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Sheared madness on Soldiers Field Road; traffic a mess
By adamg on Tue, 09/30/2014 - 5:38pm
State Police report that shortly after 1 p.m., the driver of a box truck became the driver of a storrowed box truck thanks to a low-hanging bridge on Soldiers Field Road inbound, near where it turns into Storrow Drive.
As a result of the driver's reading problems, one lane had to be shut until the newly shorn truck could be removed.
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Comments
Does GPS keep people from bothering to read signs?
The Globe reports there have already been more Storrowings this year than last. It has also been reported that there are problems with people driving trucks using GPS that doesn't account for height limits. I wonder if, in general, drivers are less likely to bother to read signs when they're following GPS instructions.
People generally do what they're instructed to do
I think it ultimately comes down to the fact that the GPS is giving directions. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant fraction of them are even aware of the signs and still proceed onto Storrow because they think the device must know something they don't.
No excuse this time
HT Berry is a local company that has been making deliveries for many decades. Can't blame movers or students or out-of-town drivers for this one.
(also, that looks like Storrow Drive to me, behind Bay State Road's rowhouses. Soldiers Field Road starts at the BU bridge.)
What's the problem?
GIven the damage to the truck it looks like he made it clear though. If he didn't stop he would have won his 10 points.
If you are going to Storrow at least do it right.
And DCR wants to narrow Memorial Drive!!!
I just read the Charles River Esplanade New Basin Resource Management Plan for DCR. They intend to remove a travel lane and parking lane on Memorial Drive to widen the park area.
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/parkland...
How stupid is that? Without parking, fewer people get to enjoy the park land! Every time there is a Storrowing, break down, Red Sox game, Esplanade event, bridge/roadwork on Storrow or Memorial, or commuting time, the extra travel lane is vital. All this added traffic congestion due to lane removal creates added air pollution and greenhouse gas. DCR must be bicycling in heavy traffic too much because breathing in extra air pollution or head injuries have made them loopy.
You were doing well until the
You were doing well until the last sentence. Otherwise I'd give this troll about a 8/10.
You must be joking!
Oh no! I can't imagine how horrible traffic would become without that vital lane! Won't somebody stop them in time??
I hate to break it to you, but the project you're so worked up about was completed a decade ago. Surely you noticed that in your link, the proposed narrowing (Memorial Drive Phase 1) is accompanied by a picture of the roadway narrowing already under construction. Phase 2 of the project, which is just getting started, will use the 20 ft of parkland reclaimed in Phase 1 in order to significantly upgrade the river pathway and provide new landscaping, and will actually let more people get to enjoy the park land.
How stupid is that?
Can I pile on this one, too?
Not only is it a decade old project, but the report he "just" saw is a year old. Do you think he'll be happy when the Sox do what they did in the World Series (don't worry, I won't give it away?)
I drive. I defend roadways others dislike (Casey Overpass.) But if Mark thinks that we should build roads to handle traffic due to accidents and occasional heavy loads, I suggest we run one of these roads through his back yard.
Yes, the reconstruction of
Yes, the reconstruction of Memorial Drive happened about 10 years ago.
They didn't exactly create more green space. In one stretch, they removed parking on the right, only to remove some of the landscaped median on the left to make a really long left turn lane: http://goo.gl/maps/Y62Wl
I wasn't at all happy about it. I support making cities more pleasant for people who aren't using cars. But Kendall Square has seen the removal of most free or cheap street parking, and the addition of huge new commercial buildings with large garages, without any increase in transit coverage.
So it's not any easier to get there without a car (which is what I usually do). And on the rare occasions when I need to drive there, it's a lot less pleasant for my purposes, since there's a lot less parking near a lot of destinations. There's no more parking on the river side of Mem Drive, Cambridge has converted all of the remaining free street parking to resident permits, and almost all of the MIT lots that were free nights and weekends have been closed. So if I need to transport a carload of stuff, or give a disabled person a ride, or plan to head home after 12:30 am, my options are much worse than before.
I confess
There is nothing in Cambridge worth enduring the anti-car policies producing more traffic congestion and air pollution, except, sometimes a trip to micro-center. Much better and easier to spend money elsewhere, and less of it due to lower overhead for businesses. Hence, I've not been east of MicroCenter in Cambridge for a while.
parking
"Without parking, fewer people get to enjoy the park land!" - People coming from places where they need a car likely have parks in their own communities, not everything in the vicinity of downtown needs to be perfectly convenient for those who choose to drive right up sand expect to be able to park. Public transit is planned for the area per other recent posts - visitors can take that, and can even drive to a garage/lot adjacent to public transit and continue their trip that way if they so choose. This land should be open to the public, and parking spaces are definitely not an equitable use of the land when it's accessible by several other means.
"People coming from places
"People coming from places where they need a car likely have parks in their own communities"
Yeah, why don't we all just sit around where we live? Who needs the benefits of social interaction provided by transportation?
"Public transit is planned for the area per other recent posts"
A DMU shuttle from Allston to North Station via the industrial part of Kendall, on who knows how infrequent a schedule, won't do much to make visiting the river by transit time-competitive with driving.
Driving in heavy traffic
That's actually much worse than cycling in it, even when the respiration rate is higher for cyclists, because cyclists can divert and cyclists are not nose-to-tailpipe like your car is.
(/professional hat)
Put down your anti-Agenda 21 "OMG I Saw a Cyclist and Felt Unamerican" panic, and start reading the latest about Ebola or combing the school committee notes for mentions of critical thinking skills or technology integration or other nepharious UN schemes to destroy our country like your pals.
Ebola?
So, all transportation needs to be banned to slow the infection rate?