City Gets Bike Lane OK For Mass. Ave.

By The WBUR Newsroom
May 21, 2010, 12:39 PM
7 Comments

BOSTON — Boston officials now have state and federal approval to install bike lanes on Massachusetts Avenue.

City officials say the lanes will run from Boston Medical Center to Symphony Hall.

Boston Chief of Policy Michael Kinneavy says the city additionally hopes to extend the lanes farther.

“We’re looking at the section between the bridge and Symphony Hall, and our hope is that someday it will all be continuous and we’re very happy about that,” Kinneavy said.

Boston Transportation Commissioner Thomas Timlin said — on Bike to Work Day — that the Menino administration is committed to promoting bicycling.

“The mayor, in working with our state partners, has really said it loud, and said it clear, and put our money where our mouth is, and put the policy into practice, that the car is no longer king in the city of Boston,” Timlin said.

The bike lanes will be part of an $18 million reconstruction of Massachusetts Avenue, which uses federal and state funding.

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Sean Roberts

A bike line on one of the most congested areas in all of Boston? $18MM to paint a line for seven blocks? $2.6MM per block?

And some people still wonder why so many others are furious with government. Creating a world gone upside down.
Patrick McCluskey

It’s about time! That section road is terrible. They should run the lanes all the way to Harvard Bridge and connect them to the Cambridge side, which is great.

In response to Sean: The bike lanes are “part” of a reconstruction project not the entirety. Furthermore, bikes certainly produce less congestion and require less expensive infrastructure when compared to cars.
Phil Goff

Sean – The $18m for the Mass AVe project is for a complete reconstruction of that stretch of Mass Ave, including utility work, new sidewalks, trees, landscaping, paving, etc.. The amount of budget eaten up to provide access for bicycles is probably in the range of $10-20,000, less than 1/10 of 1%.

And some people still wonder why so many people seem to blame bicycles for all that wrong with our transportation priorities. Bicycle transportation is by far the most cost effective way to provide mobility for a significant portion of the population, even on busy streets (typically the best connection between places)
Sean Roberts

Thank you both for your civil input. Still $2.6MM per BLOCK seems to be a horrendous expense. The width of Mass. Ave. is finite; additional space for a bike path must be subtracted from the width of the street, and that necessitates more congestion. The bike path will mean more bicycles, not fewer cars. Another problem is driving management: even though bicyclists are legally required to observe the rules of the road which apply to cars and trucks, they never do.

Were the city to spend money on that stretch, my vote joins many others in restoring the majesty and serenity of Chester Park and putting in an underpass. Chester Park was one of the great glories of Boston until the City destroyed it in the 50s.
Sean Roberts

In closing, one of the things I enjoy and respect in this conversation is that people have the courage and decency to use their real names. Now THAT is civility. Thank you, both.
Charlie Denison

Sean, you’re correct that the addition of bike lanes required the reallocation of pavement (essentially the travel and parking lanes will be narrowed somewhat). However, this should have a negligible effect on traffic flow or capacity. The same number of travel and parking lanes exist in the new plan as did in the old plan. In some ways, the bicycle lanes may actually help traffic flow, by making it easier for both bicyclists and motorists to coexist (the old plan required bicyclists and motorists to share a wide right lane). The biggest determining factor for traffic flow is and will always be the intersections and traffic signals.
Bob

It looks like space for the bike lanes is being made by narrowing the raised concrete median. Probably a win-win for cars and bikes, although maybe not so hot for pedestrians who use the median to safely cross the street.

Anyway, that stretch of Mass Ave is so congested, I have yet to see a car that actually missed a green light due to being “stuck” behind a bike. More common is to be stuck behind 30 cars while creeping along through multiple light cycles.