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311 complaint of the day: Why didn't anybody tell us the River Street bridge was re-opened?

The whole point of the doomsday device

A disgusted motorist filed a 311 complaint yesterday evening about the way the River Street Bridge in Hyde Park was re-opened on Monday:

Stopped at light near Papa Gino's in Hyde Park just now and of course it is dark. I went straight as usual since the River Street Bridge has been closed for multiple years and the arrow is straight. Unknown to anyone the bridge must have opened in the last day or so and the arrow changed to reflect this. It is so dangerous to do this without letting the community know. There were cars trying desperately to avoid being hit. The state did not indicate the bridge would be opening anytime soon in the email with all the details sent to those on the list of the update. There were no "tweets" from Boston, no nothing. Why would those in charge cause such a needless danger to those driving?

Ed. note: Good reason to join the Hyde Park Facebook group, because there was advance notice there. Or start reading Universal Hub, although if you're reading this, you probably already do that.

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Comments

to tell you whenever the road conditions change? Yeah, okay. Do your job as a driver and pay attention to the road.

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Nothing is your responsibility, everything is everyone else’s responsibility.

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that's not about Boston driving, it's about whiney-baby entitlement.

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I receive a text message with a heartfelt apology for condition of our roads. Doesn't everyone get this treatment?

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People in the neighborhood should have been notified and there should have been signs.

I put "or state" because it depends on who owns the bridge.

There's bureaucracy for you.

I heard about it an hour before it opened because I ran into someone who saw television crews by the bridge. The "government" did what was done for decades before the rise of social media, which is to tell news outlets. Maybe a variable sign would have helped. The removal of the detour signs should be a hint, but that's assuming people notice these things.

My bet is that it will be covered in the January 2, 2025 issue of the Bulletin.

Why is the government responsible to notify each resident when they complete road work? Why this project and not all other road projects? Do you read/watch local news? You don't even know whose jurisdiction it is, so should they knock on your door and tell you that too? Let me help you: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MADOT/subscriber/new?topic_id=MA...

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There's a reason a lot of places post signs that say "traffic pattern changed ahead" and this is why.

Did anyone tell the MBTA? Because I don't see any notice from them about the Route 33 and 50 buses returning to their pre-detour routes over the bridge.

or any of the others as a substitute for timely public safety and transportation information from the authorities. you shouldnt have to sign up for a privacy-invading private company's platform just to get information you're entitled to as a resident.

not everyone has FB, Twitter or the others, many people dont even have reliable internet access. we should expect our government to account for that.

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entitled. It does account for most of it with direct emails to you that you can sign up for. If you can own and operate a car, you can receive an email. You can also watch the local news.

Unknown to anyone the bridge must have opened in the last day or so and the arrow changed to reflect this.

I guess I am a bit confused. If there is an green turn arrow signal (instead of a "regular" green signal), shouldn't one be able to notice this? If there is a turn arrow, are some drivers treating it as a regular green light? Are oncoming and side-street drivers who are used to ignoring the lights and doing therir own thing regardless, doing things to create more danger than was the case when the bridge is closed?

If you are coming "inbound" on Hyde Park Ave, the left lane at the intersection is, or was, left turn only. The outbound side, though 2 lanes, doesn't have either lane marked as a turn only lane. The HPA light series would be green+arrow(ib)/red(ob), then all green with no arrow.

Someone who drove it more can correct me.