8 Responses to “New Bike Lanes On Centre Street”

1. By mtalinm on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   rode in on these this morning, they are very nice! if memory serves, they run from where South joins Centre to the intersection of Centre and Myrtle. I turned off on Myrtle; maybe there are sharrows north of there

   I also heard rumors of a “climbing” lane on the right-hand northbound side of South…hope so!

2. By dotriderblog on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   Definitely an uncompleted line. Looks like they’re finished for the time being in Dorchester and they’ll be hitting JP. What’s next after that? Anyone know?

3. By Ian on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   Pardon me for being confused, but the bike lane shown seems not wider than the door zone. Myself, I could not ride so close to a long line of parked cars; it would give me the willies. Do local cyclists perceive this lane to be an improvement?

4. By BostonBiker on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   Ian

   I rode down this street a bunch of times when I took these pictures, and also sat and watched cyclist and motorist behavior and while I agree its a narrow lane, I would say that it is most definitely an improvement.

   Before what would happen is that cars would try to get over to the right in order to make way through the narrow parts of the street, now they tend to keep to the far left of the lane.

   You actually get MORE space to ride in now than you did before. So if you stick to the far left of the bike lane you are actually much further away from the doors than you would have been otherwise.

5. By Lisa on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   I live in JP and ride Center Street every day on my commute. I have always taken the lane when going down the stretch between the Monument and the Post Office, because the traffic lane is so narrow and there is active on-street parking. By “taking the lane”, I mean that I get in line with the cars, stop when the car ahead of me stops (instead of passing it on the right), and generally ride as though I were a car.

   I saw these new lanes going in yesterday. The markings do seem to improve the behavior of motorists somewhat. I presume that it was the intent of marking the narrowest parts with sharrows to have cyclists take the lane there.

6. By Fenway on Sep 15, 2010 | Reply

   The sharrows are likely located in the narrowest spots where the VCers most stridently argued against ANY potential lanes on Centre Street by claming any lanes at all would lead to disaster.

7. By Charlie on Sep 16, 2010 | Reply

   The narrowest dimensions the City (and its consultants) will use for bike lanes is 7′ parking lane, 5′ bike lane, and 10′ travel lane. It’s my understanding that in those areas where the roadway is not wide enough for that in both directions, the City is striping a bike lane uphill and sharrows downhill, or sharrows in both directions.

8. By Ian on Sep 16, 2010 | Reply

   @BostonBiker

   Glad to see your positive comment concerning the new lane. Best wishes.

   @Charlie

   “The narrowest dimensions …”
   Helpful and interesting information. Bike lanes are occasionally proposed for our roads in our area (35.25N, -97.47W); nice to have some numbers for comparison.