New (Buffered) Bike Lanes In Back Bay
Written by Boston Biker on Sep 02Got this in the email, weeee! Thanks Avery.
I like the idea that the new bike share could be driving bike lane placement, more lanes means more riders for the system, means more lanes, means bikes win!
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I noticed this addition on my way home from the grocery store this afternoon. Bike lanes from Boylston St. to Beacon St. along Dartmouth St. (Maybe further south than Boylston but I did not investigate). In the small block that is the Commonwealth Mall (the promenade between east- and west-bound traffic on Comm Ave) there is no street parking, so the lane shifts to the curb… with a painted buffer between the lane and traffic!!! How cool is that?
My early speculation: massive Hubway Station in Copley Square drives need for infrastructure in tourist-and commuter-heavy areas of Boston? This would mean more bikes bring more riders who are cause for more infrastructure solutions.
So I’m on the fence about bike lanes in general. But at the least I have to say this striping narrows the dangerously wide lanes on Dartmouth St.
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By Fenway on Sep 2, 2011 | Reply
Forsyth Way next to the MFA was striped with lanes by DCR last week and High Street downtown from Summer Street has also recently been striped.
By Fenway on Sep 3, 2011 | Reply
Sharrows in both directions on Darthmouth Street from at least a little south of Columbus Avenue to Stuart Street. The stretch in front of Back Bay Station is marked with relatively closely spaced sharrows. At this point Dartmouth becomes one way and so does the infrastructure.
From Stuart Street to St. James & Huntington Avenue there is a dashed lane in front of the Copley Fairmont Hotel. There’s a lane jog across the St. James/Huntington/Dartmouth intersection due to the right turn lane onto Boylston Street, and then a solidly lined lane the entire length of Dartmouth through Back Bay to Beacon Street, where the lane ends with a multi-sharrow merge for the right turn only onto Beacon Street. There’s still some temporary white marking paint and similarly to the lanes on Ruggles Street the city still hasn’t gotten around to painting the bike lane figures.
At least as of my observations today, even in the heavy traffic around Copley Square in front of the BPL, drivers are respecting the lanes. These and the left side lanes on Commonwealth Avenue seem to be a Godsend for all the casual Hubway users and the elderly transportation cyclists in the Back Bay.