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Bike lanes come to Cambridge Street in Allston
By HarryMattison on Sat, 11/22/2014 - 11:29am
New bike lane
Paint crews were on Cambridge Street in Allston this morning creating bike lanes on one of the Boston region's most dangerous streets. A pedestrian died after being hit by a car where the Mass Pike on-ramp meets Cambridge Street on July 17, 2014 and a cyclist died in 2007 after an accident on Cambridge Street near the intersection with Harvard Ave.
Thank you to the Boston Transportation Department and MassDOT for making these important safety improvements!
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Comments
But
Is it the entire length of Cambridge St? Did they cannibalize the third lane? How did they deal with merging at Harvard St. and at the Pike ramp?
Agreed
I love to bike and that stretch of road was a nightmare for both cars and bikes but now the pike merge will cut over the bike line!
That's exactly what I was
That's exactly what I was thinking. Doesn't do you much good to have a bike lane if you still have to cross the onramp.
That area is such a mess
This looks to be just west of North Harvard St, facing eastbound (Hess is on the left). Unfortunately every time I ride this stretch I am making a left onto North Harvard - going straight between North Harvard and the river is basically suicidal between the Pike ramp, the lack of lane markings, the lack of visibility over the crest, the 55mph traffic, and whatever is going on at the Storrow intersection. I think most other bikers on this stretch are doing the same (ie going between Allston and Lower Allston/Harvard). This lane may not help much because in order to do make that turn you need to be on the left, not the right.
Even pulling off to the right at North Harvard St and waiting for the light to change before crossing Cambridge St is not necessarily a safe option because oncoming traffic doesn't expect you there, since there is almost never traffic coming from the rail yard.
Curious to see this for myself next time I'm in the area, though.
Field report
[uhub ate my comment?!]
Field report
So I got lucky today: they were painting the lanes as I was headed towards the river. The bike lane is a buffered bike lane (paint only) taking up the right-most third of the eastbound motorway. The lane begins at Linden Street and continues all the way to the messy intersection in front of the DoubleTree where it tapers down to a standard bike lane.
The most difficult section to navigate is the highway on-ramp where two lanes of Cambridge Street peel off towards I-90. They weren't finished with the paint job here. But it appears that the city is going to require drivers to merge across the bike lane, similar to right-hand turn lanes found elsewhere. The painted lines will be in such a shape that, if followed, they will slow the cars down enough to make it work. My understanding is that this is a temporary condition for the winter and will be revisited in the spring. For today, I did have to navigate across the on-ramp in the presence of a cluster of motor vehicles, and it worked out alright. I merged with several cars while pedaling at what I guess was about 20 mph. In general, it might be better to wait for a gap.
This is similar to making the left-turn onto North Harvard Street. The light at the corner of Harvard Ave creates a pattern of traffic with long enough gaps that it should be possible to merge over to the left with just a little patience. In a way, it's just as we've always done, except the buffered bike lane provides a safer waiting area.
I did see one car use the buffered bike lane as a passing lane. A real dick move, it got him in front of one other car, nothing world shattering. Or maybe he was confused.
Overall, it's an improvement and I anticipate using Cambridge Street more often when going to the river or Cambridge. I look forward to the physical changes that will be introduced in the spring as well, to try and fix some of the shortcomings of a paint-only solution, and to introduce a proper crosswalk for pedestrians at the I-90 ramp.
The painted lines will be in
And if there's one thing Mass. drivers respect, it's painted lines.
PS: Thanks for the report.
is this meant to be a bike only lane?
This is my interpretation but the two times I've driven on Cambridge Street since the paint job was started, people are still treating it as a car travel lane. Luckily there weren't bikers there as well but this could get dangerous fast if bikers think they're safe and drivers think it's still a car lane.
people are still treating it
What a shock.
Yes, bike only
Hence the solid white lines that mean "do not cross" to anyone who read the driving manual (so yeah ... ).
I don't think it's necessarily dangerous. Rear-endings are fairly rare on the list of collisions because it requires a severe lapse of vision. Not to say that it doesn't happen. Usually from a drunk driver. Or if the bicyclist is riding without lights at night.
So, barring drunkenness or lack-of-lighting, it seems the end result will be a driver in a strangely marked lane tail-gating a slower-moving bicyclist. Not wonderful, but hopefully something that will sort itself out. There's never any congestion on this segment of the street because the inputs (from Harvard Ave or Cambridge St) are restricted to a single lane, so even with the lane reduction, from 3 -> 2, it still has double the necessary capacity. The only times that cars queue up are when there's a red light. And thus far, those are the only times that I've seen cars drive in the bike lane.
The most dangerous area remains the I-90 on-ramp merge:
for which it is probably best for to wait for a gap in traffic before proceeding. It's actually much, much safer for the bicyclist to go through a red light at the N. Harvard St intersection -- to get ahead of the waiting cars -- instead of trying to do the "legal", but very unsafe merge here.
Overall, this will be a good learning experience for the city on the [lack of] effectiveness of buffered bike lanes. I also think that this might be the first time that the city of Boston has actually taken car capacity (albeit, going from triple-overcapacity to double-overcapacity) and rededicated it to bicyclists. I'm not thinking of any other examples off the top of my head (possibly a short stretch of Beacon Street?). Most bike lanes are created out of spare space (e.g. the "door zone") that wasn't anything more than shoulder area.
P.S. the city will do some physical intervention in the spring, and the original plans called for flex-posts to be installed along the buffered bike lane. So that will also help keep cars out -- at least when it's not snow season.
Overall, this will be a good
ROFLMAO. I know, right?
Not quite the first
There have been a handful of other times. I believe Commercial St in the North End, and the northern part of Atlantic Ave, used to be 2 car lanes in each direction until Boston repurposed one to add a pair of bike lanes. (Boston is about to rearrange those bike lanes into a 2-way cycletrack as part of Connect Historic Boston, shifting the other travel lanes around but leaving them with the same capacity.) And the cycletracks on Mt Vernon St near JFK took away a car lane in each direction.
But you're correct that the vast majority of bike lanes don't reduce the number of travel lanes - cities usually only remove travel lanes when roads are significantly more capacity than they need, or when there's an opportunity to create high-quality bike infrastructure.
Truck drivers can't even
Truck drivers can't even figure out how to avoid not driving into a bridge despite large signs stating NO TRUCKS and you expect them to be able to notice painted lanes on the road??? Very risky.
It seems like it should be quite a lot easier.
Staying within lanes is a basic driving skill. Since truck drivers are constantly driving in roads with lanes, it's a skill they constantly need to practice, or they'll veer into traffic. On the other hand, if you're used to driving down roads where standard sized trucks can fit under bridges, you can easily grow complacent and not notice when a low clearance sign shows up. And the bike lanes pictured are even more visible than the usual lines between lanes. So yeah, they should have enough sense to stay out of the bike lane.
Staying within lanes is a
And how are you enjoying your first day in Massachusetts?
Yes
If they can't, they should turn in their licenses. Period.
Follow the laws or lose.
Follow the laws or lose.
And how are you enjoying your first day in Massachusetts?
Its paint
Keep in mind that paint won't protect you as much as being super attentive, super visible day and night, or a helmet. Especially more protective than paint is a steel cage with seat belts, airbags, and 4 wheels. People make mistakes. Shit happens, and being in a car is safer than on a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle.
Even more protection
...if you took the road in a German WW2 Panzerkampfwagen IV tank. Better maneuverability than the old models, and so well insulated that you could run over pedestrians, bike, motorcycles, Allied troops, and SmartCars, without even slowing down. But if you want to trust your and your family's safety to a traditional "car", well, I guess that's your decision.
Try registering one at the RMV
Fuel mileage might be even worse than a MBTA bus, so impractical for everyone to drive them. Far more practical to drive cars, yet still have good protection.
Irrational thought is popular on Uhub based on up votes of the above comment. Mass. has among the lowest car fatality rates in the country, and low speed roads of Boston are yet lower. A passenger in a car wearing a seat belt has near zero likelihood of being killed on Allston streets. Its almost more likely that a driver will suffer a medical emergency and then crash because of it. So, there is very little benefit from driving a tank, even over, say a garbage or dump truck, which have better mirrors and better gas milage than the tank.
Irrational thought at UHub
I think that is largely the purview of the guy who should go live in Texas if he likes his car so much.
We here prefer human habitat, thanks.
Somehow I doubt the power
Somehow I doubt the power that be in city and state government would not take too kindly to a regular citizen owning a functional battle tank let alone driving one around on the the streets of the commonwealth.
Though if it is legal I would love to see the a British Mark IV finally show drivers how to WIN at Storrowing by showing the bridges who is boss.
Nice
There haven't been *any* lane stripes on this stretch in a long time. Folks not familiar with the area sometimes don't know where the lanes are supposed to be. Adding markings for bikes is a big help too.
White lines
Make me feel safe.
Yes that's true
and the primary benefit. Paint (or curb extensions etc.) may not make you any safer, but as long as you feel safer, taxpayers get to feel like their money is accomplishing something while transportation officials fill out resumes and construction firms fill their pockets.
Still Confusing for Drivers
I drive Cambridge street to the Pke every day and the painted road looks more confusing for drivers. There are so many lines in the road you don't know what you can or can't do.
Wish they could explain it somehow.
Basically I just drive and try not to hit anyone! :)