Boston City Councilors Support Protected Lanes on Longfellow

From U-Hub:

City Councilors Michelle Wu (at large) and Josh Zakim (Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway, Mission Hill) will ask other councilors to join them tomorrow in urging the state to use barriers to protect bicyclists when the revamped Longfellow Bridge finally opens later this month.

At the regular council meeting, the two will formally ask other councilors to agree to a resolution calling on MassDOT to take one of the vehicle lanes on the inbound side and convert it to bicycle use, with something separating the cars and trucks from the bicyclists.

In their formal request, the two say the traffic disaster predicted when the state began shutting parts of the bridge five years ago never materialized, and that more people now commute by bicycle than when construction began. Also:

The incline on the first half of the inbound side of the bridge makes it particularly challenging to accommodate cyclists of varying abilities without a lane wide enough to facilitate passing.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Longfellow Bridge Continues To Accumulate Horrible Sinage

What the hell…so now they have put down some kind of jogging sharrows?  It looks to me an awful lot like the juggalo logo…

…yea then there are these.

Literally three signs cut up and duct taped back together, with sharpie clarification…what the actual hell.

There is about seven of these all facing the Boston side.  I guess the idea is that all the pedestrians are supposed to walk on one side of the tiny sidewalk that is currently being shared by cyclists and pedestrians.

Only about a million problems with this.  There is no signs facing the Cambridge side, so people walking from that direction have no idea what is going on.  Then there is the problem that…people walk on the right, its been put into their heads forever.

These are clearly not standard signs, they had to jury rig them together from parts.  As far as I can see over the last couple days not a single pedestrian has noticed the signs (or they have seen them and not understood what they are supposed to do).  No one is moving to the left, and no one gives a single shit about those signs.

This is like part four or five in the saga of “you can’t fix shitty design with signs.”

The solution remains simple, and has been the same since the construction started.  CLOSE THE BRIDGE TO CARS, have cyclists ride in the damn road where they belong, and leave the sidewalk to the pedestrians, the road could still be open to emergency travel, and the whole thing would run so much smoother.  The Longfellow has always been used by a majority of non-car users, and the infrastructure should reflect this.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Longfellow Bridge Cyclist Traffic Moved Again, Pedestrian and Cyclist Traffic Combined

For months anyone cycling over the Longfellow has had to follow an ever changing series of signs, battle large amount of people walking in places they shouldn’t and in general have a less than good experience, all so we can keep one lane open for cars during the construction.

Well all that is coming to an end! Because now the pedestrian are SUPPOSED to be walking on the bike path, weee! (via)

Upcoming Traffic Alerts

MassDOT will close the Longfellow Bridge to all vehicular traffic overnight from Wednesday, August 24, through Friday, August 26, and from Monday, August 29, through Thursday, September 1. The bridge will be closed from 11:00 PM each night to 5:00 AM the following morning. Bike, pedestrian, and MBTA Red Line travel will be maintained.

MassDOT will briefly halt all vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle travel near the Charles Circle staging area of the Longfellow Bridge for approximately 15 minutes beginning at 7:00 AM on Saturday, August 27. The temporary halt is necessary to begin cleaning the new MGH steam line running under the bridge by using pressurized steam (a “steam blow”) to remove dirt and other debris from inside the line. The cleaning process will take one to two days (Saturday, August 27, through Sunday, August 28). Learn more about this harmless process in the Steam Blow Flyer.

New Date: Beginning at 11:00 PM on Friday, August 26, bicyclists and pedestrians will be shifted on the upstream side of the Longfellow Bridge. Pedestrians in both directions will share the upstream sidewalk with outbound bicyclists. Inbound bicyclists will have a new 5-foot wide designated bike lane along the upstream roadway.

There will be no lane or bridge closures from 5:00 AM on Friday, September 2, to 10:00 PM on Tuesday, September 6, for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Visit the Traffic Information page for weekly updates on lane closures and details on other traffic management activities, including detour routes, during the current construction phase. View the Construction Updates section to learn more about current construction activities.

I honestly doubt you will notice a difference, if you have been riding every day you already know that people have been ignoring the “don’t walk here” signs for months. Just a heads up that you will probably get even more pedestrians on that narrow sidewalk now.  Obviously slow down, and watch out.  I have personally seen at least one accident caused by pedestrians (back when they were not supposed to be on the sidewalk), and have heard of several more.  Its very easy to get into trouble, especially on the down hill side of the bridge, slow down, be careful, and keep your head up because the people on their phones certainly wont.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

The New Longfellow Bridge “Bike Path” Is Horrible

(Please forgive me for the first 30 seconds as I wasn’t paying attention).

So whats wrong with the situation depicted in this video?

There are giant “NO PEDESTRIAN” signs at both ends of the bike path, and yet the path is full of human pedestrians (and some dogs).

The path is far too narrow for bi-directional cycling, let alone strollers, dog walkers, joggers, etc.

The green stuff on the side billows out in the wind, catching on your handle bars (I almost crashed avoiding a walker).  I am guessing that stuff is put up to stop debris from the building site from flying into the water, but the zip ties have come loose and it now poses a serious hazard to cycling traffic.

The surface is very uneven, to the point of discomfort.  You can actually hear my bike rattle as I hit each bump, and see the camera shake.

The approaches have received all sorts of marking and road paint, but they are still horrible.  Filled with curbs to fall off, ramps to miss, and in general hard turns that put you into conflict with lots of traffic (car, bike, and pedestrian).

I still think that the bridge should be closed to car traffic, and opened up to cycling/public transit/emergency traffic.  The bridge is one way as it is, and gets modest car traffic even at rush hour.

The traffic patterns approaching and leaving the bridge have already more or less adjusted to not having the bridge.  This elaborate and poorly constructed bike path is a solution that was only necessary because we are so car-focused in our thinking.

I can say with some certainty that far more people cross the Longfellow bridge in ways that don’t involve cars, and in fact always have.  Even when it was two travel lanes in both directions the amount of walkers/public transit/cyclists users of that bridge far outnumbered the amount of folks moving over it in cars.  The fact is that the bridge would be far more productive if they just took the cars off it during the time of the construction, freeing it up for emergency/public transit/walkers/cyclist traffic.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Longfellow Bridge Now Has A Dedicated Bike Lane Going Both Ways

It’s a little tricky (you have to wrap around under the bridge and the path is far from clear), but it sure beats walking your bike northbound battling pedestrians.  The BCU has released this video to help you figure it out.

I have used it a couple of times, and found it confusing all of those times, you are put into conflict with traffic both pedestrian and car at odd points, but with a bit more signage it might be ok.  I still think they should just close the bridge to cars, and let cyclists/pedestrians take the whole thing until it’s done being fixed.

I disagree with the video that this path is an improvement…at best it is a temporary compromise.  The path is crazy bumpy, the approaches are a mess, I have already noticed pedestrians on it, the interaction with cars are all from blind directions, you literally have to look behind you at most intersections to see the cars coming, there is all sorts of curbs with ramps that have gaps and its pretty easy to exit the ramps into the curb which will cause accidents.  It’s also a functioning construction zone, I got a mouth full of cement dust yesterday because they are still breaking up concrete on the bridge. Just watch the video again and look at how much the camera shakes going over the bridge, and pay attention to all the times the cyclists is put in conflict with cars coming from strange angles, there are just too many problems here.

Final verdict…well at least I wont have to walk my bike over the bridge anymore…

Add to Reddit.

Tweet