Rose Kennedy Greenway

Look at Boylston St. It's four lanes of one way traffic flying down the street with parking on both sides. It's also one of Boston's best streets. Street wall activity is the most important factor here. Meager cafes and retail shops, as you put it, are what make up a city. They aren't some throw away add ons.

Also, the Greenway's only 2 lanes through most of the North End. It ain't exactly like crossing the Mighty Mississippi.
 
underground said:
Also, the Greenway's only 2 lanes through most of the North End. It ain't exactly like crossing the Mighty Mississippi.
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Where is it only two lanes?? It's a total of six every time I go from Cross St. to Blackstone.

Not to mention the cars driving ON the sidewalk at Cross St. Whose brilliant idea was that?
 
I just watched the chronicle piece online. One of the biggest complaints has been.... (drumroll)... the lack of shady places! How do we create shade? Shadows? I thought shadows were bad and open green space was good. Don't tall building ruin open green spaces (I mean, seriously, does anyone even go to post office square).

I wonder how the shadow nuts sleep at night?
 
The show was salvaged from a prior show, trees are leafed out. I think they ovedubed current dates for some of the events(earth day clean up). At the end of the show the did an update from thier studio, bad news on they museums but good news about the farmers market comming back to Dewey Sq.

It may be in segment for of this list, haven't played it yet:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/chronicle/19140242/detail.html
 
Some of it has parallel parking all of the time, some of it has it some of the time, and some of it has it none of the time. So in some places you're only really crossing two lanes of traffic, depending on when and where.
 
To better frame this discussion, don't just consider how wide the road is; consider too how wide it feels. To some (the elderly, parents with small children), I'm sure it feels intimidating. Vehicles often move at > 35mph along the Greenway, with only a curb separating the pedestrian from harm's way.
 
Ron Newman said:
Each side road is three lanes wide (not two, not four, certainly not six)
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Three on one side and three on the other - it's a total of six for me to cross into and out of the North End. During rush hour, all lanes are moving, and yes, the perception is a little scary. It's more like a highway and less like a street.
 
Unfortunately, though, the Greenway still needs to serve a pretty large capacity of cars during rush hour-that comes with the city. I'd rather have more people just move to the city and not have to commute, but that's kind of an outrageous demand. Realistically, I'd rather see better pedestrian access by perhaps lowering the speed limit (not that it would help a lot) and changing the North End side to a two-lane road in non-essential (not near the on/off ramps) areas.
 
Um, no, a virtual reduplication of the highway at surface level is not necessary for any purpose.
 
Not to in any way defend the Greenway, but I was just down there and there was a small group of Aquarium employees playing Frisbee and none of them were in any danger of having to dive into traffic to catch the disc. They had plenty of room to run around and throw.

Of course, 'plenty of room to play Frisbee' does not a successful park make.
 
statler said:
Not to in any way defend the Greenway...
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...my turn:

Back to the discussion of traffic lanes:
Pop quiz:
How many lanes do you have to cross to get to the Common?
Park Street: 2 + 2 parking = 4
Tremont Street: 3 + 1 parking = 4
Boystlon Street: 2 + 1 parking = 3
Charles Street (speaking of "highways"): 4 + 1 parking = 5
Beacon Street: 4 at the bottom of the hill; 3 at the top

How many lanes do you have to cross to get to the Public Garden?
Boystlon Street: 2 + 1 parking + median + 2 + 1 parking = 6
Charles Street (speaking of "highways"): 4 + 1 parking = 5
Beacon Street: 4 + 2 parking = 6!!!
Arlington Street: 3 + 2 parking = 5

How many lanes do you have to cross to get onto the Commonwealth Ave Mall?
Same as the Greenway

How long has Altantic Ave been a "highway"?
Answer: from its inception

To summarize: both Surface Road (yes, dumb name) and Atlantic Ave have always been north-south arteries...even during horse 'n' buggy days. AND...by the numbers, these parks are easier to get to than both the Common and the Public Garden. AND...the North End parks were very well populated today.

...of course, populated parks do not a successful park make.
 
ledjes said:
How many lanes do you have to cross to get onto the Commonwealth Ave Mall?
Same as the Greenway
Click to expand...

More actually. 3 lanes + parking vs just 3 lanes.

Also, the greenway has many, MANY crosswalks, comm ave doesnt.

What comm ave has is that its more continuous, since there arent as many cross streets, but it has a peice worse than the greenway ramp parcel, where the mass ave underpass is. You need to cross to the sidewalk, cross mass ave, and then cross back to the park
 
^^^

Actually, I was just walking through the Commonwealth Ave mall today and thought about how the greenway is that intersection with Mass Ave writ large.
 
The surface artery traffic sewer surrounding the greenway could be greatly tamed and the isolating feeling of the greenway significantly mitigated by simply allowing parking along the curb lanes.

Not so long ago curb parking was allowed on Congress Street in the stretch by City Hall and fairly recently curb parking was removed along Arlington Street where it borders the Public Gardens. Curb parking significantly buffers pedestrians so they no longer feel that they are walking next to a highway.
 
There is no sidewalk on the Cross St. side of the North End parks to serve as a buffer, and on the side where the stores (J. Pace et al) are, the "sidewalk" is freakishly wide. Worse, this area is a combination sidewalk/road with cars and trucks mixed in with pedestrians. What it has become is a dangerous, moving parking lot.

Why didn't they just make the parks wider, moving the street over closer to the stores? It would have taken away some of that median strip atmosphere.

I agree that the North End parks are popular and the best part of the Greenway, but they have to improve the flow of traffic.
 
^^^I never understood that little bit access road on the sidewalk.
 
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