City Hall – DR assigned this issue to Traffic - KC (Admin)

THEY KNOW THIS BUT DON’T CARE!!! They will DO NOTHING to fix this

Every two minutes of idling is the equivalent of driving a mile. All that mileage is sitting in our N. Cambridge neighborhoods. So we've increased pollution and it takes twice as long to get anywhere. What a deal! Please let's have more of this wonderful traffic management.

It's just as bad trying to get back into Cambridge from Arlington via Mass Ave, if you dare to leave in the early morning or you work overnight. Waited 2 light cycles on the bridge where a single car didn't move because the first car in the left hand lane was trying to go straight Cambridge and the intersection was blocked with cars that were stuck in the middle of the intersection. The first car finally did a U-turn back into Arlington on the 3rd green light when they still couldn't get onto Mass Ave/Camb. I turned left onto Alewife and drove up to Broadway/Somerville.
When is this foolishness going to stop? It's not enough that the water in Alewife Brook is polluted, now you're increasing the pollution in the air as well.

E-mail all the city councilors! This is the mess that 7 of them created.

The city manager and city council received over 500 letters in the first few weeks of the quick-build. They've done nothing. They received a petition with over 1,200 signatures. They did nothing. Marc McGovern, who wrote the ordinance, said the only thing he will consider is minimal amendments and no changes to the number of miles of bike lanes or deadlines. He doesn't think the traffic on Mass Ave is a problem. He doesn't want the dedicated bus lane to be removed. If you write letters ask for quick-build to be removed and replaced by construction that would keep parking and have better bike lane design. It would take longer but would have a much better result.

A better solution is to keep the quick-build and expand bus lanes usage to include HOVs and EVs.

That wouldn't solve the problem for all the 18-wheelers that are now going into the side streets to avoid the congestion. Star Market alone has 100 18-wheelers a day.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us. We have passed this information along to Cambridge Traffic, Parking & Transportation staff. Additionally Alewife Brook Parkway is state property, managed by Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation & Recreation (DCR). Their contact information is: Community Relations at 617-626-1250 / Mass.parks@mass.gov.

Please note, this system is best used for issues like potholes, broken streetlights, damaged street signs, or other service requests related to routine maintenance. For things related to policies, programs, traffic regulations, or other items that require further examination or planning, contact the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department at tpt@cambridgema.gov

Higher bus lane utilization would reduce congestion.

Bus routes/Commuter Rail/Rapid Transit don't cover the location I was traveling from as is the case for many people in cars.

With due respect, please allow me to differ as I am super frustrated over how this CSO was implemented and post-implementation management. Please keep this open until City addresses this problem. Let me list just two major reasons why (other than the obvious I stated in the original description) and ask others to add to these:

1) You recommended to “contact the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department at tpt@cambridgema.gov” but I have written countless emails to the City officials but my emails are seldom answered. I spoke up countless times at the City Council meetings to voice my concerns. Yes, the CC passed Policy Order to conduct economic impact study and to form an advisory committee yet TP&T and DPW are continuing with the Porter Square Project and MassAve4 Projects respectively without waiting for the results. So, who do I contact to get this issue addressed then?
2) Yes, I know full well that Alewife Brook Parkway is state property, managed by Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation & Recreation (DCR). But the problem is caused by the separated bike lane installation with poor coordination between TP&T and DCR and poor, if at all, impact study as I urged TP&T to do early on during community outreach. Are you suggesting we contact DCR to get Cambridge to restore the traffic flow during rush hour to pre- bike lane conditions? The DCR can’t change traffic pattern on Mass Ave that TP&T installed. But TP&T has responsibility for the lane markings and signal timing (as I was told by TP&T) so TP&T can, should and must address this problem. TP&T DPW should and must take the lessons learned from the Quick-Build that was supposed to have only minor impact and apply them to the projects in progress and future projects.

Bicycles rule the roads in Cambridge.

Get used to it people.

The roads are shared. Get it right, people.

This issue has been outstanding for 61 days. Please provide resolution to this issue ASAP.
TP&T was able to gather traffic counts almost overnight during the community engagement on this project. At least conduct same traffic count and compare the results and come up with remedial steps as warranted.
Thank you

Today, 8/19/2022, at 5 PM, the eastbound traffic on Alewife Brook Parkway was backed up from Mass Ave to Whittmore Ave. Who is responsible for monitoring traffic on Alewife Brook Parkway and mitigate traffic congestion like this one? Is it the State or the City or both?

The City of Cambridge owns Mass Ave within Cambridge's boundaries. I have been dealing with TPT since September and have not been able to get anywhere with them. That's why there are at least three lawsuits against the city right now. No one is listening to the residents. The information sessions are just for TPT to tell us what they are going to do. Feedback is ignored. A group that is working on these problems is https://cambridgeforall.org/

The question was Who is responsible for monitoring traffic on Alewife Brook Parkway and mitigate traffic congestion like this one - DCR or Cambridge. They have to work together to solve this bottleneck.

The answer is Cambridge has full control of the part that is within Cambridge's boundaries. I have already had conversations with DCR. They will not get involved.

This issue has been outstanding for 91 days. Please provide an update on its resolution.
Thank you.

This week has been extremely terrible with traffic. Trying to get the kids to school is a nightmare. Do they plan on making any adjustments to help the residents?

I second Concerned NC Resident's request. And please don't try to close this ticket again by saying: "For things related to policies...contact the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department at tpt@cambridgema.gov." You don't answer our email so we resort to clickfix.

And please also give us an update on the Advisory Group that the city council unanimously agreed we needed to oversee this process and give people a place to bring their grievances. Joe Barr was supposed to set this up by Jan. 31. We know this is a hard job for TPT but think of us, we have to live with this.

TPT PLEASE set up a zoom meeting so the people affected by the N. Mass Ave quick-build can discuss the issues with you and post the date here. Thank you.

This is beyond frustrating the light at Mass Ave and The Parkway has added 20 minutes to my commute it’s ridiculous. Sometimes I’m sitting through five cycles of lights to get through.

This was Clarendon Ave, backed up into Somerville. all these side roads and Mass Ave are completely filled with traffic.

I did some grocery shopping yesterday and the traffic was back up for hours. I live on Brookford Street and traffic is aimed at the Brookford Street and Mass Ave intersection. I cannot even get off my own street because it blocked with traffic. We have a dedicated bus lane at hours when there are are no buses running, traffic is idling for hours in our neighborhood, and then to top it off I almost got hit by a bike running a red light. Cars, buses, and trucks are now using the “bus only” lane as a speedway from Alewife to Cedar street. The MBTA and School buses are included speeding down Mass Ave. The police have been out there at times but the problem is overwhelming for them too.

How about making the bus lane a High-Occupancy Vehicle lane, too.

Nobody will patrol that either, the city doesn’t care AT ALL !!

To be fair, the Police Department is doing what it can, given the situation where separate bike lanes have been installed. i know they have assigned extra patrol in North Cambridge. It is more the fault of TP&T to monitor the impact of separated bike lanes (they were able to conduct traffic survey seemingly overnight when it suited their needs) and come up with mitigation solutions.

What I have asked TP&T very early on was to look into Bus Priority Lane instead of dedicated bus lane. Technology is there. Fire engines and ambulances can be equipped with transponders to change the lights, for example.

It's been 4 months since I reported this issue, and it has not been even acknowledged since I reopened it back in 6/9. Please provide status on this issue and assign it to proper department.

Bus lanes are NOT part of the Cycling Safety Ordinance. These bus lanes were thrown in at the last minute by Joe Barr. The city manager could remove them at any time without going to city council. The city manager could also change the schedule and start building the sidewalk bike lanes like we have on Western Ave now instead of waiting three years. They preserve parking and are safer. Get rid of the quick-build. Quick-builds are done to comply with Marc McGovern's Cycling Safety Ordinance until TPT can build the permanent sidewalk bike lanes. TPT can't expect us to deal with this for three more years. It's not fair for us to be the guinea pigs for a failed experiment.

It makes more sense to send letters to the new city manager pointing out that he has the power to change this mess, than waiting for TPT to do anything. The director is leaving and it is obvious he is going to leave his mess behind for someone else to deal with.

Having spent SIXTEEN minutes to move 4 car lengths, trying to get onto Alewife Brook Parkway eastbound from Mass Ave Arlington, I must agree that this is not just congestion, it is gridlock. (Yes, I gave up. At one car per cycle, it was clear it would take a long, long time for the Mass Ave eastbound to clear.)

All caused by the volume of traffic from ABP (both directions) trying to get into the ONE lane on Mass Ave eastbound in Cambridge. Until you fix this stupid design, either assign police to peak hours, start giving tickets for blocking the intersection, or some other action.
It is irresponsible to knowingly let this happen every morning, 5 days a week.

It is also criminal to knowingly allow this design to continue to cause accidents. We had our ninth car accident a week ago. The year before this design was implemented, we had zero car accidents in the same area. In at least three of the accidents the cars were totaled. What are we waiting for--someone to die?

Let’s see if the new city manager cares more than the old!!

This issue has been open 151 days. Please provide update on this issue

This was heading from Broadway in Somerville to Mass Ave on route 16 where I try to take a left daily. SIX LIGHT CHANGES WHEN I GOT TO WHERE I COULD SEE THE LIGH. 20 MINUTES SOMETIMES THIS IS RIDICULOUS

Would as many people as possible please send the new city manager a link to this ticket. (citymanager@cambridgema.gov). I have already sent many emails regarding the problems on N. Mass Ave. It would be helpful if we all remind him that this is a big problem that is not going away and that we need his help.

Also, please come to the meeting at Graham & Parks School on 11/9 at 6:30. TPT is finally getting around to telling the Raymond Street community why they made Garden Street a one-way. It will give us an opportunity to ask in person when they plan to fix the problems on N. Mass Ave and also show solidarity for the Raymond Street community which now has overflow traffic from drivers avoiding Garden Street. We think the city manager will attend.

As CHTT stated above, the operative word is "TRY". Cars and trucks are frequently stuck in the middle of the intersection of 16 and Mass Ave, holding up all types of commuters and making it dangerous for all, bikers, pedestrians who are trying to cross and have to dodge in between weaving vehicles, cars/trucks and buses who cannot get pass the grid lock. See my comment of 6/8 above. Nothing has improved. Please assist.

This has been open for 181 days with 39 comments, yet it hasn't even ACKNOWLEDGED. Please provide status on this issue.

Last week we were returning to our North Cambridge home via Mass Ave Arlington. We stopped at the signal at Thorndike St and Mass Ave in East Arlington at 8:10 am. It took us until 8:25 to travel approximately .25 mile to Route 16 to get into Cambridge due to the back up caused by the bus lane. We were able to see the non-use of the bus lane for most of the 15 minutes we sat in the traffic. During the time, we saw just one school bus using the bus lane-no MBTA buses used the lane during the entire time. Are they, too, being jammed up in traffic that can't move into Cambridge? The amount of emissions caused by this bus lane that is not getting used is so bad for those of us living in the neighborhood.

The other evening while driving towards Arlington on mass Avenue while waiting at the red light stuck and idling I saw seven bicycles cut over route 16 through the red light, even pedestrians don’t walk through the red light.

The empty bus lane congestion is also causing 18-wheelers to travel into the residential side streets like Gold Star Road to avoid the congestion on Mass Ave. We asked for a "No Trucks" sign but were told there wasn't enough traffic to justify it, even though one truck almost hit a child playing on the sidewalk. In addition to the 9 accidents, Cambridge city employees who commute have seen their commute time doubled. When we mentioned this to Councilor McGovern he said he didn't think the congestion on N. Mass Ave was important. He wanted the bus lane to stay. All this so we can have a dedicated bus lane to run empty buses. There was no requirement for a bus lane in the Cycling Safety Ordinance so what is the excuse for nonaction by TPT and the city?

This issue has been outstanding for 211 days with 43 comments, yet it hasn't even ACKNOWLEDGED. Please provide status on this issue.

Yesterday we had to go to H-Mart in Burlington around 8:30 AM. It took 13 minutes to go from Norris Street to Alewife Brook Parkway, a distance of 0.6 miles which should take 2 minutes without any traffic at 4:45 AM. The right lane of eastbound Alewife Brook Parkway was backed up almost to Whittemore Ave, a distance of 0.3 miles.
While stuck in the traffic at Churchil Ave, I counted more than a dozen cars whizzing by on the dedicated bus lane.
Please CONDUCT TRAFFIC COUNT at this intersection and compare to travel data from both 2016 and 2021(see links to these data under the Second Community Meeting Background pull down menu in https://www.cambridgema.gov/streetsandtransportation/projectsandprograms/massavedudleysttoalewifebrookpkwy). The congestion is in stark contrast to traffic impact analysis (pg. 24) presented by TP&T during this meeting.
At an on-site meeting with Ms. McKenna, Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Reker on 10/18/2021, I was told that TP&T has traffic volume data from 2016 and that once the Mass Ave - Dudley St to ABP project is implemented, TP&T will be able to monitor traffic volume and implement adjustments to mitigate any traffic issues. If I was told they had 2021data I surely would have asked for it.

On December 6th I copied the 41 comments and forwarded them to the Cambridge city Council in case they are not reading this app. Not one commented, and obviously have not looked into this situation.

Kellie and everyone else--A group of people worked very hard to get the traffic board re-established. It is a board appointed by the CM and run by three citizens. With a petition signed by 50 citizens, you can go before the board and get your problem heard. The board has the power to over-ride traffic decisions. Unfortunately, the city manager announced the three appointments last week. All are pro-bike lane people. Over 70 people applied for the positions. He could have at least appointed someone who has been negatively impacted by poor bike lane implementation. There is no one from N. Cambridge or anyone who has a bike lane on their street. Here is info about each appointee. Please write to the CM and tell him this board should have at least one member from a street that has been negatively affected. This is NOT democracy. https://cambridgeforall.org/news-views/additional-findings-about-traffic-board-members

This issue has been opened 241 days but hasn't been even Acknowledged since I opened it. Will this issue be addressed? Please provide status of this issue!
Thank you

This issue has been outstanding for 301 days but hasn't been even Acknowledged since I opened it. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE this issue and PROVIDE STATUS.

During this 301-day period, on 11/7/2022 POR 2022 #282 was introduced requesting the City Manager "to direct the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department and Department of Public Works to meet with and receive input from residents living on the streets in the impacted area to discuss strategies to mitigate and reduce overflow and cut through traffic and on any short term recommendations no later than December 19th, 2022; and provide a final report on how the
concerns are being addressed, no later than March 27, 2023."

The PO was adopted as amended on 11/14 after being charter righted. The CM reported back with TP&T's preliminary report on 12/19/2022 and placed on file by unanimous vote. This item was then removed from the Awaiting Report list.

"In March 2023, the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department submitted an analysis to the Cambridge City Council. The report examines the impacts of the Garden Street Safety Improvement Project on local traffic. This report included. "
Data comparing volumes and speeds on 14 streets in the project area, before and after project installation; including further analysis of streets where volumes increased (Concord Avenue, Huron Avenue, Madison Street, and Raymond Street)
Comparisons to vehicle volume counts across Cambridge
Comparisons to pre-COVID traffic volumes"
per March 2023: Local Traffic Analysis Report (https://www.cambridgema.gov/streetsandtransportation/projectsandprograms/gardenstsafetyimprovementproject#9fe1189863574e38bc5fba895244666c).

This report was transmitted by CM to the City Council on 4/3 to be discussed along with Charter Right Item #1 re Garden Street Accommodations which requested the CM to implement recommendations in the charter right item.

If City Council can introduce 2 policy orders for Garden Street "accommodations" and the TP&T can conduct such a thorough traffic analysis on Garden Street project and report back in 147 days, why can't this issue be even acknowledged in 301 days?

The reason there was such quick action on Garden Street is because Marjorie Decker and Michael Sullivan both live in the neighborhood. Maybe we can get them to move to ours.

Although Councillor Toner has been the only member of the Council working on this effort for North Cambridge, with other members throwing the neighborhood under the proverbial bus (lane) for fear of insulting out of city bikers, maybe former City Councillors have more pull than current Councillors. Something to consider.

I think it has more to do with Decker being a state rep than a former city councilor. Do you mean former city councilors aren't so worried about getting re-elected?

Bus lane, bike lane, bus lane, bike lane ... good grief. Since the bike lanes are here to stay (a good thing), the focus should be on better utilization of the bus lane. No?

NO! If people aren't using the 77 bus it is because they have already chosen a different method of transportation. There has been a steep drop in ridership of the 77. People are working from home and more poor people are driving because they don't find public transit reliable or a good fit for their needs.

And no, the bike lanes as implemented are NOT here to stay. Quick-build is just a temporary design until they do a partial infrastructure build. And I DO NOT think what they built is a good thing.

I am glad Mayor Loney Ted mentioned that the focus should be on better utilization of the bus lane. I agree whole heartedly. From the beginning back in 2021, I have pushed for bus priority lanes instead of dedicated bus lanes. When I talked to TP&T staff about it they said they explored it as a participatory budgeting project but said it is not feasible because you need a central traffic monitoring center in conjunction with MBTA. But MBTA has implemented a bunch of bus priority projects as described in Bus Transit Priority | Projects | MBTA (https://www.mbta.com/projects/bus-transit-priority).
Among the possibilities are:
Dedicated Bus Lanes
Shared Bus/Bike Lanes
Transit Signal Priority
Rapid Response Bus Lanes.

I, as a retired system engineer, have a solution in mind which any MIT traffic engineer student will be able to investigate feasibility as a summer work/study project. Sadly, my suggestion has fallen on deaf ears.

Also, there are many CSO implementation related POs which are still waiting for CM's reports and for those that CM has reported back, the final statuses are unknown - Citizen Advisory Board, financial impact study to name a couple.

Please keep speaking up!

Sorry but I just don't see a need for a bus lane here at all and so I find the utilization argument pointless. The buses are almost empty at this point. The bottleneck is between Harvard and the bus barn. If you have a solution that would work for that stretch, that might be worth pursuing but I think the bus lane should be removed from Dudley to Alewife.

Higher utilization of the bus lane is essential. I'm unsure how to do that, but if bus priority works, they it should be considered. Or sharing with bikes/multiple occupancy vehicles, etc. Better use of the bus lane is low-hanging fruit.

Higher utilization of a bus lane that has caused 9 accidents is a losing proposition.

You don't really believe that, do you?

This has now been open for 331 days. How long will it take for the City to acknowledge this and address it?

Again, this is not just "congestion" it is GRIDLOCK.
Further, gridlock is now happening at Broadway and Route 16 because drivers are cutting through formerly quiet streets in East Arlington to use Broadway BECAUSE the gridlock at Mass Ave and 16 is so ridiculous.
This experiment has proven that people will NOT be giving up cars. So all you are doing is causing delays, more pollution from idling, and enraging people whose commutes are now twice as long. Public transit keeps getting cut, and is so unreliable, people don't want to use it.

Fix the MBTA.
Assign police to peak hours.
Start giving tickets for blocking the intersection.
Ticket for all the drivers cutting through Matignon, etc. despite the signage.

C'mon, if you're truly multi-modal, it needs to work for everyone! Even drivers.
It is irresponsible to knowingly let this happen every morning, 5 days a week, for MONTHS.

Mayor Looney--Yes, of course I believe it. Cars are jumping into the bus lane to escape traffic. When they try to get back into the car lane they are getting hit. If there are more buses in the bus lane, that will just add to the problem with more chances of getting hit, unless you have thought of some great idea to reduce traffic in the car lanes so people don't need to go into the bus lane.

Mayor Looney--I just noticed the rest of your idea about bikes sharing with buses. That might be OK, but the bike advocates are not in favor of it.

D--All good points. You should contact Councilor Toner about getting a policy order to ask the city manager for more police presence. This may require hiring more police. Councilor Zondervan wants to defund the police so there may be trouble getting the policy order passed. We can't get him to pay attention to the crime in Central Square, which includes stabbings, so I'm sure he won't think traffic jams are important. If you can get a policy order scheduled for city council, post here so we can write letters to get it passed.

Mayor Loney--It would require an amendment to the Cycling Safety Ordinance to enable sharing of buses and bikes in one lane because the CSO requires "separated bike lanes." This would have to go through city council and if you could get this passed, it would be a miracle. Residents of 1030 Massachusetts Avenue have been trying for over a year to be able to get deliveries in the bike lanes. All parking and delivery spaces were removed for the bike lanes. Delivery vehicles have to stop in the car lanes in traffic and run through traffic to deliver packages. Moving vans have to park blocks away. TPT doesn't want to do anything and couldn't even if they wanted to because the CSO has to be amended first. If you can work on amending bus/bike lane, it would be helpful. Link to the CSO. https://library.municode.com/ma/cambridge/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT12STSIPUPL_CH12.22CYSAOR

Police officers are not gonna help the situation. The situation is a mess and they did no traffic studies. They have ignored this thread. Please remember all these councilors when voting

I wish I could exchange private emails with commenters but unfortunately, I can't.
Let me just say that I am totally disillusioned about the Policy Order cycle. To start off, it is so hard to get a Councillor to go to bat for you as (s)he must muster enough supporting Councillors to jointly submit a PO for it to have a chance to be adopted. If you are lucky enough to have a PO introduced on your behalf and if it is adopted, it may sit in City Manager's Awaiting Response with no one monitoring its progress. Sometimes, it might even be pulled off the List due to end of legislative session.
And once the City Manager responds, City Council doesn't make sure the entire PO had been answered if the Order is multi-part. Sometimes, the report is just a promise actions will be taken or promise more detailed response will follow just like many of the SeeClickFix issues. Then, there is no follow-up of the report!
We need Charter Reform to bring back transparence, accountability, and all other standard business/governing practices.

@Anonymous I was suggesting adding a HOV overlap to the bus lane. Can't share a bus lane with bikes.

Concerned NC Resident--I agree with everything you wrote, but I was trying to get "D" to attempt a policy order. After reading your post, "D" will conclude that it is a waste of time. Even if the PO is not passed, it creates awareness among city council and voters. This is an election year and the more we advertise the problem, the more likely they'll pay attention. And yes, please everyone join in the Charter Review process to bring back transparency, accountability, etc. Attend the Charter Review meetings and find out more about what's proposed. One thing that should scare the pants off of you is that city councilors are proposing 4-year terms. Can you imagine being stuck with these people for four years! https://www.cambridgema.gov/charterreview

Situation Continues to Deteriorate

This is not just annoying, polluting, congestion, it is gridlock. In several directions, for hours in the morning and evening, every weekday and Saturdays. The intersection of Broadway and Alewife Brook Parkway (ABP) has also been negatively affected, resulting in similar backups ½ mile long. All caused by the volume of traffic from ABP (both directions) trying to get into the ONE lane on Mass Ave eastbound in Cambridge.

Cars roar down the bus/bike lane during prohibited times, filling up that lane, too. So bicyclists are still weaving through multiple lanes of traffic. Multiple times lately, I have actually seen vehicles zoom down the (righthand) bus/bike lane during prohibited hours, then actually illegally cross 2 lanes of traffic to take an illegal left onto ABP. Or, on the Arlington side of the intersection, where often only ONE car is able to turn left during each light cycle, cars are driven on the wrong side of the road in order to take that left. Ditto at the intersection of Broadway and ABP.

Until you fix this stupid design, either assign police to peak hours, start giving tickets for blocking the intersection, or some other action to improve safety for ALL. Multi-modal includes drivers, you know!

It is completely irresponsible to knowingly let this dangerous condition continue. It has been ~9 months and nothing has improved.

D--If I set up a meeting with the city manager, would you come? What is a good time for you?

To Anonymous - I have been trying to get an appointment with City Manager since last September if I remember correctly. If you can set up a meeting with him, the more power to you. Given the chance I would love to join you any time you can set it up.
After Garden Street was turned into one way, a Policy Ordered traffic study was done but it concluded that there was no need to revert back to two-way traffic. I took that opportunity to ask City to conduct similar traffic study at this intersection to no avail.
BTW, this is one issue I have with this system - there is no way to exchange private messages between commenters.
Thank you for your willingness to set up a meeting with the City Manager

I am sorry, I am disabled and unable to volunteer. Although this situation impacts many of the contiguous non-Cambridge neighborhoods, Cambridge officials will only listen to Cambridge residents (and I am not).

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Keep this open until something is done about this.

This issue has been open for 391 days. When will it get addressed?

This has now been open for 421 days. How long will it take for the City to acknowledge this and address it?
Is anyone in the City Hall reading this???

This has now been outstanding for 451 days. How long will it take for the City to acknowledge this and address it?
Is anyone in the City Hall reading this???

Councilor McGovern's sister lives off of N. Mass Ave, I won't say which street because she deserves her privacy. But the point is there is no way he and the other city council members and city manager don't know the effects that poor implementation of Cycling Safety Ordinance that he co-wrote has had on N. Mass Ave and elsewhere. The majority of the city councilors have decided to do NOTHING. Remember who those were and vote them out!! Remember that the city manager, instead of trying to deal with this problem, promoted Brooke McKenna, who won't even acknowledge this ticket, and gave her a big raise. Her salary of $185,000 is more than the transportation secretary of Massachusetts ($181,000), who has to deal with a collapsing MBTA, replacing aging bridges, and operating the Registry of Motor Vehicles. When it comes time to renew the city manager's contract, say NO. We want someone who cares about the people of Cambridge.

The problem here is that it goes beyond planning blunders by Traffic & Parking and Community Development officials in the city. I can remember back in 1970 when I would go out to the Alewife Brook Parkway and Rindge Avenue area, and peak hour traffic was a mess. In those days there were no left turn slots on the Parkway at Mass Avenue. No MBTA station and no development in the Triangle and Quadrangle areas. No left turn from the outbound parkway into the T-station area. Traffic was a mess then and is a mess today.

Why has no official in Cambridge demanded that a solution be worked out for trains, cars, trucks, buses, bikes and pedestrians ? There have been changes, but they never got the job done. What is the reason the traffic stays bad ? The answer : there was too much development at Alewife -- without enough road capacity to handle all the new cars.

And guess what? Nobody in the city government cared, because they were interested in getting more development at Alewife. Developers wanted more development so they could make big-bucks. There were no city traffic engineers who could speak up and warn us about the coming traffic mess.

In the year 2000, Lauren Preston, the City Traffic Engineer for over 30 years retired, and in response the city traffic Director abolished his position. Today the city cannot even answer questions about how many traffic engineers there are on the city payroll. One otherwise capable traffic engineer is tied up with Federal Court on morals charges. For years, developers did traffic studies to show what their traffic impacts would be, and for years the traffic director signed off and approved the studies. There was an effort to set up a coordinated shuttle bus system, and the private participants appeared to be conscientious. But the level of new development and new traffic simply overwhelmed their efforts.

Those studies were carefully designed so that the analysis did not consider any of the bottlenecks along the Parkway, and their reports did not mention the words bottlenecks, congestion, or choke points. They never showed photographs of existing traffic congestion and never measured queue lengths. In sum, the studies were useless, and when completed, were never referred to again.

I remember a decade ago talking with an employee from Littleton who worked within the Triangle. She told me in the afternoon it took her forty minutes to get out onto the Parkway and forty minutes to drive the rest of the way to Littleton. So the situation is as nightmarish for commuters as it is for local citizens to drive through.

For the past 29 years, the "traffic director" of the City of Cambridge has not been a traffic engineer, as required by state law. For the prior 20-plus years the traffic director was prevented from representing the city at public meetings because he went to an Alewife meeting drunk.

Yet there are many reasons why the Alewife area is messed up with bad planning. It was not the fault alone of the Quick-Build construction efforts of the Traffic and Parking Department and their cohorts, the City Council. It started with many agencies in the city over half-a-century ago. But the chief result of the Quick-Build job was to extend the congestion and traffic problems to Mass Avenue, even as far as Porter Square. Anyone should have seen that if you take a four-lane road and remove two-lanes, the remaining two-lanes could become very congested and queues would extend for great distances. Meanwhile the "planners" added in two bus-lanes which are empty 98 percent of the time.

Who approved this arrangement and why? How does it fit into the overall lack of quality planning at Alewife ? No one seems to care, and certainly not a majority of the City Council. Remember that the Planning Board is totally useless on any traffic problems at Alewife. Our Planning Board since 1946 served as advocates for the Inner Belt through Cambridge. This was a time when we had a City Council that supported the citizens and was 9-to-0 opposed to the Belt road.

Maybe what we need in a new Council. If only our new city manager showed some inclination to deal with traffic issues in the City .....

Councilor McGovern has been attacking any city council candidate who says they would support re-evaluating the city’s bike lane/traffic/parking infrastructure and plans saying that they want to "Rip out the bike lanes." This is not the way to solve our traffic problems. We have been waiting for some help with congestion ever the since we got the quick-build and all we get from him is that anyone who thinks we've got a problem wants "to rip out the bike lanes." Today he attacked a candidate whose son is a member of the Cambridge Bike Safety Committee. Does it seem likely that she would want to "rip out the bike lanes."

When will it get acknowledged and responded to?

Ha no surprise about McGovern. He doesn’t care !!! Hope people get out and VOTE November 7th!!!

Clearly adding more comments to this ticket isn't getting the city's attention.

If you continue to observe problems at this intersection, please open new tickets with the details (on X day at Y time, it took Z minutes to drive from Clarendon to Route 16). And email a copy to the city council. At least if the Traffic Department marks the tickets as duplicates it means someone is reading them.

Patty--The point in adding to this ticket is to keep track of how long it has been open without any resolution. If we add to this ticket, then we know that the problem has been going on for over a year but if we open a new ticket it can look like the problem just started.

I think it's OK to do what you mention as long as someone records the problem here first, but I'm not sure it will make any difference. Someone tried a similar process to what you suggested with a noisy HVAC at Lesley. Every time he opened a new ticket, they were closed as duplicates and then they tried to close the original one as a duplicate as well. But no progress was made either way.

Patty, I also copied the entire string of these emails a few months ago and emailed the city councilors in case they missed it. its being ignored on purpose.

Anonymous & Kellie - My point exactly. I brought this up to City Manager last fall and to the City Councillors multiple times with no response. This is no way to administer SeeClickFix. I have asked time after time to run a biweekly or even a monthly status report and have the responsible person(s) review it to prioritize issues to be addressed. Dan Riviello, 311 Project Manager, used to be in charge of managing the system but after he left some time last year, I don't think his full-time replacement was hired. We certainly need a full-time 311 Project Manager aka Consumer Response Manager.

Sure, do all of the above: comment on this ticket, open new tickets, email the City Council, email the City Manager. And bring it up at candidate forums.

Part of the problem is that SeeClickFix works best for things a citizen notices that the city didn't notice, and that everyone agrees are broken and have a quick fix.

In this case, the city knows about the problem because they created it, and they don't care. And the fix would take some work.

Attached is a list of incumbents and new candidates who have signed the bike pledge to keep going full-speed ahead on more bike lanes. Nothing will be done to fix the problems already created. Vote like your neighborhood depends on it because it does.

Political comment such as the one above has no place in a system to report problems around the City. City should moderate the comments better.

I'm sorry Concerned NC Resident but our problem is political. If we don't get enough people to acknowledge our problem, we will not get it fixed. If you can think of a better way, I am happy to change the ticket.

Anonymous - please start a new ticket for whatever is your problem.

Thanks! That list is more useful than you may imagine.

Its been 511 days since i opened it. When will it get addressed?

How long must I keep asking for an update on this issue? It has been outstanding for 541 days.

With new elected officials you may now get a response 🤞

That is what I was hoping for when CM Huang took over the CM role last year

Concerned NC Resident--I was hoping the same thing but certainly haven't seen any results. He has the power to fix this but has done nothing. You should have seen the presentation on Wednesday for Cambridge Street's destruction. Residents were so angry with the plan they shouted the Traffic Dept down. Where is the city manager?

More bad news: Last night the city presented its plan for Mass Ave from Waterhouse to Linnean. You will not believe it but they are going to remove a travel lane to put in another bus lane. They have learned nothing from the N. Mass Ave mess. Will we have more car accidents like N. Mass Ave? The ramifications are huge. Fresh Pond Pkwy is impassible 3-6pm so there’s no alternative path out of town. In addition, they are removing at least 50% of the parking. This will kill off the restaurants in this section. Our city manager could stop this project at any time. Where is he? Would he stop this if it was in his neighborhood? Search for Mass Ave Partial Construction for more details -- if I put in a link, it will hold up my post.

No buses hardly on N Mass Ave. So far the bus lane has been express for nine blocks and then stops so now it looks like it’ll be express to Linnean then jump back in traffic.

TT--Good point. And when buses try to jump back into traffic, it will create another jam. Meanwhile, cars are going to jump into the bus lane to try to get around the traffic in the single travel lane like they do on N. Mass Ave and we've already seen what happens when they try to get back into traffic. I should open a betting pool of how many car accidents we will see the first month.

Issue 15730611 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

The issue I reported, issue 15730611, which has been marked a duplicate of this issue, does not have a response and neither does this one. PUT A POLICE DETAIL AT THE APPROPRIATE PLACES to eliminate gridlock. This will also help with the issues of people running the stop sign at Columbus Ave (issue 15771845) and also the pedestrian issue (issue 13691960) for which there was also no answer. Why have a system for recording issues if nothing gets a response from the city?

Traffic - SM (Engineering) So you have time to mark Issue 15730611 as a duplicate but you don't have time to acknowledge this ticket which has been open for over 500 days.

LDJ--The Traffic Dept can't be bothered with the 97% of road users who have to use cars to get around. They're too busy installing more bike lanes for the 3%. The rest of us don't count.

Its been 571 days since i opened it. When will it get addressed?

This issue has been open for 601 days. When will it get at least acknowledged and assigned to someone?

Maybe when we get a new city manager. This one apparently doesn't care about us.

Here we are, more than 600 days after I reported this issue, I ran into the same issue this morning. This time I had to go to Mirak Hyundai to talk to the service manager about the appointment I had at 8 AM.
I left my house around 7:20 AM and because of heavy northbound traffic on Mass Ave, I made a right out of Norris Street onto southbound Mass Ave to turn right into Rice Street intending to turn right onto Cedar Street heading towards Harvey Street. The Rice Street was backed up because it was difficult to make a turn onto either direction of Cedar Street.

Once I managed to get onto northbound Mass Ave, I got caught in a traffic jam and as I reported on 6/8/22, I made a right onto Churchill Street. Traffic was at a standstill at the end of Matignon Road with a school bus trying to make a left onto westbound Alewife Brook Parkway which was backed well beyond Woodstock Street traffic light. This traffic jam in turn blocked parents trying to get out of the parking lot of International School of Boston. Please see the attached photo.

On the way back, around 8:30, the Alewife Brook Pkwy/Mass Ave intersection was still clogged in all directions. On southbound Mass Ave, cars were stuck in the intersection when light changed due to people struggling to merge into a single lane right after the intersection compounded by people trying to come onto Mass Ave from Columbus Ave.

When will this issue be resolved? City Traffic engineers should be able to calculate the amount of carbon emission over the last 600 days by cars stuck in traffic jam.

Remember TPT's presentation that said the quick-build would only add 1 minute to travel time?

This reporting system is useless. No one cares.

LDJ--Agreed. Have you got any ideas for a better system?

LDJ, please don't throw the baby out with the bath water! While perhaps it has not been useful for this *highly contentious* political issue, the system has been absolutely fantastic for many less contentious things. I've had extremely rapid response for things like street lights being out, signs being down, graffiti, and road kill. I find it very convenient and effective.

Public Works - JR (Sanitation) assigned this issue to Traffic - AW (Engineering)

This issue has been outstanding for 631 days; has 114 comments and viewed 1977 times.
It has finally been assigned to DPW without being acknowledged first. And why DPW? This is TP&T issue. Aren't they the ones to conduct traffic studies?

Concerned NC Resident--This has been assigned to DPW because they are in charge of the partial build for N. Mass Ave. They have started meeting with concerned residents and businesses of N. Mass Ave. I suggest reaching out to DPW for a meeting and letting us know about it by posting it here.

Updated traffic count scheduled for March. After receiving results traffic signal timing will be adjusted.

Thank you for finally acknowledging this issue and agreeing to conduct traffic count at this location. But please don't just stop there but instead conduct a comprehensive traffic study and analysis to determine the root cause of the congestion and develop a solution taking into account the needs of all the stakeholder, not just the cyclists.
Please add comment when the traffic counts are completed with a link to the data.

Finally, as part of analyzing the traffic count data, please resolve these conflicts:
In very short 170 feet or about 10 car-lengths from the traffic light to Columbus Ave
1. - 2 southbound Mass Ave non-bus vehicles are trying  to merge into single lane
2. - eastbound vehicles turning right onto Mass Ave that got stuck in the intersection when the light changed are trying to merge onto single lane southbound Mass Ave
3. - westbound vehicles turning left onto Mass Ave that got stuck in the intersection when the light changed are trying to merge onto single lane southbound Mass Ave
4. - vehicles turning right from Columbus Ave are trying to squeeze into Mass Ave

This is a daunting task that I don't think any kind of signal timing can resolve.  On demand bus lane or starting the bus only lane past Columbus Ave might alleviate the bottleneck.

Could not agree more with Concerned NC Resident. Merging a very busy two-lane road (or three two-lane roads) to a very busy one-lane road just doesn't make any sense. A lot of these problems could be immediately helped, at least in the short term until a better solution is in place, by putting a police detail there during rush hour to more effectively manage the traffic flow, and prevent people from gridlocking the intersection.

Concerned NC Resident and LDJ--The TPT project manager, Stephen Meuse (smeuse@cambridgema.gov) said that for the redesign the consultant will be collecting data likely later this year or early next year. For context, you can look at the study and memorandum from 2022 posted on the Mass Ave Dudley to Alewife web page: 20221118_northmassavepostimplementationanalysis.pdf (cambridgema.gov).

I agree with Concerned NC Resident that to do this properly, it is a big task.

In the meantime, assign a police detail there to manage traffic. This is a routine procedure in other countries, particularly in Europe. It's hard to plan for all situations, which is why during the 1 hour or so of extreme traffic in the morning and afternoon putting someone there to direct traffic and eliminate gridlock while not fixing the problem will help to alleviate some of the frustration.

Anonymous - Thank you for your comment. You hit the nail on the head.
TP&T should have included data collection and analysis as part of House Doctor Engineering Support for the Mass Ave Dudley Street to Alewife Brook Parkway that was installed just around the Thanksgiving time in 2021 catching the residents as well as the small business owners who were counting on holiday sales totally by surprise.
I was not aware of "study and memorandum from 2022 posted on the Mass Ave Dudley to Alewife web page". If such study was available, then why hasn't this issue been resolved yet?
You also mentioned that "Stephen Meuse (smeuse@cambridgema.gov) said that for the redesign the consultant will be collecting data likely later this year or early next year." By this redesign, do you mean the Mass Ave Partial Construction from Harvard Square to ABP? When the City is moving ahead of redoing the quick build separated bike lanes not even 3 years old, what confidence do you have that the problem they said will not happen with the quick build will be fixed?
When my tax $s are used for a project, I certainly hope the lifecycle of the project will longer than 2.5 years.
To paraphrase an old saying, you can't cram 3 elephants into one elephant cage!
LDJ's comment brings back memories of a dancing traffic officer untangling the rush-hour madness getting onto and getting off the Queensborough Bridge in Manhattan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc4uLeKEu5Q

Posters--Please go to this ticket and tell the commenters there how this design has affected us. They are complaining about bus lane violations and one of them is saying how it is so much safer now with one lane. They are totally oblivious to how this is affecting the rest of us.

https://seeclickfix.com/web_portal/WacEfzPx7m29dubrPfXEEwCV/issues/map/16292721

IMHO its not that commenters who say dedicated bus lane together with separated bike lanes are safer are totally oblivious to how this is affecting the rest of us. Rather, they are fully aware of how they are affecting others. They can see congestion created for their convenience. They do not want to see commuting by car as a regional issue; they do not want to solve car ownership and commuting by cars out of necessity issues.

To follow-up on my earlier post, the House Doctor Engineering Services for "Mass4 & Eliot Street" was awarded to Kleinfelder on 8/13/2021 while they were in the final stages of designing the quick build Mass Ave Dudley Street to Alewife Brook Parkway. The contract was modified for design services for the Mass Ave Partial Construction from Harvard Square to ABP on 11/14/2022 with new contract value of 5,839,422 (original contract value of $1,121,196). .