Action Alert: People-Protected Bike Lane on Fenway THIS THURSDAY

Written by Boston Biker on Jul 09

From the email:

Tell DCR: Protected Bike Lanes Save Lives

New bike lanes coming soon to the Fenway area will leave cyclists vulnerable unless the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) tweaks plans to include some form of physical separation. With lane striping set to begin any day now, we ask you to join us this Thursday for an urgent demonstration calling on DCR to protect these bike lanes and improve conditions throughout this busy corridor for people who bike.
People-Protected Bike Lane on Fenway

People-Protected Bike Lane on Fenway
Thursday, July 11
Intersection of Fenway and Brookline Ave. (see map here)

RSVP

An image from the first people-protected bike lane demonstration in Boston,
on Congress St in December 2017.

Protected bike lanes (PBLs) are nearly twice as effective as painted bike lanes, and are the accepted safety standard for roads like Fenway and Park Drive; the MassDOT Municipal Resource Guide for Bikeability recommends PBLs on any road with more than one lane of traffic in each direction. However, DCR has decided to leave new bike lanes on Park Drive and Fenway unprotected, and has neglected to improve the intersections between those roads and Brookline Ave.

The Park Drive bike lane will be between on-street parking and two lanes of fast-moving traffic. Putting cyclists in the door zone on busy Park Drive is putting them in danger. And while the unprotected bike lane on Fenway isn’t designed in a door zone too, DCR’s refusal to add a physical barrier to that paint-buffered bike lane — DCR claims that it gives bicyclists a “false sense of security” — is completely backwards. During Boston’s budget hearings this spring, a cyclist shared her story of being hit from behind on Park Drive — a problem that could still happen with DCR’s unsafe designs. February’s crash that killed Paula Sharaga as she biked through the intersection of Brookline Ave. and Park Drive made the need for protection painfully clear.

DCR’s design decisions are made more frustrating by the fact that the Boston Transportation Department has already begun building PBLs on Brookline Ave., and has committed to significantly expediting the timeline to add protected bike lanes to an abutting section of Boylston St.

Preliminary striping shows a paint-buffered bike lane on Fenway (top)
and a door-zone bike lane on Park Drive (bottom).

We need your help to convince DCR to change course now, before the unprotected infrastructure is implemented!

• Join the people-protected bike lane — This Thursday, stand in support of protected bike lanes on Park Dr. and Fenway. In addition to these roads, we are also calling on DCR to make PBLs the norm for similar areas; recent DCR projects, and plans for future ones, also include unprotected bike lanes.

• Make your voice heard — Contact DCR to oppose their dangerous design, and urge lawmakers to step in. Even if your state representatives don’t cover this area, they can still influence broader DCR policy now and in the future. Share feedback to DCR Commissioner Roy and Governor Baker. For lawmakers, email Representative Chynah Tyler and Senator Will Brownsberger, who represent this area, and your own state senator and representative (find contact info here). For all emails, please CC [email protected].

• Save the date — DCR’s Stewardship Council meets next week on Thursday, 7/18, at which you can share feedback on the agency’s approach to PBLs and other bike infrastructure. If DCR ignores us now, this meeting will be our next opportunity to apply pressure about PBLs.

“If Paula were here, she would say, ‘Don’t mourn: Organize, and make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Todd, a long-time friend of Paula Sharaga’s, said at her ghost bike ceremony. That time to organize and push for change is here.

Tags: bcu, boston cyclists union, DCR, Fenway, Take Action
Posted in advocacy, Commuting, infrastructure | Comments Off on Action Alert: People-Protected Bike Lane on Fenway THIS THURSDAY