Boston Revisits cyclist death

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

If you have the chance to ride around Minneapolis and their bike highways, do so. That's a great city for biking. Boston? Incredibly dangerous. I used to bike everywhere, but just had too many close calls and got hit once. And had my bike stolen. Just not worth it here, for now at least.

I've never been to Minneapolis but I have been to Amsterdam. Amsterdam streets are how cities should be designed.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

They have added cycling infrastructure at the intersection where this accident occurred. It's not curb separated but it does add metal posts. It most likely would have prevented this accident.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3510...2!8i6656?hl=en

But yes I agree protected bike lanes should be installed throughout the city. It would increase safety and encourage more people to bike (which is a very efficient method of transportation in a dense city). I would serve more people then a couple of parking spots.

Good. The unfortunate thing is that infrastructure like that seems to either be knee-jerk (as a result of an incident like this), or it only comes as a component of another project. For instance, the Staniford lanes were part of a project to replace a main under the street. They wouldn't have happened if the main didn't need replacing. Further major upgrades are planned but will only become reality as part of another project. I get it from a cost savings standpoint, but I think bike safety should be more of a priority for this city.

Originally Posted by tysmith95

I've never been to Minneapolis but I have been to Amsterdam. Amsterdam streets are how cities should be designed.

Yes. and Copenhagen which is an awesome bike city. When anyone says "But Boston's WAY too old and cold to have good bike infrastructure!" Point to those two cities.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Frankly, we need better bike infrastructure. Major arteries with separate bike lanes like Staniford Street (yes, even at the cost of some on-street parking) that run continuously throughout the city (Staniford is about 2 city blocks long and the extension on Causeway isn't open yet). We also need drivers to be more cognizant of bikers (and Bikers to be better about obeying the rules of the road). Traffic calming measures would help - keeping cars from going so fast and things to make drivers more alert would help. Somerville has "shared streets" that make it very clear that cyclists and cars share the same road. Between being shared and being narrow two-way streets, cars drive slower and more aware creating a safer space making Somerville one of the most bike friendly cities in the country. In Europe and parts of Asia (namely, Japan), they take Shared Streets even further and include Pedestrians. Turns out, when drivers are actively aware pedestrians and cyclists are on the same space, the streets are actually safer because all parties are more alert. Between physically separated lanes on major arteries and some shared side streets, Boston could be a much better environment for cyclists.

While short, Commercial has a nice separated lane installed this summer: Photo

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

While short, Commercial has a nice separated lane installed this summer: Photo

Nice, I hadn't seen that yet. It's part of the same Connect Historic Boston Plan that was responsible for the Staniford and Causeway updates.

[tysmith95]

I think the city should start first adding bike lanes in the Back Bay and Allston. Cambridge has a much higher rate of bike transportation then Boston and pretty good bike infrastructure (by american standards). The Back Bay and Allston would be a natural extension.

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

While short, Commercial has a nice separated lane installed this summer: Photo

It's good in theory... but pedestrians can't seem to figure out the huge painted bike signs every 30 feet. They walk aimlessly on it on their phones. Always.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by GeePee

It's good in theory... but pedestrians can't seem to figure out the huge painted bike signs every 30 feet. They walk aimlessly on it on their phones. Always.

I wish they built it with two curbs. One from the road to the bike lane and one from the bike lane to the sidewalk.

Still i'm surprised they picked the North End as the first place to add the bike lanes. Besides the restaurants it's not a big employment center (so not a ton of bike commuters). It's not connected to the bike infrastructure (and large by american standards cycling population) that Cambridge and Somerville have.

I would think that having bike lanes like that would get the most use along Comm Ave, the bridges over the Charles, the Back Bay, around Allston, around Longwood, etc.

With lots of bike users i'm sure that the pedestrians would learn not to walk in the bike lanes (or they would get run over/yelled at).

[GeePee]

Great point. Maybe they added these as a test of sorts, and the infrastructure was needing updating anyways so it was more feasible. I know a similar situation is happening at Forest Hills in Roslindale/JP while they redoing the whole artery there are plans of bike lanes almost separated from the car traffic. I think we will continue to see more of this as roadways get updated. But I don't see it as a priority project. Which makes sense.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

I wish they built it with two curbs. One from the road to the bike lane and one from the bike lane to the sidewalk.

Still i'm surprised they picked the North End as the first place to add the bike lanes. Besides the restaurants it's not a big employment center (so not a ton of bike commuters). It's not connected to the bike infrastructure (and large by american standards cycling population) that Cambridge and Somerville have.

I would think that having bike lanes like that would get the most use along Comm Ave, the bridges over the Charles, the Back Bay, around Allston, around Longwood, etc.

With lots of bike users i'm sure that the pedestrians would learn not to walk in the bike lanes (or they would get run over/yelled at).

The ones on Staniford (and Causeway even though those aren't open yet) were first. While more "central" than Commercial St., they're not nearly as prominent as the Financial District, Back Bay, etc. either.

From what I understand, these are projects that are attached to Connect Historic Boston's Tiger Grant (linked up above). They're "Phase 1" of a ring that will eventually loop around central Boston. The catch is that work doesn't begin on the lanes unless another project (i.e. utility work, resurfacing, etc.) is being done at the same time. They're constructed in conjunction with other projects, so they depend on other work needing to be done. I get it from a financial standpoint, but it's frustrating that the region hasn't prioritized a handful of bicycle arteries.