
3) The EF folks provided free pizza and water the latter of which was most welcome
4) I'm fully expecting the new bridge to appear in some TV or movie -- it's that good
5) on the way back to Cambridge I ran into Karl Haugland and he told me that:
a)) DOT specifically the T and DCR have signed a MOU that when the T rebuilds the rail drawbridge that there will be a 12 foot wide pedestrian / bike path outrigger added to the bridge -- i.e. it will go up and down with the bridge
b) the complementary bridge crossing the tracks behind North Station is about at the 90% point in preparing the prelimimnary design
c) both other bridges should be done in the next 3 years

PS: I'm now fully convinced that far in excess of the Greenway and even Spectacle Island that the combination of Nashua St., Paul Revere, and North Bank parks are the single best contribution of the Big Dig beyond the obvious improvement in traffic flow

Once the other two bridges are completed -- the linked north station area Charles bank parks will truly have recovered the "lost half mile" of the Charles and made a major and lasting addition to the Esplanade
 
I was there too. Would love to have met you, but I have no idea what you look like.

I heard that the pedestrian/bike bridge across the Charles can't just be added as an 'outrigger' because it would unbalance the rail bridge.

Do you know whether the South Bank bridge design assumes demolition of the current Spaulding hospital building?
 
It will be very nice once the Spaulding side at the Nashua Street Park is connected over the Charles. I direct at least a dozen people every day around the hospital towards the Charlestown Bridge or back around to North Point Park when they amble to the farthest point towards the rail bridge and look around with confusion that they can't go any further.

My best guess is that they'll end up demolishing the back (gray) half of Spaulding and leave the wing facing Nashua St standing. MGH has some plans for the building and only the rear face of the building is obstructing new track. The concrete footings for at least two more bridge spans are still in the river west of the existing structure.
 
whighlander said:
Hutch don't just pretend -- DO IT!

I'd like to see the quality of your analysis and see how I'm screwing my customers with faulty analysis methadology

as an independent consultant I get paid to do analysis on a lot of different topics by a lot of diverse entities for a lot of diverse and sometimes unfathomable reasons -- I'd like to know how to improve the quality of my work
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If I got this kind of analysis from a consultant, I'd fire him. I'm sure you do better by your paying clients, but in this case, you start with an unproven premise. The rest is only as good as the faulty foundation.

however, let's assume you are right that the Alewife stats are a good proxy. 5% using bikes means a lot of cars have been removed from route 2. If bike infrastructure can remove 5% of cars elsewhere, that is one of the least expensive road upgrades available, making a real good bang for the buck improvement for the hard pressed drivers of Lexington and Arlington.
 
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There's also a walkway built all the way to the drawbridge on the east side of the railroad tracks, behind the TD Garden. I don't know why this exists, since there have never been any plans for a pedestrian drawbridge on this side.
 
kjdonovan said:
It will be interesting to see if faster riders continue to be as enthusiastic about increased infrastructure if their average speed continues to decline.
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Yes, this is a quickly developing issue on the Lalemont trail (Southwest Corridor Park). Last year I observed what I thought was a big increase, but this year ridership has exploded. I very often find myself stuck in traffic, which as a fast rider can indeed be frustrating. But I also very much like seeing the throngs of cyclists using the infrastructure. I think the solution will be for the pioneers to push out to new frontiers. I am starting to think about alternate routes that will keep me on roads and going faster. Hopefully, those routes will someday become more congested too. One thing that seems clear -- when the city makes a small investment in bike facilities, people use them.
 
The ribbon-cuttting from the state's flickr feed:
7563550446_7acb0212e6.jpg

and the official blog
 
Ron Newman said:
I was there too. Would love to have met you, but I have no idea what you look like.

I heard that the pedestrian/bike bridge across the Charles can't just be added as an 'outrigger' because it would unbalance the rail bridge.

Do you know whether the South Bank bridge design assumes demolition of the current Spaulding hospital building?
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Ron -- Yes -- we might have been standing next to each other and never even realized it -- I was center about 20 feet from the podium -- essentially just behind the spot where the official picture taking was going on -- so that I was about 20 feet behind the governor in crossing the bridge

Ken Haugland told me that the T was going to rebuild the rail bridges and that the outrigger would be designed into the renovation / reconstruction

Apparently, the South Bank bridge can be designed and constructed in such a way as to permit the old Spaulding building to remain standing at least temporarily
 
HenryAlan said:
If I got this kind of analysis from a consultant, I'd fire him. I'm sure you do better by your paying clients, but in this case, you start with an unproven premise. The rest is only as good as the faulty foundation.

however, let's assume you are right that the Alewife stats are a good proxy. 5% using bikes means a lot of cars have been removed from route 2. If bike infrastructure can remove 5% of cars elsewhere, that is one of the least expensive road upgrades available, making a real good bang for the buck improvement for the hard pressed drivers of Lexington and Arlington.
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Henry -- I stated in my original post that we don't have any traffic count data (of which I'm aware) and thus I was using what data we did have as a proxy. Your conclusion above is of course also based on unproven assumptions.

You have no way of knowing that the bike riders who are parking at Alewife used to be drivers of cars on Rt-2, except for your faith in humanity. They could just as easily be former bus riders, or alternatively, they might be riding from the new residences off Concord Ave., on the otherside of the tracks. Nor do we have any evidence that all the 500 bike parking spaces are in fact occupied. I know from personal experience that the cars fill the garage -- but I've no personal knowledge of how many of the bike spots are used.

So I think my original conclusion still stands -- bike riding along the Minuteman Bike Trail does very little to impact the flow of traffic on Rt-2. However, I'll grant that had the 3 M$ for the bikeway, instead been spent on improvements to Rt-2 that the traffic would not likely have changed much either.

The only infrastructure investment which would do anything to the traffic on Rt-2 would be to extend the Red Line to Rt-128 in Lexington near to Hanscom. Since that didn't happen in the 1980 time frame, and is unlikely to happen anytime soon -- if the minimal $ spent on bike parking cages at Alewife make any impact on Rt-2 traffic-- more power to it.
 
I would suspect that the Minuteman pulls more vehicles off Mass Ave in Arlington, since it parallels it...
But, what does the Minuteman have to do with the North Bank Bridge?
 
Went for a jog through across the bridge Saturday morning. It's funny, between the Revere Park and the North Point Park, there's actually a ton of space down there. And it's actually really pleasant considering an interstate runs through it. You don't really hear the traffic either.
 
Every time I'm in Revere Park people have their dogs off their leashes. Does anyone know if that's an informal thing or does the park have some kind of "dog park" status?
 
saulblum said:
Some photos I took yesterday --

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87614014@N00/sets/72157630593577666/

The tall fence along the bridge's edges above the tracks make train photography a bit of a challenge.
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SaulB -- there seems to be a subtle bias in favor of people with pocketsize point and shoot cameras. My palm-sized 12 MPix GE can fit through the space between the heavy-duty, anti-human-projected-object fence and the structure

However - -the fence mesh in the forground does give some distinction to the pix taken with the big lenses -- it says 1%er -- LOL

PS -- nice pix -- too bad you can't stick-some-o-em into the thread
 
whighlander said:
SaulB -- there seems to be a subtle bias in favor of people with pocketsize point and shoot cameras. My palm-sized 12 MPix GE can fit through the space between the heavy-duty, anti-human-projected-object fence and the structure

However - -the fence mesh in the forground does give some distinction to the pix taken with the big lenses -- it says 1%er -- LOL

PS -- nice pix -- too bad you can't stick-some-o-em into the thread
Click to expand...

Thanks!

In fact, I was using a point-and-shoot for these shots, a PowerShot G11.
 
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