Two Actions This Week! Brattle St./Mass. Ave. (Mon), Cambridge St. (Wed)

Written by Boston Biker on May 15

From the email:

Protected bicycle infrastructure is moving ahead in parts of Cambridge, and there will be two opportunities this week to show strong community support for safer streets through the Brattle Street/Mass Ave (Mon) and Cambridge Street (Wed) projects. We have been very encouraged working with city staff, residents, and local businesses so far to make these successful, but we need to push for safe designs that create a network, particularly with two-way flows. Finally, we include an op-ed that details three important areas for improvement with the city’s proposed Inman Square redesign.

 

Monday May 15, 5-8PM: Brattle St/Mass Ave Protected Bicycle Lanes Open House
City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Lobby, RSVP on Facebook

 

Initial plans for protected bike lanes to be installed this spring on Brattle Street from Eliot to Mason Street and Mass Ave from Trowbridge to Quincy Street will be on display at the City Hall annex, giving us all an opportunity to weigh in with city staff. Both of these projects can provide safe connections in and out of Harvard Square as long as they are designed to be two-way (including contra-flow directions). Creating a viable bicycle network in Cambridge will require many such two-way designs, which we need to advocate for early and often.

 

Wed May 17, 6-8PM: Cambridge St Protected Bicycle Lane Final Public Meeting
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, Main Cafeteria, 459 Broadway, RSVP on Facebook

 

The city will hold its second and final public meeting for the Cambridge St protected bicycle lane project, running from Inman Square to Quincy Street and making key connections to CRLS, Cambridge Hospital and local businesses. This meeting is really important, even for those of us who attended the previous public meeting, for two reasons. First, it’s important for the city to continue to hear that this project has strong support from the community. Second, detailed plans will be presented at this meeting and we need to make sure they have as safe a design as possible, without unnecessary flaws that could make them less useful – especially since this project will serve as a template for future protected thoroughfares.

 

Cambridge Chronicle Op-Ed: Three changes to make a safe, people-centered Inman Square

 

At the last public meeting, the city stated that it will be moving forward with a signalized “bend” option for Inman Square, not the roundabout. The design includes essential safety features, such as protected bike lanes and floating bus stops – which is a huge win for bike safety – but it unfortunately also includes features more suitable for a highway than a people-centered square.

 

Some of us wrote a response to the city’s proposed design in the Cambridge Chronicle, detailing the challenge of creating a safe, neighborhood-focused square with the signalized “bend” option and proposed three changes to try to match the levels of safety of the roundabout in the city’s preferred design. You can read more about the most recent Inman Square redesign meeting in the Cambridge Day.

 

P.S. Check out this post on Nine Low-Cost Ideas for Making Cambridge Bicycling Safer by Tom Meek.

 

Sincerely,

Cambridge Bicycle Safety

Tags: cambridge bicycle safety, Take Action
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