Gary Waldeck shows us the new striping on Charles Street between the Common and the Public Garden for a bike lane, a buffer lane and new parking spots, wonders when drivers will figure it out and start parking where they're supposed to.
City Councilor Kenzie Bok, who reps the area, says give it some time:
My understanding from BTD is that temporary cones are coming back shortly, flex posts are on order & should be installed within the month. They were working on line painting last night; it’s all still in process.
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Good.
By u-hub-fan
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 12:59pm
More please.
Installation is still in progress. Be
By cden4
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 1:40pm
Installation is still in progress. Be patient!
Some people would see this
By rfuree11
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 1:45pm
Some people would see this and think there’s no parking available. I, being the pedant that I am, would think “look at all the free spots!”
Then I’d come crashing down to the reality that my car would get hit or keyed and circle the common to find another spot.
American Legion
By JPnik in Hyde Park
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 1:45pm
I noted a similar lane change on American Legion a few weeks back. Drivers didn't get it, from what I saw. Has anyone noted anything new there?
Flex Posts?
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 1:55pm
Better put up concrete bollards if you don't want Massholes to drive right over them.
Once a few people park there, it'll be OK
By Gary C
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 2:01pm
That stretch of street always has many cars parked there. As soon as a handful are parked in the correct location, it will be obvious where not to drive, even to the Massholes.
Are you kidding?
By Scratchie
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 4:04pm
If nobody parks there, drivers will use it as a shortcut when traffic is backed up in the driving lanes.
True
By Scauma
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 8:09am
Hopefully they put up barricades of some sort that allows for bikes but not cars. Preventative measure against some nut purposely driving into cyclists as well.
This will bring new meaning to...
By b from Ros
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 2:27pm
...double parking.
I'm sure it would eventually be corrected, but who doesn't expect to see 2 rows of parked cars here?
They've already done this on Mass Ave south of Boylston
By uhub-fan
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 3:25pm
People figured it out there, they'll figure it out everywhere else.
All of this has happened before
By Henry Alan
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 3:13pm
This is a standard feature of mid-process parking protected bike lane installation. Columbus Ave. between Melnea Cass and Mass Ave. saw the same confusion, then the flex posts and sings went up, and it all made sense (and to this day remains one of my favorite places to ride in Boston.
Expand Your Range
By Wander Jackson
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 7:25am
One of your favorite places to ride?
You are going to be delighted when you ride many others roadways in Boston.
Keep ‘em rolling!
This picture pretty much sums
By anon
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 3:22pm
This picture pretty much sums up how much that bike lane will be used in the winter.
Chelsea
By cybah
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 3:45pm
City just put ours in down Broadway. Kinda surprised that people are actually not driving in it.
Now if we could just get one from Park --> Hawthrone --> Broadway
kevin white just called
By bostnkid
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 4:44pm
he wants the bike lane on the other side.
Only those of us Bostonians of a certain age...
By anon
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 8:00pm
...will get the reference. :-)
Mother of God
By anon
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 9:11pm
The Mayor of a World Class City DOES NOT get on a damn bike.
Tremont St
By ElizaLeila
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 4:48pm
By the theaters, on the right hand side the same has been done. It took a week or two and then the cars were in the right parking spots. I suspect notes were left on cars to point out where they should be parked.
Looks like they've done the same on Kneeland in front of the hostel and old Jacob Wirth's.
Drivers will catch on, they're humans change comes, just slowly.
I’ll give a Jacob Wirth
By anon
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 1:32am
I’ll give a Jacob Wirth pretzel to anyone who provides a non-staged photo of someone biking in that bike lane.
Stuart/Kneeland St.?
By GoSoxGo
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 6:28pm
That is a well-used bike lane, actually. I ride in it everyday, as well as many others. Last Saturday at 11:30 pm I counted a dozen Blue Bikers using it.
Of course today there were four cars parked in the bicycle travel lane between Hudson and Washington Street on the westbound side, causing riders to swerve into the right-hand travel lane.
Too bad Jacob Wirth isn't around anymore.
The full plans for Phase 1 of Connect Downtown can be found here.
Is there going to be a bike
By Rob
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 6:35pm
Is there going to be a bike lane on the right, as well?
I believe the plan is for a single, bi-directional lane
By Henry Alan (not...
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 6:52pm
.
I hope so.
By Lee
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 10:40am
This and many other bike lanes need to be both directions. They are already used as such.
You get towed for street cleaning.
By Lee
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 8:18pm
This is not any more difficult to understand. Ticket them. They’ll learn real fast.
I think the usual approach
By Tim Mc.
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 9:36pm
is to put up some orange construction cones for a few weeks, until drivers get used to the new layout.
As a cyclist, I question what
By anon
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 10:37pm
As a cyclist, I question what this is supposed to accomplish.
I'd much rather have parking against the curb, then a buffer, then the bike lane, then the general lanes. This solves the blind spot issue, the black ice issue, and allows cyclists to merge into the general lanes to make a turn, pass another cyclist, or avoid debris.
At least for this particular area there aren't any cross streets or buildings that need deliveries or passenger drop-offs. Floating parking creates a terrible blind spot for those situations. Though I'm sure at the crosswalk pedestrians will stand in the bike lane while waiting for the light to change.
With floating parking, people always park hanging into the buffer, eliminating the intended safety benefit of preventing doorings. And I don't exactly blame them. Everyone does it, even in Cambridge where most drivers are polite to cyclists. This shows it's a fundamental design flaw rather than a driver behavior issue.
As a cyclist
By MostlyHarmless
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 10:46am
You should already know that segregated bike lanes are not only statistically safer, but also encourage more people to commute by bicycle. This isn't an innovation.
I question those statistics,
By anon
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 5:28pm
I question those statistics, from reading the one paper everyone cites and an article refuting it, as well as my own experience.
The biggest problem with the paper is that they lumped together a mere 34 miles of on-street cycle tracks across 9 cities with 717 miles of bike paths in large parks nowhere near a road. (The criticism said 12 and 1300 miles, but the paper’s authors refuted that.) The aggregate of those facilities was found to be safer than traditional bike lanes. Well, yeah, if most of your data is from inherently safe locations, the average is going to be safe. That says nothing about the choice of facility for a city street, where most biking for transportation needs to occur.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
The paper’s authors said it’s not their fault that the media misinterpreted their results to focus on cycle tracks, rather than an aggregate of a few cycle tracks and a lot of park paths. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
You only have to take a quick look at ridiculous cycle tracks like the mess in the middle of Causeway Street to see how bad they are.
I can understand why many cyclists want to support bike lanes on the wrong side of parking and sidewalk cycle tracks. They’re something highly visible that shows the city cares about biking. But I can’t support them, because they’re dangerous.
A scheme so non-intuitive...
By anon
Fri, 10/23/2020 - 10:46pm
It needs an instruction manual. This says something about something. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEiZ35DUIAIQLzj.jpg
Do driver's manuals and driver's ed classes discuss this? Nationwide?
What about the law? Last time I checked, it still said park within 12 inches of the curb.
Jesus
By MostlyHarmless
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 10:44am
How do you manage to breathe and type at the same time?
Thanks for your thoughtful
By anon
Sun, 10/25/2020 - 11:52am
Thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I’m glad you have insights for educating drivers about what these markings mean. Clearly the markings get the message across about where to park, since zero percent of cars in that picture followed them, even though doing so would involve no effort or inconvenience.
pics unclear
By anon
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 8:34am
When on a bicycle, I turn right onto Beacon St to hump it up the hill.
How will I do that now?
When on a bicycle, I turn right from Boylston onto Charles.
Will I be able to do that and still enter the bike lane now?
I can’t see those
By anon
Sun, 10/25/2020 - 12:09pm
I can’t see those intersections in the photo, but I suspect the answer is “sit around and wait for the pedestrian light”.
Really?
By ElizaLeila
Sun, 10/25/2020 - 12:27pm
Is it your first time on a bicycle riding in the city? I think you don't need your hand held to figure this out. But in case you do ...
You'll merge over to the right to turn right and hump it up Beacon St. As a cyclist, you're OK to be in any lane. So pay attention around you and merge right before your turn.
And going from Boylston to Charles, same thing, you'll pay attention to the world around you and find your chance to merge left to the bike lane. Unless you're staying on the right to turn right onto Beacon, again to hump it up the hill.
Cummins Hwy lanes?
By Parkwayne
Sat, 10/24/2020 - 10:34am
The temp barriers were removed the road is back to the former configuration - is that until spring?
Next are they going to solve
By anon
Sun, 10/25/2020 - 12:01pm
Next are they going to solve the bigger problem: how to bike from Charles/Beacon to the Longfellow Bridge? Charles being one way southbound is a major annoyance. The only alternatives are going east on Beacon (steep climb, extra distance, and puts you on Cambridge Street which is hostile to bikes), or going west on Beacon and then on the Storrow sidewalk (bumpy, and lots of side streets onto which cars could right-hook quickly).
Heading north across the Common wasn’t a big deal. Hardcore cyclists could use the general lanes on Charles, and everyone else could ride on the path in the Common (not technically allowed, but not a big deal since it’s really wide and doesn’t have too many pedestrians).