Category: Design
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Dummer yet
Let’s take a look at the intersection of Essex Street with Dummer Street in Brookline over the years, with the aid of Google Street Views. Essex Street leads south from Commonwealth Avenue opposite the Boston University Bridge — see Google map. In 2007, Essex Street had parking on the west side, which resulted in wrong-way…
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What’s with Winter Street, Waltham?
Today I rode on Winter Street in Waltham, which runs around the south and west sides of the Cambridge Reservoir. A few years ago, bike lanes were installed on much of Winter Street, starting a quarter mile west of West Street in Waltham and extending (with a couple of interruptions) to the Lincoln town line.…
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Non-responsive signal actuators in Waltham
Why are we still seeing traffic-signal actuators which won’t trigger the signal for bicycles or motorcycles? I have made a short video of a Waltham intersection, Bedford and South Streets. This illustrates the problem which a bicyclist or motorcyclist faces with many traffic-signal actuators. Another issue at this same intersection is that many westbound motorists…
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Massachusetts Highway Department advice on bicycle detection
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Project Development and Design Guide, published in 2006, is recognized as pioneering in its call for street design “from the outside in,” recognizing the need to provide for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Guide is explicit in its requirement that traffic signals work for bicyclists, but does not give detailed actuator…
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Riding Lexington Street, Waltham, July 4, 2015
It should be noted that bike lanes have been installed on much of the stretch of Lexington Street shown in the videos. Videos showing the new conditions are in preparation. Two videos, for now: A demonstration of lane control in a slow, uphill bicycle ride on a suburban speedway, with light, fast traffic. How controlling…
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My e-mail in support of West Station
Alexander Strysky is the Massashusetts Environmental Protection Agency reviewer for the I-90 Interchange project in Allston. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has backed off from plans for prompt construction of anew West Station on the Framingham-Worcester commuter-rail line, which is an essential element of the project. My comment e-mail to Mr. Strysky is below. ***********…
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Sheet of ice draws praise from advocates
The headline of the Boston Globe article with this picture is “Snowbank becomes accidental hero for area cyclists”. The shiny area in the bikeway is meltwater from said snowbank. When the temperature drops below freezing, the meltwater becomes a sheet of black ice. This problem is unavoidable with a street-level barrier-separated bikeway. I discussed it…
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Some Plain Talk about Plainville
The town manager in Plainville, Massachusetts, has complained about a new bike lane which has been installed in connection with upgrading of a casino by the side of Washington Street, US Route 1. He thinks that the bike lane should be removed, because he considers it unsafe. You may hear about this in a news…
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New Product — ShelBroCo Magic Green Paint
Here’s a high-tech product which deserves to be used in every new bicycle infrastructure project. The linked page gives a thorough description and videos!
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Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail, Bedford: safer to walk across the street?
The photo below, from summer 2011, is a cylindrical panorama: Hillside Road, at the right, is at a right angle to Route 4-225 (the Great Road) at the left. The Narrow Gauge Rail Trail runs from front to rear in the photo, alongside Hillside Road and (at the rear) Bacon Street. (Google map of the…