bostonbiker

Tag: Massachusetts

  • For a real People’s Pike

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    jsallen
    in

    “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…

  • My opinions on the bills before the Massachusetts General Court

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    jsallen
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    I can’t go to the Wednesday, January 6 hearing on transportation bills, because I’ll be out of town on business, but here’s my take (and be sure to read through to the last bill on which I comment: it’s one of the most important, and we should oppose it). My opinions are based on my…

  • Mass Ave, Arlington, and two approaches to bicycling

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    jsallen
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    This article is about Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, but at a deeper level, it is about two very different approaches to bicycling. I’ll start by recalling Massachusetts Avenue as it used to be. Massachusetts Avenue was striped with two lanes. They were very wide, because there once was a streetcar line down the middle. The…

  • The Boston Globe’s photo album

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    jsallen
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    Ah, the Boston Globe. On the one side we have conservative columnist Jeff Jacoby in the Globe of September 1, 2015, suggesting that bicyclists should all go for a nice ride in the park and stay off the streets. Though I’m a registered Democrat and liberal to centrist on most political issues, I often find…

  • Boston Globe Article Falls Flat

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    jsallen
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    My letter to the editor of the Globe today. To the editor: Yes, I know this is too long to publish, but I hope that you will find it informative. A major impediment to safe bicycling and good street design is lack of knowledge. In the feature article “Safer Passages”, on the cover of Globe…

  • Some Plain Talk about Plainville

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    jsallen
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    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…

  • Commonwealth Avenue victory?

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    jsallen
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    I submitted the following comments in response to a Boston Globe article reporting on proposed bikeways on Commonwealth Avenue. [archived] Real solutions to bicycle and pedestrian mobility in the Commonwealth Avenue corridor can be found by connecting parallel streets, an initiative which ties in well with the proposed Allston Turnpike Interchange Project. I have commented…

  • A letter to a neighbor

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    jsallen
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    March 8, 2015 To my neighbor at [address]: Aside from the usual traffic interactions, I had two unusual ones this morning while riding my bicycle to and from church. On my way home, I passed some neighbors who were walking their dogs on Villa Street. One of the dogs tugged at the leash and barked…

  • Boston Police bicycle training

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    jsallen
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    Are the Boston Police getting the training they need to be safe and effective on bicycles? I don’t think so. I don’t know how they train, but I have seen how they perform. In another post, I described how a participant in a protest march pushed a Boston bicycle patrol officer over — intentionally or…

  • Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail, Bedford: safer to walk across the street?

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    jsallen
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    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…