NYC cylists repaint bike lane.

Basically what happened was a popular bike route was un-bike-laned. The City of New York painted over them, and some cyclists decided to put them back. Nice job folks! Want to come paint some bike lanes in Boston? I’ll buy you all beers. Seriously.

I like this idea: can we do this here? Why wait until existing bike lanes are taken away? We should just put bike lines wherever we want.

via TreeHugger

UPDATE:

So, the reason that the bike lanes were taken away is because of the Hasidic Jew population in Williamsburg.

The Hasidim were complaining that girls biking through were too scantily clad, and that it became difficult to not-look at them (as mandated by Hasidic Law). Or, so says the Post, but I’m not sure how much stock I’d put in this particular part of the report.

As a secular Jew, I’d like to think that I have the right to complain about the Hasidim …. but I don’t. I’m just going to let that hang…. and never complain about the Hasidim again.

(They will fuck you up)

Greg at BuBikes spotted the crews out painting today, hurray new bike lane day!

I would love love love to see something like this from the city, it would be great.

Also did you notice, they talk about door zones in bike lanes? A little education goes a long way toward safety.

Also how not to cross the street (this video is completely unrelated to the above, but o..m..g..)

I found a video of David Byrne riding his bike all over Manhattan, which is pretty awesome. Thanks NY times!

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/13/nyregion/1247465140390/david-byrne-live-on-two-wheels.html

I guess he’s become a cycling advocate after the last few years. How could you not love David Byrne?

He’s been writing a lot over the last few years, one that’s pretty cool is The New Sins, which is basically a catalog of things that David Byrne finds to be gauche. I read a chunk of it in college and really liked it.

He recently wrote a book called the Bicycle Diaries, which I’m sure would be interesting to read.

Looks like Byrne has STARTED to make sense. Right? eh?

I’m a terrible writer.

I have been riding around Cambridge lately and noticing a lot of new things going on. Potential new bike lanes on river street (although they come with some problems as the right hand side of the street is a shit show). The Mass. Ave. Bridge bike lanes have gotten a new coat of thermo plastic. The bike lanes on western ave look like they got a new coat of paint. It looks like the lanes got narrowed on prospect near Mass. Ave. and it also looks like they are putting in bike lanes there. Harvard square seems to be getting some new bike lanes. Various other bike lanes around town (Hampshire off Broadway, and various parts further north) seem to be getting re-painted, or parts that have worn off redone. Over all it looks like there are new bike lanes going in, old ones being fixed up, and a whole lot more. Thanks Cambridge. It is the little things that matter, and I congratulate you on keeping up the good work.

(Anyone that can take a picture of everything I just mentioned and send me the pics will get a prize, use the contact form to drop me a line and I will tell you where to email the pictures)

Many times when people start talking about bike lanes, some cyclist in the back pipes up and says “yea but they are no good cause you are in the door zone!!!!11!1!” These people area almost allways confident experienced cyclists. They have no problem ridding down any road. But to a brand new rider, or to people thinking about riding (you know the people currently in cars that we would love to see on a bike) the bike lane offers the promise of “safer” biking. Bike lanes on the street might be just that little extra that gets them riding.

We could argue all day and night (and a lot of people do) about bike lanes, and if they make you safer, but really that isn’t the point. The point is people don’t “feel safe”, you can argue all day and night about that, but no amount of logic or well thought out study is going to make people “feel” different. Many people need an actual physical “something” to make them feel safer, if a little stripe of white paint will do that, well then by god paint some white stripes on the ground! If hanging waffles around their neck made them feel safer I would do it…I want to see more people out on the streets on bicycles, and less people in cars.

Experienced cyclists fail to realize that they would be driving down the same exact street even if there was no bike lane on it. They also fail to realize that bike lanes are to keep cars OUT not to keep bikes IN. Let me say that again…bike lanes are to keep cars out, not to keep bikes in.

You are allowed to leave a bike lane whenever you want. In fact you are encouraged to leave the bike lane for safety, or if you want to make a left hand turn, or if you see some debris in the bike lane, or if you want to pass a slower rider, or some jerk pulled half into the bike lane, or if someone is getting out of their car, or if someone looks like they might be getting out of their car, or if a pedestrian is walking out, or…well you get the idea.

Boston and surrounding towns are absolutely in love with on street parking, and it is very unlikely that they will fall out of love anytime soon, so here is how you use a “door zone” bike lane. By door zone I mean, “the area by which an opening car door would cause a biker to be struck by said opening door.” An easy way to find out if you are in the door zone is to ask yourself the following question “if that car door opened would I run into it?” If the answer is “yes” you are in the door zone.

Here is an example of a typical bike lane in this area.

So let me clarify where the door zone is.

and here is where I personally would ride in this bike lane.

Right away new cyclists are going to balk at this suggestion, stating something like

“But how can being over on the left hand side with the moving cars be safer than over on the right near the parked cars, surely moving cars are more dangerous than parked ones!”

I would respond them by saying that while this might seem true, it isn’t. Parked cars have a nasty habit of sprouting doors, and pedestrians like to sneak out between them. If you ride in a nice straight line (this is actually really important), and are predictable (signal your turns, stop at red lights etc), being on the left hand side of the bike lane allows cars to plan for what you are going to do. They will move over a bit, go past you, then continue on there way. It might seem loud, as cars often give it some gas to get past you faster, but they are not being malicious they are just trying to get by.

You are going to have to trust me on this, but having two predictable vehicles (car and bike) interacting in a predictable and planned way (bike stays in a straight line, car moves over slightly passes then resumes position) is MUCH MUCH safer, than a car door randomly opening and breaking your face, collar bone, or worse. People get tossed into traffic and run over by doors opening, people swerve into cars and are run over when doors open. There is no easy way to predict when a car door will open, and getting doored is horrific (even at low speed) so the best method of dealing with it is to STAY OUT OF THE DOOR ZONE.

Imagine would would happen to this person if the car in front of them opened the door…

Would they end up under the wheels of that truck?

You can see that the truck has moved over to go past the cyclist ahead of the one closed to me (click the image for the bigger version). The person in the foreground is smack in the door zone. You will also notice that they would be just fine (even with this wide truck) and have plenty of space if they were on the left hand side of the lane. It would take some getting used to but by moving over to the left they would avoid the door zone, and still have plenty of space to use the bike lane. Giving them the best of both worlds the safety (perceived or actual) of the bike lane, without the danger (real) of the door zone.

It took me a couple of weeks of riding to get comfortable with the feeling of being on the left hand side of the lane. But in that couple of weeks more than a few people opened their doors in front of me and I never had to swerve into traffic, or even really make any avoidance maneuver at all. Being on the far left of the bike lane has saved my skin more times than I can count.

So the next time you hear someone complaining about bike lanes because they have parked cars next to them simply explain to them that they are allowed to leave the bike lane, and that the far left of the bike lane is the safest place for them to be. If they are not happy with that tell them to lobby for the removal of on street parking, or perhaps ride down streets without bike lanes on them.

Got this in the email….seems that Boston is running cycling as fast as it can to catch up with more bike friendly cities like New York and Cambridge.

I for one am very impressed with the amount of effort they have put in over the last couple months. The problem was how far behind we started. If they can keep up this level of infrastructure improvement in a couple years Boston will be a pretty kick ass town to ride a bike in! Huzzah to the city, and huzzah to keeping up this pace!

Interesting things to note about this press release

“bike network currently being designed” and “This project is part of a greater project to create a complete network, with accessibility to existing facilities in the network including the South West Corridor and Arnold Arboretum.” = WEEEE! A bike grand plan yes, we have needed one of these for a long time, lets hope they involve the local neighborhood bike groups and MassBike, Livable Streets and others in the planning.

“At the northern end, 12 on-street parking spaces will be removed between Arboretum Way and Ukraine Way” = YIPPY! I have come to the conclusion that on street parking is a bane to everyone (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and businesses) anytime we can kill a couple is a good time.

Press release below.

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Mayor Menino’s Boston Bikes to install bike accommodations on Belgrade, Corinth, South and Washington Streets

What are bike lanes?
Bike lanes are sections of road designated for exclusive use by cyclists.

What are shared lanes?
Shared lanes are sections of roadway designated to be shared between bikes and cars. A bike symbol is added, but no lines to indicate an exclusive bike lane. These are often used when there is not sufficient space for a dedicated bike lane.

Why install bike lanes?
Belgrade, Corinth, South and Washington Streets are important parts of the bike network currently being designed by the City. These roads in particular, help cyclists traveling between West Roxbury, Roslindale, Forest Hills and ultimately downtown Boston. It is only fitting to make this road as safe as possible, for all users.

What about safety?
Bike lanes are proven to make the roads safer for all users. They do so in the following ways: Provide guidance for vehicles wishing to pass cyclists; Designate safe riding zone for cyclists; Encourage cars to drive at slower, safer speeds; Encourage cyclists to bicycle more respectfully and predictably; Reduce the number of cyclists biking on the sidewalk; Make pedestrians and vehicles more aware of cyclists.

What are the project limits and scope?
The City will install bike accommodations on Belgrade, from West Roxbury Parkway to South Street; on South Street from Belgrade to Washington; on Washington from south Street to the Forest Hills T and Corinth, from Belgrade to Washington. This project is part of a greater project to create a complete network, with accessibility to existing facilities in the network including the South West Corridor and Arnold Arboretum.

What is involved with installation?
Work will take place over 1-3 days, in October, typically between 7 AM and 3 PM. Parked cars may need to be temporarily removed.

Will parking be impacted?
With the exception of the northern end of the project, parking will not be impacted by the bike lanes. At the northern end, 12 on-street parking spaces will be removed between Arboretum Way and Ukraine Way. Impacts are anticipated to be minimal as off-street parking is generally available in this area.

Will traffic be impacted?
In general, traffic will not be impacted by this project. Changes are proposed between Arboretum Way and the Ukraine Way. Currently Washington Street operates as two lanes southbound from the Forest Hills Orange Line station to just north of Arboretum Way where it becomes one lane southbound. To accommodate bike lanes in this area, the lane switch from two lanes to one will be moved north as the center southbound lane at Ukraine will become a left turn only lane and one southbound lane will be provided south of this point.

Contact Nicole Freedman, Bike Programs Director, 617-918-4456,
nicole.freedman.bra@cityofboston.gov

Boston Bikes is part of Mayor Menino’s vision for a vibrant and healthy city that benefits all its citizens. It seeks to make Boston a world-class bicycling city by creating safe and inviting conditions for all.

I have had a very good problem lately, it has been hard to keep up with all the new bike lanes going in! Seems like they are going to be putting them in on Comm. Ave, and North Harvard, and Columbus Ave. Huzzah! If you see new lanes popping up, shoot me an email.

The latest sightings seem to be new bike lanes on Beacon near BU, spotted by 100psi and pedalstrike.

I also saw what looked like new bike lanes being painted on River street coming over from Allston into Cambridge. At least I think they are new bike lanes there was no markers on them, and frankly I wouldn’t be sad if they were not bike lanes, cause the shoulder on River is really rough, and I would hate to think they were gonna put a bike lane over that mess…sorry no picture yet of these, will keep you posted. We are still very far from a complete system of bike lanes and bike infrastructure, but every long journey starts with single step…I am pleased to see we have taken a couple small steps lately.

DotBike Rules! They have been really busy, check it below!

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Lot’s of great stuff going on this month. As always check out www.dotbike.org for more info and updates.

Advocacy – see below for details

• Making Franklin Park Officially Bike Friendly – Sunday Sep/t 13th noon at the clubhouse – join us!
• Help out with bike and motor vehicle counts in Boston for Boston Bikes – now through Sept 25th.
• Things are looking up for Talbot Ave. bike lane, time to focus on Blue Hill
• Take the MassBike Survey if you haven’t already and spread the word.

Rides and Events – more info below

• Ride and Q & A with Lance Armstrong’s personal coach Chris Carmicahael – Thursday Sept. 17th 3:30 p.m. Belmont Wheel works
• Bikes-not-Bombs 25th Anniversary Party – Friday Sept. 25th 7:00 p.m. Spontaneous Celebrations
• 45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain
• TD Bank Mayor’s Cup Professional Bicycle Race & Concert – Saturday Sept. 26th 2:00 p.m City Hall Plaza
• Hub on Wheels City Wide Ride – Sunday Sept. 27th 8:00 a.m. City Hall Plaza

Save the Date for these events in early October

• Boston Tweed Ride – Sunday October 4th, 2PM – Save the date and plan your outfit.
• Somerville Arts Honk Parade – Sunday October 11th – 12PM

Making Franklin Park Officially Bike Friendly

We had a nice turnout and made a good start on mapping the numerous paths in Franklin Park as the first part in the effort to get the ‘no bikes allowed in the park’ regulation removed from the city’s book.  We need your help Sunday to finish the job!  Even though this is not enforced, both the Franklin Park Coalition and Boston Bikes consider this a very imp[ortant effort in enabling all kinds of improvements to paths and biking in the park.

Join us to finish the job this Sunday September 13th at noon.  Help measure paths and mix and mingle with fellow bike riders.  Meet in front of the Franklin Park golf clubhouse.  We’ll head out to measure, then meet back at the club house to socialize and snack.

Help Boston Bikes with traffic counts

Boston Bikes urgently needs volunteers to help count rush hour bike traffic into Boston. Every year Boston Bikes collects traffic counts of cyclists and vehicles at 20 locations throughout Boston. This data helps us track ridership and ultimately evaluate the effectiveness of our bike programs. Dorchester count locations include Blue Hill Ave. at Glenway and Dot Ave. and Columbia.  Volunteer to count (or ride and be counted!)

 
This volunteer opportunity is very flexible! The counts have already started, and will finish up by the end of September. Counts take place during weekday rush hours (7-9am, 4-6pm), and a few on weekend afternoons (1-3pm). Please go to the online signup sheet to volunteer for specific dates and locations.

 
The direct link to sign up is here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tv9Uf0f_2fBg9AzJ6s14XvOw_3d_3d. 

Bike lanes in Dorchester

Recently we’ve been focused on advocating for a bike lane the length of Talbot Ave.  Well we’ve recently heard some positive news.  Repaving Talbot is going to happen as part of the stimulus money going to Mass Highway.  The city is pushing to adding a lane to Talbot going so far as to submit the design for a lane as part of the overall plan for this street.  While the state controls the project Boston Bikes is working hard to ensure that the lane is included as part of the implementation.  A promising step forward.

However, it’s also come to our attention that Boston Bikes would really love to get bike lanes on Blue Hill Ave. as part of road redesign resulting from the new 28X bus service.  But so far input from the community around bike accommodations has been lacking.  If you’d like to see a bike friendlier Blue Hill Ave. you can contact the MBTA, Transportation Secretary Alosi directly, or contact Dot Bike.  We’ll be organizing and effort to collect comments to submit to the relevant people and groups.

(more…)

Got this from Dotbike, they are awesome, go help them out. Go help them measure paths so that they can get bikes back into Franklin Park.

—————–

Hi Dot Bike,

Did you know that riding a bike is not allowed in Franklin Park? What!? you ask. Although the rule is unlikely to be regularly enforced, there’s no way to tell how the bicycling tides may turn. Multi-use paths in Boston parks can be designated by width, so if we get together and measure the many lovely paths in Franklin Park we can submit a request to the Parks Dept. to officially permit cycling throughout the park.

Help measure paths and mix and mingle with fellow bike riders on Wednesday Sept. 9th from 5:30 until we run out of light, and Sunday Sept. 13th from noon-2 pm ish. Meet at the golf clubhouse. We’ll head out to measure, then meet back and the club house to socialize and snack.

It’s great timing to take care of this lowest of low hanging fruit for expanding bicycling infrastructure since Circuit Drive is due to have a bike lane painted as part of an upcoming repaving project. Franklin Park could soon be *officially* one of the most bike-friendly parts of Boston!

Please come to the park on the 9th, the 13th or both to help out and meet others who enjoy riding bicycles in the park. It will be a great opportunity for all of us who love the park and love biking to meet and discuss how to continue to work together to support bicycling in the park.

Hope to see you there,

Debbie

P.S. Logistical support is needed and welcome – If you have any electronic measurers, can print a large format map from GIS, are an avid Google mapper, or can bring a clipboard, that would be super.

A few days ago I mentioned hearing about what was probably the first dooring incident of the BU school year in the Comm. Ave bike lane. BU biker Eric Stratton was at the scene when he snapped this photo of the the aftermath:

According to Eric, the cyclist was mildly injured but is OK. The driver of this Mercedes “did the right thing” by taking responsibility for his actions. The driver stayed to make sure the cyclist was OK even when BUPD and the ambulance arrived and offered to pay for damages, etc. Eric also said the police will be ticketing the driver; according to those new bike laws that passed this year which allow ticking for dooring, police may fine him anywhere between $0-$100. We do not know what amount this ticket will end up being.

I was glad to hear that the cyclist was OK, and it was great news to hear that a driver took responsibility for his actions. I’ve heard too many stories where a motorist hit a cyclist and drove away, waving their fists in anger at a cyclist who has been flung to the ground and left with a ruined bike. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that such situations should be taken seriously, and to get the police involved.

Remember, biking in Boston can be extremely fun and practical, but just like when driving a car, safety should be taken seriously. Watch out for those doors, even in the bike lanes. And if you haven’t yet, check out this excellent Back to School Bike Guide put together by Boston Biker.

There’s important meeting tonight, the City of Boston will propose installing bike lanes on Comm Ave from Kenmore to the Public Garden.

The meeting is on 8/31 at 6PM at the Boston Public Library. (THAT IS TONIGHT!!!!)

For the success of this project, it will be particularly critical to have as many project proponents as possible that live or work on the street or in the neighborhood (or commute on Commonwealth Avenue on a regular basis by bike). I have it on good authority that a certain neighborhood group is planning on opposing this bike lane. This bike lane would be a valuable addition to bicycle infrastructure in this city. If you support such a thing go and make your voice be heard!

Speaking of awesome bike lane news, BuBikes has documented some official,

some less than official

enforcement of the new bike lanes on North Harvard.

I wonder who did the unofficial ones….

If you only read the font page of BostonBiker.org you are missing out on a whole wealth of interesting folks that blog here. You can find a list of the most updated blogs over there on the left, you can subscribe to a site wide RSS feed here, and you can also read the last couple posts from other bloggers down there at the bottom, want to add your voice to the mix click here.

At today’s A-B Bikes meeting, Chris told me she spotted three cars with parking violation tickets on North Harvard Ave, which, in case you haven’t heard, was freshly repaved, repainted with bike lanes, and marked with no standing signs:

I was a bit skeptical of what Chris told me she saw, since I had yet to see any car ticketed for parking in a bike lane in Boston, let alone North Harvard Ave. where the bike lane’s been used as a constant parking lane since its existence, (though I have seen cops whisk away drivers parked in the Comm Ave. bike lane) so I decided to check it out myself. Upon arrival, I found two cars parked in the bike lane:


I was surprised to see two tickets affixed to each vehicle; one orange ticket under the wiper and one white ticket shoved on the outside of the driver’s window.

Upon further inspection, this is what the white ticket said:

It was indeed an official City of Boston violation citing a $75 fine for parking in a no standing zone. Hmm, the new bike ordinance states a $100 fine for parking in a bike lane. They must have not updated the tickets yet. So if this was the actual violation ticket, then what was the orange ticket? Whipping around to the windshield, this is what I found:

A fake parking violation ticket with a sense of humor! I’ve seen this idea on the internet before but never in action.
The note was definitely a nice, informative touch. And In case you’re wondering, the Lincoln did have a nice big Harvard U bumper sticker in the rear.

Speaking of fake parking tickets, I’m a fan of NYC-based Times-Up’s Bike Lane Liberation Clown Brigade, a ride that dresses up as clowns before giving out fake tickets:

So props to both the rogue biketivist for the awesome fake ticket (As far as I know, whoever wrote it wasn’t a BU/A-B biker) and BPD for actually being on top of writing parking violations with the addition of the bike lanes. We’ve seen a lot of skeptical feedback about enforcement of the new ordinance, but hopefully what I saw tonight is indicative of what’s more to come.

Update: It seems we have a very likely suspect for the “rogue biketivist” leaving fake parking tickets on cars parked in the North Harvard Ave bike lane: fellow Bostonbiker blogger Zero Combustion, who has not only been ranting about the bike lanes all summer, but yesterday actually mentioned wanting to leave fake tickets herself. The tickets she bought online match what I saw last night. Though at $4.99 per fake ticket, handing out more will likely be a very costly endeavor.
And thanks m2mayer for pointing this out.

Update 2: yeah, it was Zero Combustion. And apparently you can buy 100 packs of those tickets on Amazon for $15.

Now that Boston has outlawed parking in bike lanes..I have a modest suggestion for another law. If a business wishes to receive shipments that come in large trucks, they should be required to have a loading zone to hold said large truck. If they do not have the space, they must sacrifice one of their on-street parking spots to serve as a loading zone, this will be a no parking zone for anyone that is not a big truck dropping off products to that store. If the trucks can not fit into a single space, they must sacrifice two, or three, or 4 or however many it takes to fit the truck. Multiple stores may share the same loading zone, but would then have to schedule pick ups and drop offs so as not to cause a double parking situation. I am so f-ing sick of going around giant trucks that are double parked (often in the bike lane) and almost getting killed in the process.

That is all.

PS. if you are a business and get mostly local products delivered might I suggest Metro Pedal Power…as their delivery service takes up very little room, and is very awesome.

From ABBikes:

AN ORDINANCE PROHIBITING PARKING IN A MARKED BIKE LANE

OR MARKED SHARED LANE

WHEREAS: The City of Boston is lacking an effective method to ensure public safety as members of the public not only travel in motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared lanes but also park in said lanes; and

WHEREAS: This Ordinance shall establish the following guidelines for parking motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared bike lanes; and

Ordained by the City Council as follows:

1. Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to establish guidelines for parking motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared bike lanes.
2. Prohibition from Marked Bike Lanes and Shared Lanes. No driver shall stand or park any motor vehicle in a marked bike or shared bike lane in the City of Boston.
3. Penalties. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of one hundred dollars and no cents ($100.00) for each offense. This fine shall increase by thirty-three dollars ($33.00) if it remains unpaid at least twenty-one (21) days after issuance of a notice of the violation.
4. Exceptions. Nothing in these sections shall prevent standing or parking a motor vehicle in a marked bike lane or shared bike lane: (i) when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or pedestrians; (ii) in compliance with the lawful direction of a police officer or official traffic sign; or (iii) unless authorized to do so under existing regulations (including but not limited to designated residential parking lanes or parking meters).
5. Enforcement. The Boston Transportation Department and the Boston Police Department shall have the authority to enforce this section. The provisions of Massachusetts General Laws c. 90, s. 20A1/2 may be used to enforce these sections, and the adjudication provisions of this chapter and of Chapter 190 of the Acts of 1982 shall apply to this section. The Boston Police Department and Boston Transportation Department shall have the authority to impound any motor vehicle in violation of these sections.
6. Regulatory Authority. The Commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department and the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement and enforce these sections.
7. Severability. If any provision of these sections is held as invalid, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the remaining provisions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
8. Implementation. The provisions of this section shall be effective immediately after passage.

Woo! Now if only they actually enforce it…and get more bike lanes.

From the NYT Freakonomics blog:

The city of Vancouver has turned one lane of traffic on the busy Burrard Bridge into a bicycle route. Critics predicted chaos, but the first day of the experiment found traffic moving smoothly. This seems to be in line with recent studies suggesting that road closures actually lead to fewer traffic jams.

Wait a minute, a bridge is losing a car lane to bike lanes? Critics predicted chaos? Hmm, something about all this this sounds too familiar.

In fact, the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver is not too unlike the BU bridge: it’s a busy commuter bridge, with a geographical locale not too unlike Boston’s:

Though, unlike the BU bridge which has four lanes, the Burrard bridge has six lanes, and the lane closure conversion to a bike lane is just a non-permanent six-month experiment until the next round of planning as opposed to the immediate permanent painted bike lanes the BU bridge is getting. The other major difference is that the Burrard bridge bike lanes are configured differently:

The entire width of one of its two sidewalks is a dedicated northbound bike lane, while the entire width of the car lane is the other directional bike lane. And best of all, both of these bike lanes are protected from moving traffic by concrete barriers. Compare that to the unprotected lanes the BU bridge is getting:

Since the Burrard Bridge lane openings last Monday, there have been indeed mixed feelings since last week’s opening of the bike lane about whether traffic has improved or not. Regardless, it will be interesting to see further effects of the lane closure over the next six months as a possible indicator of what could be the shape of things to come here in Boston.

The research paper mentioned in the Freakonomics post makes an interesting case for road closure actually causing more efficient traffic, seemingly counter-intuitive to the notion that road closures always cause delays. This article sums up the point that “when individual drivers seek the quickest route, they sometimes end up slowing things down for everybody.” Defining traffic inefficiency as the “Price of Anarchy”, a ratio of equilibrium flow of traffic to  the socially optimal flow of traffic,  the authors of the paper suggest that by closing certain roads, the Price of Anarchy would decrease; people would be forced to take a less selfish route, improving overall traffic flow for everybody.

Boston was actually one of the cities chosen for theoretical analysis:

Using Google maps, some assumptions such as constant traffic of 10,000 cars/hour on each point-to-point road and a speed limit of 35mph, the authors ran some mathematical analysis, they found that closing the roads indicated by the dotted lines in the map above would actually improve overall traffic going from Harvard Square to Boston Common. In other words, shutting off that entire dotted section of Mass. Ave. in Cambridge would actually improve overall congestion and reduce overall delays. On the other hand, shutting off the Comm. Ave Section colored in red would worsen overall congestion and increase delays. All the roads in blue are neutral to road delays if closed off, meaning that theoretically the BU bridge could be shut off and traffic would neither flow worse nor better, with zero delays

Based on the evidence from the research, could we infer that perhaps overall congestion in Boston isn’t affected much by the BU bridge’s cut to three lanes from four, and won’t be any worse when it’s cut to two during renovation or when it eventually turns into three plus two bike lanes? Maybe. Although, the research makes the case for road closures, not lane closures, meaning a road has to be shut off for drivers to seek alternate routes. So theoretically closing the bridge completely during rush hour wouldn’t have any effect on overall traffic flow. Motorists might grumble, but they’d get home in same amount of time if they knew alternative routes.

As a cyclist, my advice to car commuters in the Boston area to avoiding traffic congestion would be to simply get on a bike and bike-commute to work, like it appears many motorists in Vancouver already have since last week. Some of the motorists who spoke at the last DCR meeting to complain about the lane reconfigurations drove from Brookline to Cambridge on a daily basis, a very easily biked distance.  Bike lanes are coming, so why not join the fun?

On June 30th, the Boston DCR held its fourth meeting about the “final design, construction plans, and traffic impacts” for the rehabilitation of the BU Bridge.”

I will only discuss the plans for the bike lanes, but if you’re interested you can view full presentation that touches on other considerations here.

In case you haven’t heard, the BU Bridge will be losing a car lane and gaining two 5-foot wide bike lanes (one in each direction) as part of the BU bridge rehabilitation project, first proposed back in October. The lane reconfiguration chosen since then will turn two lanes of traffic each way into one midway on the bridge, which will look like this:

Other bike lane designs were taken into consideration were not chosen such as barrier separated bike lanes (to not exclude bikers from being able to change lanes), bridge cantilever extensions (physical modification not allowed since bridge deemed a historical monument), so this three-car-lane/two-bike-lane design is what will be put in place.

And the intersection of the bridge with Memorial Dr. on the Cambridge side will be redesigned from its current chaotic lane-less rotary:

to a more organized “roundabout”:

The DCR hired engineering consultants who found that one major source of congestion over the bridge is traffic in and out of the rotary: In its current state the rotary is wide and lacks any sort of lane markings, encouraging drivers to drive fast around it, making it unsafe for cars and cyclists merging into/exiting the rotary and pedestrians crossing the paths of vehicles coming in and out of it.

The redesign into a “roundabout” includes narrower car lanes which will be clearly marked/painted to keep cars in the rotary moving slower, allowing incoming and outgoing vehicles to exit more easily and efficiently than before. The DCR stated traffic engineering simulations show this redesign will improve traffic flow. Slower car traffic will also make the intersection safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

The renovation will take place in three different phases based on three different working sections, and the renovation time line looks like this:

During each phase only two lanes of traffic will be open (one lane per direction), while the other two will be occupied by construction crews. The proposed plans to accommodate cars and cyclists during construction is to paint sharrows and post signs informing that cyclists can and should take up the entire width of a lane as needed.

The 45 minute presentation was followed by over an hour of Q&A. Some points I noted from the Q&A were:

• The lack of redesign of the intersection of Commonwealth Ave. on the Boston side. There was one slide on this intersection with no current changes. Not much could be done to this intersection since it would have been a much larger project than just renovating the BU bridge.
• The “bridge” effect, or the tendency for drivers to accelerate over bridges with a “hump” or a “bow”, making it unsafe for cyclists. While bike lanes help by giving cyclists their own space, their usefulness only extends as far as the safety they bring, which is not very much as long as cars speed by the narrow bike lane. Some way to physically separate cyclists from cars or slow cars down by way of signs/slowers/flashing yellow lights would help make the bridge safer for cyclists.
• Permanent signs or light indicators to let drivers know to slow down or share the road.
• A trial run of the all the planned traffic changes before they become permanent and a study of how these changes affect traffic conditions rather than just simulations.
  In previous meetings the DCR has actually pointed out that they had in fact been doing several “trial-runs” of some very specific changes, such as adding cones to narrow the lane of the merge onto the bridge off Memorial drive. They never officially reported the effects of this change, though. As for the four lanes into three change, the bridge is set up with three lanes right now as sidewalk renovation is currently happening, but the DCR rep did not say whether the traffic has worsened or not since the lane closure.
• At the intersection with Memorial drive, the redesign plan indicates no bike lane at the intersection since it only extends across the bridge. Instead there is just a sharrow(arrow indicating drivers to share the lane with bikers). This intersection could use bike boxes and extension of the bike lane to this intersection.
• The narrowing of the entrance lane leading to the merge off Memorial Dr. onto the BU bridge poses a problem for cyclists also merging onto the bridge.
  the shoulder on Memorial drive turns into a sharrow before turning into a bike lane. Instead of widening the sidewalk, why not extend the bike lane all the way down to Memorial Dr. so cars wouldn’t have the tendency to ignore the sharrow and cut into the narrow shoulder remaining for bikes?

Galen went up and expressed a few concerns we had as student bike commuters. First, that the bike lanes would inevitably draw inexperienced cyclists to it as any bike lane would, and that considerations such as bike specific stop lights, signs for cyclists, or anything else to keep cars aware of cyclists would be a good idea in keeping the bike lanes safe rather than making them appear so. Second, bike boxes at the intersections to give cyclists space at red lights, allowing cyclists to make safe left turns and prevent cyclists from blocking pedestrian crosswalks. While bike boxes appear in the latest Memorial Dr. intersection plans, they have not yet been finalized. And finally, during the school year when BU students cross the BU bridge intersection with Comm Ave. in hordes throughout the entire day, would there be any police detail during mornings and evenings as construction goes on to people safely across?

What struck me was that after nine months and four meetings, no cycling advocate who did speak up had ever asked the DCR representatives and the traffic engineers present at the meetings, the people deciding on and designing these renovation plans, the simple question of whether they had ever ridden a bike over the BU bridge; the dangers are much more easily experienced than said. The question was finally asked during the fourth meeting when one gentleman approached the microphone and asked the DCR representatives whether they had, to which one replied sheepishly, after a brief moment of hesitation, “no.” The traffic engineers were present too, and there was indeed a bike specialist part of that team, but it is clear that many issues remained unaddressed. If the DCR is ready to take cycling seriously, perhaps it’s time to get the DCR on a bike.

Lanes from Matthew Hashiguchi on Vimeo.

Via BuBikes

Emerson student, Matthew Hashiguchi, made this documentary on bike lanes in Boston. It was for his class on Filmmaking in the Sustainable City.

Emerson student, Matthew Hashiguchi, made this documentary on bike lanes in Boston.  It was for his class on Filmmaking in the Sustainable City. Check it out!

Lanes from Matthew Hashiguchi on Vimeo.

Anyone who has ridden over the BU bridge knows that it is one of the most technically difficult intersections in the city (if not THE most). Bike lanes on the bridge, if done right, will lead to a much safer crossing for the hundreds of cyclists that go over it every day. Which is why I was pleased to get this email today.

Thanks to those of you who attended the BU Bridge hearing last Thursday. There was a great crowd of bicyclists there, including some MassBikers. Also, we heard some very heartening news from the DCR – they have committed to putting bike lanes on the BU Bridge! They will be analyzing a variety of lane configurations while reconstruction of the bridge deck itself takes place over the next three years (it’s scheduled to start next spring). They will also be looking at improvements to the bike/ped crossings at both ends of the bridge. In addition, DCR is revitalizing its bike/ped advisory group, and the DCR Commissioner is committed to looking at other improvements up and down the Charles River Basin. All this wouldn’t have happened without the efforts of MassBike and other advocacy groups!

Woo Hoo! Way to go everyone, and keep up the good work. Now we just have to hold them to this promise.

Hello everyone,

I want to direct your attention to today’s Freep articles that talk about biking on campus.

On the front page is an article about a biker who was hit on Comm Ave:
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2008/09/17/News/Cyclist.Hit.Near.Bu.Bridge-3435662.shtml

And an article about the bike lanes:
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2008/09/17/News/Bike-Lanes.A.Mixed.Blessing.For.Bicyclists-3435661.shtml

Then the editorial:
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2008/09/17/Opinion/Staff.Edit.Not.An.OpenDoor.Policy-3435674.shtml

and a student letter:
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2008/09/17/Opinion/Letter.Concerns.About.Cyclists.Safety.Cannot.Be.Ignored-3435678.shtml

Thanks to the Freep for making this such a big issue, and we all need to pressure BU to promote biking on campus. The fact that BU passes the buck saying that it’s the City’s job to monitor the bike lanes on Comm Ave frankly is unacceptable. It is their campus and their students who use the lanes, so it should be their concern to make sure they actually work and are safe by keeping cars from parking in the lanes and enforcing safety on all accounts, for bikers, drivers, and pedestrians. I hope we can continue this discussion with the administration, and I urge everyone to add their voice.

thanks for the consideration.
best,
mook

Public Meeting: Fenway – Longwood – Kenmore Neighborhood Transportation Forum
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Boston Arts Academy, 174 Ipswich Street
A G E N D A
1. Presentation of Conceptual Designs
- Audubon Circle
- Boylston Street
2. Implementation Strategies
This is the sixth public meeting with neighborhood residents, businesses and institutions to discuss projects included in the state Economic Stimulus Bill.
This meeting is hosted by the Boston Transportation Department with the Boston Redevelopment
Authority and the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Transportation. For further information please visit www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/flk or contact Vineet Gupta, Director of Planning, BTD at 617-635-2756 or vineet.gupta@cityofboston.gov

As promised, here are some pictures of the new bike lane on Washington street.

The start

Here you can see the new markers

What this, could a bunch of idiots be parked in a lane reserved for bus/bike traffic?

Why yes they could, when this guy saw me coming with my camera he ran away, exposing…

A big USPS truck! Clearly blocking both bike and bus traffic (if anyone is feeling mean report that number)

Another shot of the new markings

Also what the fuck is going on here? I pity the fool that has to interpret these markings at a later date.

This mess extends all over downtown

This is a preliminary report (sorry I don’t have the little do-hickey that lets you take pictures off the camera with me) but this morning while riding to work I noticed that the “bus lane” on Washington (see map below) is now a “Bus and Bike lane”

View Larger Map

For those of you not in the know, this section of Washington has apparently been designated a bus/bike lane for a long long time. But the city and the MBTA were in stuck in a game of “you paint the signs” “No! You pain the signs” for a couple years. Seems someone finally won!

I will have more pictures, and more info (like how far down it goes in both directions) tonight as I will investigate on the way home.

It’s not a long lane, but it’s nice to see yet more bicycle infrastructure popping up all over. We will see if the bus’s and cars respect the new markings. Hopefully someone over at the City or the MBTA let the other person know they put the signs down.

Remember I am still hunting for pictures of new bike racks, if you see one snap a photo and send it to shane at BostonBiker.org with the location you saw it.

Found these little gems on Google Maps, seems the city might be up to something….

I will keep on top of this.

Bike Shops

View Larger Map

Green – Key Shops Purple – First Tier Shops Blue – Second Tier Shops Aqua – Visited Red – No longer at this address

No idea what the tier system means, but this is a pretty good map of local shops. Might add it to the bike map page.

Lanes

View Larger Map

I am pretty sure that green lines mean proposed lanes, and blue are existing. If every street that is green ends up getting a lane that would be fantastic, but still just the start of a vibrant bicycle infrastructure project. I hope those greens turn blue soon!

Racks

View Larger Map

Blue = Requested
Green = In Process
Orange = Installed
Purple = Dead
Yellow = Hold

Pretty sure this has to do with the recent push from the city to install a whole bunch of new racks. My sources tell me that they will be installing over 250.

Speaking of maps, be sure to check out the ever growing BostonBiker.org bike map, be sure to add your own favorite locations!

So I was at the Com Ave “first” bike lane (it has come to my attention it is really not the first one, just the first significant one). His Honnah Mayor Menino was there, and Nicole Freedman director of bicycle programs, David Watson of MassBike, and Larry Slotnick (thanks for the tip Charlie) Phil Goff from the Livable Streets Alliance, and some other guy who I have forgotten but had something to do with roads or something…Anyway.

Every century ride starts with pushing through that first mile, and that is what this was (hopefully) for Boston. The first in a series of bike lanes aimed at creating a network of well design bicycle infrastructure. Do I think these lanes are too short, yes. Do I think these lanes are on a section of Com Ave that didn’t need bike lanes, yes. Was the Mayors MASSIVE FREAKING TAHOE parked in the bike lane THE ENTIRE FREAKING TIME HE WAS THERE, yes. But does that mean I think these are bad bike lanes, hell no.

These are important first step, Nicole, David, Phil and the Mayor and all the people in all of their groups worked hard to get these lanes put in. These lanes are a token of things to come. I can only hope that these sort of infrastructure projects become so common that there will be little cause for hooplah and press coverage.

I think that a well designed system of bike lanes, bike racks, and other cycling infrastructure will shepherd Boston out of it’s dismal bicycle past (rated worst city in America for cycling). Ironically bike lanes themselves do not make bikers safer, however they do encourage more cyclists to get out on on the street, which does in fact make bikers safer. More cyclists = less cars = more cyclists = less cars, you get the idea.

I was unable to get video of the whole deal, but here is some of it from MassBike.

Thats right, Boston may be playing catch up, but it just got it’s very first bike lanes. There will be a media event next Tuesday (August 5th) at 11:00am to announce them.

This will be a press event to announce the new bike lanes on Comm Ave. between Kenmore Square and the BU Bridge. The Mayor will be speaking along with David Watson, MassBike’s executive director. It would be really great if a bunch of bicyclists could show up by 10:45. I don’t know the exact location but just look for the media trucks along that stretch of Comm Ave (my guess would be the plaza in front of Marsh Chapel?)

This should be a fun time, and hopefully a sign of things to come.

EDIT: More details below

Tuesday August 5th
11:00 AM
640 Commonwealth Ave
Courtyard, BU School of Communications

Topics: Commonwealth Avenue Bike Lanes, Rack installations…and one
item yet to be announced.

Please feel free to invite cycling friends and family, and bring your
bikes, of course.

Recently I marginally helped an intriguing venture to assess several Boston roads for possible bike lane inclusion. I wish I could have spared more time to the effort, and I guess I’m not the only one saying that since in a little over a month’s allotment only 16 of a desired 50 roads were surveyed. This was work spread out over several individuals who volunteered, and of which I probably helped the least or near least. (I’d offer excuses, but this is a bike story, not a work-woe story. If you need to ask: woe is work.)

The idea behind the activity was to find out what roads are already wide enough to support a bike lane, with particular preference to roads that connect any other already-established bike networking routes or major areas of the city. Ideally some roads are already wide enough to include a bike lane, and those would be cheapest and fastest for the city to adapt. The survey work involved detailing any observations from a biker’s point of view, such as metal plates in the road or incorrect alignment of gutter plates, as well as measuring road cross-sections with one of these:

The wheel I was loaned took measurements in .12″. Everyone else’s read in .10″. I have no idea why the wheel I used was any different, nor what the significance of .12″ is (anyone care to fill me in?), but that’s what I had to walk across the road many times with and note the distance of the center of every line of paint (parking, white lines, yellow lines, etc.) The person who collected all the data we obtained had to write a conversion routine and apply it to all of my collected numbers.

Someone brought up the point of “why do we have to take these measurements, wouldn’t the city already know all of this?” And the answer I heard given started out as “well, ya see…” and sorrowfully explained that the measurements currently available are all too inaccurate to be of much use. Our measurements, as accurate as they can be, still need to account for several inches for error or variance between measured points. We took measurements wherever the road widths changed a recognizable amount, which may be often but not necessarily often enough. Whatever our measurements come out to be will be better than what was there before, and up to date.

I hope that something comes of this attempt, and that we’re not left oggling the void of another action->no-action response from the city. I am disappointed about how little I chipped in for this, but would feel cheated if it all amounts to nothing. Kudos to LiveableStreets for putting up the measurement wheels that we got on loan, and to the Boston Bikes initiative that was all under the auspices of: I hope to be of more use on the next venture.