Sidewalks/Walkability in Massachusetts

[real_EthanHunt]

I commute to NYC weekly and this is pretty much everywhere. One thing that really surprised me compared to Boston was that the drivers in Manhattan are much more aware and even respectful of how this works. I assume there must be an enforcement aspect that makes this work, but I could be wrong.

its because its consistent. you yield to peds on turns. drivers know it. Drivers here need to look at the ped signal to know, and 90% dont even know to do that much less attempt to do it.

Not disagreeing but I'll note that the street grid in Manhattan is so much more predictable than Boston's radial spiderweb. Almost every intersection looks the same and works the same. So I'd bet that predictablilty is part of what makes it easier for drivers to know how to safely turn left and right during concurrent pedestrian phasing.

its the one ways in NYC that make it easier (more so than the grid layout). But the predictability is that most intersections are concurrent and always have been.

 

[sneijder]

Cambridge Pedestrianizes A Harvard Square Block, With More Car-Free Spaces In Consideration - Streetsblog Massachusetts

Today, the City of Cambridge began a pilot car-free zone on a small one-block section of Bow Street south of Harvard Square.

mass.streetsblog.org

it grinds my gears that every god damn thing that takes an inch of space away from cars must be a "pilot" that has the potential to be reversed with enough political will. Bike lanes? pilot. Copley square Dartmouth St Closure? Pilot. Bus lanes? Pilot.

How about every time a street gets widened or highways get expanded we can't have those be a pilot too? That way if it makes traffic worse we can bulldoze it and put it back the way it was before. oh wait...