One Kenmore Square | 560 Commonwealth Avenue | Kenmore Square

Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

I would also like to see how this impacts bus travel times. From my experience, the last leg of the 57 into Kenmore is usually speedy. Requiring multiple turns and lights would surely add time to the bus trip, especially since the bus would have to weave from the curb lane to the left lane in that small space.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

atlantaden said:
Start installing cameras above these intersections like many other cities are doing. Trust me, the numbers of people running red lights, blocking intersections, etc. drops once those tickets start arriving in the mail, and everyone else become aware of the cameras. Tough to fight a photo in court. PS...love the building! Hope it get's built as shown or at the very least, with minor needed changes.
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Traffic cameras have been found in court to be against the State's Constitution, so they are pretty much a non starter.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

If there was a case about red-light cameras I can't find it easily.

Got a link for that?
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

bakgwailo said:
Traffic cameras have been found in court to be against the State's Constitution, so they are pretty much a non starter.
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I haven't found anything indicating that the MA Supreme Court has found the use of red light cameras to be unconstitutional. Having said that, the Turnpike Authority does, indeed, use cameras to catch toll violators without having a run in with the courts, privacy activists, etc.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

An abysmal failure everywhere they've been done;

https://www.foxnews.com/us/red-light-cameras-come-under-fire-at-least-7-states-trying-to-ban-them

Contractors: "Ladies and gentlemen; We can do great things!"

They need to call Broward County.... In practice; a public menace; always abused. The temptation just proves too great... a fiasco on the courts, serious wrecks, backlogged cases? We'll hire more staff! *And they have to; (they cost tens of millions to install, and the bill has come due).

Ripe for abuse (Ft Lauderdale here we come)....

Shortened traffic lights... not getting enough tickets? Shorten 'em some more!! 4 seconds, 3.5 seconds, 3 seconds. 2.5 seconds HEY can we do 2 seconds?? In no time you got the fastest yellows on Earth;

Yes, this absurd practice has been done! People begin slamming their brakes, just causing more rear end crashes by a public scared into dangerous driving habits by rampant shortened yellows.

The auto body shops and chiropractors LOVE IT! So what if you soon get a public wanting to lynch the corrupt assholes who did it. The politicians got their envelopes and moved on.


*Do red light cameras cause more accidents?

On the other side of the debate are statistics that show the cameras also cause accidents. A 2005 federal study demonstrated that while injuries from right angle or T-bone crashes decreased by 16 percent at red-light camera intersections, injuries from rear-end collisions increased by 24 percent.Jun 28, 2011


You can't make this shytte up.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

atlantaden said:
I haven't found anything indicating that the MA Supreme Court has found the use of red light cameras to be unconstitutional. Having said that, the Turnpike Authority does, indeed, use cameras to catch toll violators without having a run in with the courts, privacy activists, etc.
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Actually not sure if it ever went to court. Deval had pushed for them twice and was shot down, figured it was via the courts.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

jass said:
I have been thinking about it, and I fully agree. The problem is you have too many intersections close together. Also, people already love to block the block in Boston, and t-intersections basically beg to be blocked because theres so little consequence.

IE: If you sit your ass in the middle of a standard intersection, youre clearly in the wrong because youre blocking straight traffic (people do it anyway). But if you block a t-intersection, you can claim you have the right of way over turning traffic so screw them. its much more common.

You have a recipe for gridlock here.

Any traffic model needs to show bad behavior.

M6Lfgbd.png
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My dudes.

All that needs to happen here is to time the lights so that the EB light at Brookline ave goes green when the lights on comm ave feeding the new 'throat' go red. T

That would 'release' any gridlock, because even on what you imagine to be the complete anarchy of boston streets, you're not going to get a stream of cars flowing through a red light.

This is a non-issue.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

bakgwailo said:
Actually not sure if it ever went to court. Deval had pushed for them twice and was shot down, figured it was via the courts.
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IIRC red light cameras hit the political bandwidth at some point in the past but many people a) seem to instinctively think the cameras ripe for abuse, and b) are aware the traffic cameras in Rhode Island were a high profile disaster (insert joke about RI here).

In short, not a political winner, and that's before even getting into the way the cameras increased accidents where they have been implemented nationally, actually were abused by police/government (some governments found shortening yellow light timers has a great impact on increasing red light ticket revenue!), and turned into legal fiascos.

I did find a couple other references on the interwebz to a court case shooting down the cameras in Massachusetts but no actual link to the case or citation. :confused:
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

odurandina said:
An abysmal failure everywhere they've been done
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False. They do a fantastic job, and people dislike them because of that.

Shortened traffic lights... not getting enough tickets? Shorten 'em some more!! 4 seconds, 3.5 seconds, 3 seconds. 2.5 seconds HEY can we do 2 seconds?? In no time you got the fastest yellows on Earth;
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False. MUTCD has very specific formulas for yellow light timing, based on the speed limit, intersection width, and sight lines.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

It's really quite effing simple: if you don't think red light and speed cameras are a good idea, then you don't think that keeping people safe is a good idea either.
What is the correct number of people dying on our streets is the correct one? How many of your friends or family is it acceptable for you to be in that number? The answer, of course is zero of your friends and family should die in traffic crashes.
Yet 40,000 Americans died in traffic crashes last year; and everyone of them was someones friend or family member.
Speeding kills and so does not stopping at red lights.
If people can't be bothered to drive less that 10mph above the speed limit in school zones; well fine the living eff out of them until via speed cameras till they do.
What's worth more to you: lives or a slightly shortened commute?
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

Traffic cameras are also a privacy issue though so it isn't that simple and better enforcement by police officers would help as well as a high fine. NYC was able to get people to stop blocking the box in Manhattan for the most part by doing that. Traffic cameras might be a tool we want to use but there are other ways to achieve the same goal without them.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

"It's really quite effing simple: if you don't think X and Y are a good idea, then you don't think that keeping people safe is a good idea either."

Hmmm. Sounds familiar.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

Well, this particular X and particular Y have been proven to reduce vehicle speeds, reduce crashes and injuries, and make roads safer in general.
Of course, the AMA disagrees; and that just proves my point.
 
Re: Crossroads at Kenmore | 560 Commonwealth Ave | Kenmore Square

Driverless pods within city limits.

We are all just wasting time until that happens.

And, the danger is far worse on running red lights than anecdotal tales of evil government doers making like the Russians and hacking the system for ticket revenue.

Driverless pods = no ticket liability for the passenger. Problem solved.

.........along with no more wasted real estate for inner city garages, street-side parking and traffic jams. Boston would be able to accommodate 3+ million residents within city limits if this came to pass.....and more efficiently with higher tax revenue and lower road costs (for example, no more pensioned meter maids, traffic cops, etc - - the domino effect is staggering).
 
I really really hate the shape of this building. It's too massive and ends up dominating the area.
 
meddlepal said:
I really really hate the shape of this building. It's too massive and ends up dominating the area.
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DZH22 said:
1 vote for the complete opposite
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Make that 2.

I love that it puts an architecturally interesting building front and center. I can't quite put my finger on it, but this building manages to simultaneously have an American and a European flavor. I especially love the plan to reallocate automobile space to the periphery and bring pedestrians into the heart of the square. Shrinking all those crosswalks is going to humanize Kenmore immensely (pg 56 vs pg 74).
 
I'm into it. If we're going to be the city with all the wonky wedge parcels, we should also be the city of flatirons. This is weird and has some issues to work out but I'm all for it.
 
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