I second this comment. Please do more enforcement. Or, at least institute a system by which people can submit a photo of the car (including its license plate) parked in the bike lane, and then CPD uses that to later issue a ticket.

The drivers know that the police won’t show up fast enough to issue a ticket before they move their car. Something needs to be done.

Police - JW (Communications) assigned this issue to Traffic - KC (Permits)

Happy to report this evening the cars are properly parked, and there is sign of TP&T enforcement of overtime meters. But....what are the cones doing in a parking space? I thought they'd go in the buffer.

Thank you for contacting the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department. The markings were installed just last week and signing and symbols have not yet been installed to fully indicate where drivers should and should not park. Additionally, ongoing and upcoming work as part of the One Broadway construction is impacting roadway allocation and usage in this area. MassDOT is on the process of installing the midblock crossing and associated HAWK traffic signal just to the East of these spaces and working through punch list items before turning over the finished product to the City for full beneficial use.

Err..why doesn't this SCF issue stay open until the temporary signage is installed?
Or did TP&T decide not to do temporary signage (PARK HERE, BIKE HERE) as had been suggested to me offline?

Also, is ignorance of the law now a valid defense in Cambridge? If speed limit signs were not yet posted on a newly finished street in a thickly settled residential area that typically has a speed limit of 25 mph, is it okay to go 60 mph? No, of course not. The same logic should apply to parking in a bike lane.

These cars should be ticketed and/or towed. Zero tolerance.

For what it's worth, I think generally ignorance of the law is indeed a valid defense, in practice, both to TP&T PCOs, police offers, and even in a court of law. Depends on the law and the egregiousness of the violation, though.

If the lanes were striped in the lightest possible grey so they were only visible shining a bright light on the street and inspecting with a microscope, wouldn't we be unsurprised that cars didn't notice them and didn't change their behavior? (We would not be surprised!)

There is some requirement for the City to make the lanes sufficiently visible to educate drivers to see them. We can debate what that requirement is, but in my view it includes some temporary signage and cones, which are pretty easy to do and would make a big difference.

I'm comfortable with the expectation that drivers who have parked in those spaces for years need some more clear notice and deserve a grace period before serious enforcement begins.

Certainly it appears that cars have learned their lesson after two days of enforcement, and it's been fine over the weekend and the end of last week and today.

p.s.: The better analogy might be cars going 40mph because they believe that to be the law, not 60mph.

True, all good points. We shall see how things go over the next few weeks as permanent signage is installed and people get used to the new configuration.

Hi John, SCF is used to notify city departments of concerns so that they may be acted upon and remedied. This request pertained to cars that were illegally parked in the bike lane and it was closed because those vehicles are no longer parked there. Additional detail was added to the case closure explaining that the striping portion of the Longfellow project is not yet complete. This new bike lane ends just past this location and is in the middle of an active construction zone. Once construction is done, we will ensure that remaining punch list items are addressed.

Well, I view SCF as a ticket tracking system for citizens to report issues to city departments, and we don't close the item until the remedy is in place. Otherwise citizens have no idea when the remedy happens, and the SCF ticket closure times don't reflect reality, they reflect an idealized, "Well, we promised we would fix it, but..." that can often never happen. Accountability!

The request was bulletted into two actionable items, for 2 departments:

• TP&T to put up some temporary cones and signage to educate drivers
• CPD to do directed enforcement on this for a few days?

I understand that's maybe bad and I should have filed two requests. But I understand that TP&T is going to be putting up temporary signage. Not "after construction is done," but like, now. (Confirmed with Joe last night circa 9:30pm). And of course that's the point, we want cars to not park in the bike lane now, not to wait a week or two to do it (fortunately the combination of enforcement and...maybe whatever those cones are doing?...and maybe random chance...those all seem to've resulted in cars doing the right thing. Although I don't go by here every day, so maybe they're still screwing it up...)

So I'd like the SCF request to track when that short-term action item happens.
Sorry to be a pain! If you want me to file another one just for temp signage I can.

Previously acknowledged

Issue 5094035 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Thank you for contacting the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department. Flex posts have been installed in clear zones at the beginning and end of the parking areas to prevent overhang and ensure visibility.