Author: jsallen
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An Alternative to the Inman Square Peanut Proposal
I have posted comments about the proposal for a “peanut roundabout” in Inman Square, and other proposals for the Square, on the Cambridge Civic Forum blog. I think that the City’s “bend Cambridge Street” proposal — with a minor modification to make bicycling safer and more convenient — is the best one which has any…
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Pushback on Cambridge bicycle plans
Cambridge Civic Journal blogger Robert Winters has posted a thoroughgoing critique of a proposal for a great expansion in the number and mileage of on-street, barrier-separated bikeways. City Councillor Craig Kelley also has raised questions on his blog (and sent out the same message to an e-mail subscription list).
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My comments on the North Washington Street Bridge project
The comments below were addressed to Patricia Leavenworth, Chief Engineer at MassDOT. ATTN: Bridge Project Management, Project File No. 604173 Dear Ms. Leavenworth: I attended the 75% design about the North Washington Street bridge project on October 19, and I am commenting on that project. The quote below is on page 13 of the minutes…
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A response to Steve Miller
The paragraph below is a response to Steve Miller’s call for “better bike lanes” [December 25, 2024: retrieved from the Internet Archive] — separated on-street bikeways — on his blog. I also published the paragraph as a comment on his blog post. The safest way to ride on today’s streets requires skill, assertiveness, an understanding…
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Forcing the right hook at Mass and Beacon
The installation of a separated bikeway on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, leading from the Harvard Bridge to Beacon Street, forces motorists to turn right from the left lane — and establishes as the norm, bicyclists’ overtaking on the right, just as in the crash which killed 38 year-old medical researcher Anita Kurmann at that location…
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Gillooly’s presentation
Deputy Commissioner James Gillooly’s presentation about the planned separate bikeways on Commonwealth Avenue is online at the URL below. I have prespred a version synchronized to his talk about it at the 2015 Massachusetts Moving Together conference. Gillooly, J. (2015, 11 01). Commonwealth Avenue Phase 2A… Retrieved June 25, 2016, from http://www.movingtogetherma.org/Pdfs/2015presentations/Gillooly-Issued_Move%20Together%20-%20Session%202D.pdf — deleted by…
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The 2015-2016 crop of bills in the Massachusetts legislature
My opinion on these proposals, in general: all well-intentioned, but the the law of unintended consequences comes into play with some. S. 1117, sponsored by Sen. Brownsberger of Watertown, by striking out the words “16 years of age or younger”, would require bicyclists of all ages to wear a helmet, and would encourage bicyclists to…
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Is it all right?
At the Boston Bicycle Safety Summit, February 23, 2016, in a small breakout group, Cyclist Jonathan Traum drew a sketch like this: (Thanks to John Schubert for this version, which looks like Traum’s, only neater.) Traum indicated that the right-hook conflict shown in the illustration was a serious problem, with bike lanes which encourage bicyclists…
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Arlington Center Safe Travel Project update
Arlington Center has presented a major problem for the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway (rail trail) since its opening. For people who are not familiar with the situation in Arlington Center, the rail line passed diagonally through the middle of town, crossing the two largest streets in Arlington within a couple hundred feet of their intersection. The…
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For a real People’s Pike
“People’s Pike” is a group of citizens with concerns about the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s I-90 Allston Interchange project, the main goal of which has been to replace the deteriorating Massachusetts Turnpike viaduct. The People’s Pike group is concerned mostly with improvements to the project for local access. A new commuter rail and bus terminal…