Description
Urgent action needed due to the poorly thought-out changes at the construction site approaching GG way. The bike lane has been removed for construction and cyclists are getting squeezed up against the concrete barrier. "cyclists may use full lane sign" is a total joke when traffic is heavy. No cyclist is going to take the lane in front of all that heavy traffic even if they could somehow force their way in. please help before someone gets minced against that barrier.
11 Comments
City Hall – DR (Verified Official)
Ian Woloschin (Registered User)
To make matters worse, the concrete barriers have been moved even further out into the roadway yesterday, such that there is now no space left for a cyclist other than to take the full lane. Unfortunately there is zero warning for cyclists coming from Hampshire St, as by the time they can see the "Bikes May Use Full Lane" sign it's too late to safely attempt to merge. At a minimum there should be a sign near the intersection of Hampshire St & Portland St indicating that the bike lane is closed ahead and that cyclists should merge.
A better solution might simply be to put up some cones during the morning rush hour to remove the Left Turn lane from Broadway to Technology Square, allowing traffic flowing towards Galileo Galilei Way to have plenty of room for motor vehicles and cyclists. I doubt the left turn movement itself needs to be restricted.
Honestly, it really surprised me to see this construction happening without any warning, notice, or community meetings. I get that prime construction season is also prime bicycle commuting season, there's going to be conflicts, but this one seems particularly egregious and indicates that the City of Cambridge really doesn't care about protecting cyclists, especially considering that this may be one of the most heavily utilized bicycle commuting corridors in the Commonwealth!
Claudia Mastroianni (Registered User)
Drwr (Registered User)
Acknowledged Public Works - RF (Admin) (Verified Official)
Closed City Hall – DR (Verified Official)
Reopened Ian Woloschin (Registered User)
City Hall – DR (Verified Official)
Acknowledged Public Works - JS (Admin) (Verified Official)
Ian Woloschin (Registered User)
Technically, more than two months after this issue was last touched, it can be closed since construction here has finally finished. This ticket is troubling though, as all summer long there was no action taken by the City, other than to wait and let the issue resolve itself. While this is sometimes acceptable, it should not be acceptable on one of the busiest bicycling corridors in Massachusetts.
Fortunately the finished project appears to have been worth 2+ months of danger, just today the bollards were in place and it's quite lovely to bike on now. This stretch of roadway is in far better condition now than ever before. I've attached a picture from this morning, look at how nice it is! Unfortunately, for a couple of months the roadway was unacceptable dangerous, and we need to better understand how to manage construction projects to make them safer for vulnerable road users.
Can the City comment on lessons learned here and how future construction projects with similar impacts will be better managed? Heck, even more timely responses to issues raised on this website might be a good start.
Closed Public Works - PA (Inspections) (Verified Official)