Please note that this backup was predicted by one of the community members during one of the open meetings.

Welcome to the new Cambridge, where grid-lock and inhaling car exhaust are brought to you by CDD and T&P.

Please note that a number of issues were noted at meetings by not just ONE community member.
1. The lights need adjusting, but there is gridlock that changing light cycles will not address.
2. The traffic on small side streets is heavy and dangerous to the neighborhood dwellers as well as to cyclists and cars.
3. Cyclists are not just using their two lanes now, but the car lane (functionally just one car lane) as well.
4. At the peak of AM and PM rush hours (I have been counting cars), the number of cars going down Garden is up to over 22 per minute.
5. I cannot use my driveway anymore due to the level of traffic; the number of parkers on my narrow street makes parking in the street difficult, as there are no spaces.
MOST OF ALL, the change does not appear to increase safety for anyone-- not bicyclists, not pedestrians, not cars. I think some rethinking needs to occur before someone-- particularly a child or an old person is injured or killed.

At 4pm today I waited almost 10 minutes before I was able to take a left from Manassas Ave onto Huron Ave due to the traffic backup in both directions on Huron Ave. Wait times have been similar during the morning rush hour this week. Please help us understand the benefits that were intended by the the changes on Garden St and what steps the city will take to mitigate the negative impact on safety and traffic resulting from these changes.

City Hall - FG assigned this issue to Traffic - KC (Permits)

It is short-sighted to think this traffic is going away - that maybe folks are going to suddenly start riding bikes. The traffic is simply being shifted to other streets - many of which are not equipped for the greater traffic. This will put residents, walkers and cyclists at much greater risk. It is an unwise and potentially dangerous move.

The intersection of Huron & Raymond has very poor visibility turning from Huron onto Raymond, either way. Also, the turn from Raymond onto Huron is a tight one. With the increased traffic on both streets due to Garden now being one-way, this intersection is even more treacherous

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. We have reviewed the information you provided our staff and will be investigating this issue further.

As a mom who rides bikes regularly with her 6 and 8 year old to get to and from activities, I'm so thankful for the continued expansion of bike lanes throughout the city. I hear the complaints from the motorists and try to tech my boys good bike behavior, but without the separated lanes, it can be really unsafe, especially for our littlest one. I acknowledge the frustration of drivers (I am occasionally one as well!) and also know that we can't build our way to roads that accommodate population growth in perpetuity. I can't make the meeting due to lack of childcare, but wanted to be at least one voice heard to support the work. I've read up a lot on infrastructure and cultural backlash around bicycle infrastructure over the years and still think it's worth it as I think about the future we'll be leaving for the next generations. If it continues to be car-centric, it won't be sustainable. https://inkspire.org/post/amsterdam-was-a-car-loving-city-in-the-1970s-what-changed/

As a mom who rides bikes regularly with her 6 and 8 year old to get to and from activities, I'm so thankful for the continued expansion of bike lanes throughout the city. I hear the complaints from the motorists and try to tech my boys good bike behavior, but without the separated lanes, it can be really unsafe, especially for our littlest one. I acknowledge the frustration of drivers (I am occasionally one as well!) and also know that we can't build our way to roads that accommodate population growth in perpetuity. I can't make the meeting due to lack of childcare, but wanted to be at least one voice heard to support the work. I've read up a lot on infrastructure and cultural backlash around bicycle infrastructure over the years and still think it's worth it as I think about the future we'll be leaving for the next generations. If it continues to be car-centric, it won't be sustainable. https://inkspire.org/post/amsterdam-was-a-car-loving-city-in-the-1970s-what-changed/

The traffic on Raymond in both directions has increased significantly. I walk from Huron and Upland at 7:20 every morning and the Raymond/Huron intersection has a continual flow of cars. Traffic is also faster than previously at that hour. It used to be relatively calm and is now heavier and more aggressive. As someone noted above, the corner turning right from Raymond onto Huron is very tight, and people are in a rush. This is also a time when children on bikes, scooters and foot are moving around as are adults of all ages. As everyone noted, the traffic on Huron in afternoon/early evening is exponentially heavier.

The city seems obsessed with meeting a "miles of protected bike lanes" metric rather than figuring out what roads are actually used by bikers. Concord isn't currently one of them nor was it during the dangerous shared road initiative.

The edict is erasing traffic-carrying capacity throughout the city as bike use is not exploding and always tended to be quite seasonal for the vast majority of bikers. Cambridge is not Amsterdam re: weather.

Turning Garden street into a one-way street for car traffic is a big burden for any commuters trying to get from Harvard Sq into North Cambridge. Now, everyone going north is crammed into Concord and then either use Walden or Huron to make the switch to Sherman. Or they take Lineean to Raymond or Washington to bypass Porter Square. Either way, a important local traffic artery was capriciously cut.

Similarly, parents picking up children at G&P and heading north will use Raymond exclusively, increasing traffic on a road.

Garden street is wide and easy to navigate for larger vehicles, such as the frequent Harvard shuttle buses. They now trundle down parallel streets like Raymond, Washington, etc. to avoid Garden. Unlike Garden, the parallel streets are narrow and much more prone to accidents than Garden.

Bottom line, while having protected bike lanes is a laudable goal, the lanes should serve a purpose and not just serve a small # of residents on a largely occasional basis while negatively affecting the majority of locals throughout the day.

Thank you for contacting the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department. Signal timing adjustments were made at Concord/Huron and Garden/Sherman/Huron on November 7th and 8th, respectively. Since then, we've seen a decrease in congestion, especially on Concord Ave, which has returned to its typical queues prior to the project. Observations have determined that a large majority of Huron Ave traffic in this short block is coming from the west (Huron Ave west of Concord Ave, Fresh Pond Pkwy, etc.). We will continue to monitor these signals for potential changes unrelated to the Garden St project.