Never mind the bollards, here's the concrete barriers

If you had to wait to do something like this until they were done tearing up the road, you would never do something like this.

You're simultaneously concerned that emergency vehicles won't have easy access to buildings and but angry that they might delay normal traffic while responding to an emergency.

You should add that first responders aren't paid enough but taxes are too high.

these barriers are not that permanent, and I am very supportive of dedicated bus lanes. Public transportation also allows disabled people to travel, and I would place their needs above cyclists.

But the real choice here is about parking. If you remove the parking, there is plenty of room. There is one valet station for the Back Bay that will get screwed but that is about it.

If more people ride bicycles on Mass Ave [because they feel safer in the new bike lanes] then there will be less car traffic that slows down the buses.

There are jerks who walk, ride, and drive.

When you walk into a traffic, you need to look where you are going first.

While walking across a bike lane, JP Citizen once had a close encounter with a rude cyclist who only had a small headlight, almost ran them over, and is still suffering from related PTSD apparently. I'd like to share my thoughts and prayers following this extremely traumatic life experience. I hope that others will do the same.

I am thrilled at the range of comments to my post. As expected it ranges from I'm a "face glued to phone idiot who should be removed from the gene pool" to "i'm traumatized and have pity on me" to total agreement. All of it evocative.

What strikes me the most is the assumptions on all sides. As it is, I was walking back from Symphony Hall, talking with my wife, head up, and paying attention. It was shortly after the bike lane on Mass ave was formally in place. I don't go downtown often. As it was, that section of Mass ave can get very dark.

Regarding the "Right of Way" comments, I refer people back to the imbroglio over the pedestrian who was almost in a collision with a plain clothed cop in his personal vehicle. If you research it, you will find out that NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY in MA. Right Of Way is something that is yielded. And while I agree with the various points about the way pedestrians frequently disregard any of the rules when crossing a road, the assumption that I was not paying attention or site impaired, presumes a self-centered perspective on the part of the commentator.

I am not a cyclist and my first thought is not to expecting a bike next to the curb coming at me at high speed.

Consider this, if I was in that car on the passenger side of a car and the on-coming bicycle came up on the passenger side of the car when I opened the door, would it really matter who was wrong? All that would have mattered is that the bicyclist would have most likely ended up in a hospital with any range of possible injuries. If the bicyclist was as difficult to see as I indicated, then the assumption that the pedestrian was at fault was as erroneous as the assumption that the car door opening in front of a speeding bicycle was the passengers fault.

We, as a society are not well educated or adapted to bicycle lanes just as the cyclists are not required to YIELD RIGHT OF WAY to pedestrians or be WELL ILLUMINATED or equipped with a HORN. And as a moving vehicle a bicyclist is not required to carry accident insurance. As a pedestrian entering my car, there is not a well marked or illuminated crosswalk to my car. The whole situation is uncontrolled and unmarked. And if an accident with a bicycle occurs, there is no recourse for the injured pedestrian other than the courts. There is no requirement for the bicyclist to stop and provide insurance. The is no law that I am aware of that declares that if the cyclist leaves the scene, there are penalties. And most importantly there is no sense in this situation that there is any sense of social contract obliging the cyclist to look out for the other.

In summary, my take on this is that this is an unregulated, poorly thought out situation where accusing the "victim" is within bounds and the lack of a sense of social responsibility is lost on many.

(and here goes the can or worms...) Kind of like how people are handling the call for them to be responsible to others by wearing masks, keeping your distance, and sharing a space with others....

Isn't society wonderful? Whats the old expressions? "I love society, its People I can't stand!"

I will now step down off the soap box.

but isn't necessarily as wide as a *car lane*. (Remember that there needs to be buffer room around a vehicle.) This width allows bikes to pass each other. For cars to pass each other, they would need two car lanes.

Does anyone care?

Of course, car taxes should subsidize bike lanes. Because of cyclists, drivers have more room on the road.

Dented plows and snow filled bike lanes.