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South Boston has converted many two-way streets to one-way throughways in an attempt to deal with the growing mounds of snow lining the streets. The temporary changes took effect on February 14th and will remain in place until April 1st.
The emergency transportation reconfiguration in South Boston begs the question… Should the circulation of Boston’s streets be dependent on how much snow is on the ground? Over the past 100 years, there have been 10 seasons where Boston has received 73 or more inches of snow. This winter is not an anomaly for Boston:
Some residents are now requesting that the city consider making the one-way streets permanent. One idea is to have one-way streets with reversed angle parking (similar to Bow Street in Somerville) as this would increase the amount of parking spaces in the area. The people who live in South Boston, who deal with the snowstorms and parking problems on a regular basis, seem to be in favor of more one-way streets.
Making the one-way streets permanent in South Boston would be pretty easy to pull off. The roads in question are almost all stop sign controlled so there would be very little costly traffic signal conversions required. Just move some signage and paint some lane markings and you’re pretty much done. Here is a impromptu poll done by Southie Streets blog asking the community about the one-way streets:
One-way streets are a good idea and will help snow-related traffic congestion.
Strongly Disagree—5
Disagree—2
Neutral—4
Agree—30
Strongly Agree—43
One-way streets are just a part of the solution for snow-related issues. There is more the City can do.
Strongly Disagree—7
Disagree—3
Neutral—12
Agree—31
Strongly Agree—31
One-way streets are a bad idea and will cause more traffic problems than they solve.
Strongly Disagree—38
Disagree—25
Neutral—12
Agree—5
Strongly Agree—4
BONUS: One-way streets are a good idea in general, and Southie would benefit from having at least some of the temporary one-way streets made permanent.
Strongly Disagree—13
Disagree—15
Neutral—12
Agree—14
Strongly Agree—30
One way streets are a good idea as long as they also add the diagonal parking and bike lane. One way streets can become traffic sewers if they are too wide.
Making the one-way streets permanent in South Boston would be pretty easy to pull off. The roads in question are almost all stop sign controlled so there would be very little costly traffic signal conversions required. Just move some signage and paint some lane markings and you’re pretty much done. Here is a impromptu poll done by Southie Streets blog asking the community about the one-way streets:
One-way streets are a good idea and will help snow-related traffic congestion.
Strongly Disagree—5
Disagree—2
Neutral—4
Agree—30
Strongly Agree—43
One-way streets are just a part of the solution for snow-related issues. There is more the City can do.
Strongly Disagree—7
Disagree—3
Neutral—12
Agree—31
Strongly Agree—31
One-way streets are a bad idea and will cause more traffic problems than they solve.
Strongly Disagree—38
Disagree—25
Neutral—12
Agree—5
Strongly Agree—4
BONUS: One-way streets are a good idea in general, and Southie would benefit from having at least some of the temporary one-way streets made permanent.
Strongly Disagree—13
Disagree—15
Neutral—12
Agree—14
Strongly Agree—30
Those streets were narrowed by the banks of snow. It would be folly to turn them into wide one-way streets. If you want to take the ROW and reallocate that space for protected bike lanes/wider sidewalks and maintain a narrow path for cars, then one-way makes sense. Otherwise you are risk turning those places into auto dominated streets.
The emergency transportation reconfiguration in South Boston begs the question… Should the circulation of Boston’s streets be dependent on how much snow is on the ground? Over the past 100 years, there have been 10 seasons where Boston has received 73 or more inches of snow. This winter is not an anomaly for Boston:
The winter absolutely is an anomaly for Boston. It's not the quantity of snow. It's all that snow falling in a short timeframe with NO warming/melting cycles in between.
Quote:
Some residents are now requesting that the city consider making the one-way streets permanent. One idea is to have one-way streets with reversed angle parking (similar to Bow Street in Somerville) as this would increase the amount of parking spaces in the area. The people who live in South Boston, who deal with the snowstorms and parking problems on a regular basis, seem to be in favor of more one-way streets.
Great idea. Lack of parking is the issue residents want resolved. Road capacity is not really needed, especially towards the eastern end of the peninsula.
The winter absolutely is an anomaly for Boston. It's not the quantity of snow. It's all that snow falling in a short timeframe with NO warming/melting cycles in between.
I concede that it's not just about the quantity but how far apart the storms are spaced. The back-to-back (to-back) snowstorms made it nearly impossible for the city to keep a handle on the snow removal. I will contend that the narrow two-way streets of South Boston can be difficult to navigate even when there is no snow on the ground. Add a typical Boston snowstorm to the mix and drivers in Southie inevitably have trouble getting around (especially larger vehicles, delivery trucks, etc.).
I concede that it's not just about the quantity but how far apart the storms are spaced. The back-to-back (to-back) snowstorms made it nearly impossible for the city to keep a handle on the snow removal. I will contend that the narrow two-way streets of South Boston can be difficult to navigate even when there is no snow on the ground. Add a typical Boston snowstorm to the mix and drivers in Southie inevitably have trouble getting around (especially larger vehicles, delivery trucks, etc.).
Though for a residential street, that could be a plus. It discourages thru-traffic and keep traffic speeds low.
Though for a residential street, that could be a plus. It discourages thru-traffic and keep traffic speeds low.
I'd argue the stop signs every 250ft or less accomplish that anyway. Also, as it's an isolated peninsula, the potential for thru traffic, especially east of Summer/L St, is basically nil.
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