UMASS Area Getting More Bike Lanes

There is good news for those who commute to the university by bicycle. The city of Boston is still making an effort to improve the experience, as noted by Director Nicole Freedman of the Boston Biker’s Program. Additional bike lanes will be available in the upcoming weeks on Freeport Street, from Dorchester Avenue to Teanean Street, and on Tenean Street from Freeport Street to Conley Street.

read more here.

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Bikes Infrastructure Makes Traffic Run Smoother

In Manhattan they did anyway, with the help of more pedestrians and higher transit rates, as well as the new bike share program.

After several blocks in the heart of Times Square were pedestrianized and protected bike lanes were added to five avenues in the middle of Manhattan, motor vehicle traffic is actually moving more smoothly than before, according to the latest release of NYC DOT’s annual Sustainable Streets Index [PDF].

The report, which gathers data from the MTA, the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and DOT’s own counts, also shows that the volume of traffic entering Manhattan has basically stayed flat since 2009. At the same time, transit ridership has started to rebound from the recession and service cuts.

Even with population and employment levels increasing after the recession, car traffic into the Manhattan CBD declined 1.7 percent in 2011. Since 2003, traffic volumes are down 6.5 percent, while transit trips to the area have increased 11.3 percent.

…

The annual report incorporates numbers on bike-share usage. Between the Memorial Day launch and August 26, Citi Bike riders made more than 2.5 million trips covering more than 5.5 million miles. There have been eight crashes involving Citi Bikes, none causing injuries classified as serious. Of stations sampled during the final two weeks of July, the busiest included those near hubs like Grand Central Terminal and Union Square.

Read the rest of this fascinating article here. It seems obvious that if you take a bunch of people out of cars and instead they take public transit/ride a bike/ or walk that traffic would move better, but its always nice to see some real world data to prove it.

What I think is the real take home from this study is that peoples lives are improving.  They are being more healthy (even public transit is healthier than driving).  They are saving money, they are reducing their impact on the planet, and even the people who are still trapped in their cars are happier because traffic is moving smoothly.  I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they were happier as well.  Its a win win win win.

People defend cars, and get very upset when you try to make it harder to use them, but they really have so very few benefits and so very many drawbacks.  I think what we are seeing is that this fact is finally sinking in.

Thanks Ben for the heads up on this.

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New Bike Facilities Coming To Dorchester

The City is circulating this flyer about bike lanes coming to Freeport and shared lanes on Ashmont and Adams.

———–

NOTIFICATION

Mayor Menino’s Boston Bikes

Bike Lane Installation on Multiple Streets

Fall 2013 or Spring 2014

THE CITY OF BOSTON WOULD LIKE TO INFORM YOU THAT IT PLANS TO INSTALL BIKE PAVEMENT MARKINGS ON ADAMS STREET, ASHMONT STREET AND FREEPORT STREET.

The City of Boston will be installing the following types of bike facilities:

Shared lane markings – Shared lane markings are pavement markings that designate the road for shared

use between cyclists and drivers. Adams Street and Ashmont Street only employ shared lane markings.

Bike lanes – Bike lanes are sections of road designated for exclusive use by cyclists.  Freeport Street is a combination of shared lane markings and bike lanes.  On Freeport Street, green paint is occasionally used to highlight the bike lane through complex intersections.

Why install bike facilities? These bike facilities are designed to support bicycle traffic within Dorchester and along major commuting corridors.  All facilities are part of the Bike Network Plan.

What about safety?  Bike facilities make the roads safer for all users in the following ways:

• Designate a safe riding zone for cyclists;

• Encourage cars to drive at slower, safer speeds;

• Encourage cyclists to bicycle more respectfully and predictably; and,

• Make pedestrians and drivers more aware of cyclists.

What are the project limits and scope?

• Adams Street: Bowdoin Street to Neponset Avenue

• Ashmont Street: Dorchester Avenue to Neponset Avenue

• Freeport Street: Dorchester Avenue to Tenean Street and Tenean Street from Freeport Street to Conely Street

When does installation happen?  Work typically takes place during the day or night over 1-3 days.

Will parking be impacted?  No parking will be removed along any of the roadways.

Will traffic be impacted?  No travel lanes will be removed and traffic will not be impacted.

Contact Nicole Freedman, Bike Programs Director, 617-918-4456, [email protected]

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.

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Southie Bikes Response To Canceled Bike Lane Meeting

Got this in the email from Southie Bikes:

It has always been the position of Southie Bikes to listen to the constructive feedback from the people in the neighborhood. We received plenty of great ideas for how to make bike lanes work well in Southie, and we look forward to incorporating those ideas into the design going forward. There is more work to be done, and given Boston’s rapidly changing political landscape the meeting will be deferred to a future date.

Planet Southie, Southie Bikes, Chamber of Commerce, and City Councilor Bill Linehan have more work to do toward common understanding.

Ride safe everyone! Southie Bikes

Which sounds to me like someone (can’t say who from this limited info), is putting a monkey wrench into this process. I think we can safely assume that its not the bike advocates, so you know, do your own detective work.

Either way as some readers of this website have pointed out, this process is probably better than what happened in Charlestown where the lanes were put in, taken out, and put in again…  This town is full to the brim with cyclists these days, and one way or another its pretty clear that cycling infrastructure is the future.  Lets just hope this whole mess gets sorted out sooner rather than later.

No one should be afraid of public input on projects, hopefully at some point this meeting happens.

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Bike Lane Changes In Roslindale

A reader David sent in the following report about bike lanes in Roslindale/JP Area:

In the October 2009, bike lanes were added to Washington Street between Ukraine Way (just south of Forest Hills) and Roslindale Square. They added some convenience, and (some people feel) safety to the ride, and were generally perceived to be a useful development – an example of the city bringing bike facilities out into the neighborhoods.

In June 2013, the city added a handful of parking spaces on either side of Washington Street, just south of Ukraine, where previously there was no parking and just the bike lanes. They routed the southbound lane (the one in the video) around the parking spaces (you can still see the remains of the original lane). The northbound bike lane was replaced by sharrows when they added parking spaces to that side.

As you can see, to avoid the bike lane, vehicles need to make a pretty sharp swerve into a pretty thin car-and-bus-lane, and in the video taken at the time, almost none of them do. Same is true today, two months later, so there doesn’t seem to be any progress along the learning curve among the car-and-bus-enthusiasts who use the road. (Some might argue that without actual parked cars, there’s no need to respect the bike lane, but at the least, it means the paint will soon be worn off.)

The two buildings that the parking spaces were added for were built on MBTA-owned land, and (I thought) were considered transit-oriented development. Both buildings already have off-street parking, so there should be no need to put parking on the street.

This decision was made, I’m told, a while back, during the time that Boston had only an interim bike coordinator. I’m not aware of anyone in the bike community who was consulted, nor any public discussion of the change before it was implemented. Rumor has it that the decision to trash the lanes will not be changed.

I am not familiar with any of the facts surrounding the changes made to these bike lanes, or the people involved with them. But it is clear from the video that motorists have not “responded well” to the changes, aka they are driving in the bike lanes. This is a clear sign of poor planning, enforcement, or both.

If the car is truly no longer kind in this town, why do we continue to put on-street parking in? Especially considering this location is about a 3 minute walk to the T.

Anyone else have any information on these lanes, or how they got into their current configuration?

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