Photo of 2nd set of pipes

I can confirm these exist and are dangerous. And it hurts when you hit them even at low speeds. Oof.

Public Works - DA (Inspections) assigned this issue to Water - RH

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. This may be an issue the construction company in charge of that project will take care of.

These are actually monitoring well stations. Will forward this along to engineering

Water - RH assigned this issue to Public Works - JW (Engineering)

City Hall – DR assigned this issue to Public Works - JN (Streets & Sewers)

Public Works - JS (Admin) assigned this issue to Public Works - EC (Inspections)

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.

Public Works - EC (Inspections) assigned this issue to Public Works - DA (Inspections)

Public Works - DA (Inspections) assigned this issue to Public Works - EC (Inspections)

Public Works - EC (Inspections) assigned this issue to Traffic - DW (Engineering)

I just reported this same issue a couple of weeks ago - #4841077. After hitting these holes, I lost control of my bike, ran into a parked truck and crashed down on the road I don't believe anything has been done.

Let's link them for convenience: https://seeclickfix.com/issues/4841077

Until a proper long-term fix can be implemented for the road surface, can the city at least paint some bright white lines around the pipes so that they are much more visible to cyclists?

Helpful ideas. Thank you both.

Thank you for reporting this issue to the City of Cambridge. Unfortunately, the City is not responsible for addressing issues on state property, but we've shared this report with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and asked them to address as this area is part of their Longfellow Bridge Project. Please contact MassDOT at 877-MA-DOT-GOV. for direct follow-up about this.

DR: Why do you believe this to be on State property?
When I last spoke with TP&T regarding this area of Main Street, in the context of the bike lane and buffer and parking configuration, I was advised that although MassDOT's contractors executed the work as part of the Longfellow Bridge reconstruction project, it was in fact a City of Cambridge street and the work was done under the supervision of the City.

So I do not think it is state property and would appreciate your confirming the source of that? Thank you.

(Furthermore, since these are wells, presumably they may be the responsibility of a private landowner of abutting property, through the Superintendent of Streets, and it would not be MassDOT who has a permitting relationship with that private entity.)

Usually with projects in the public way, the contractor would take responsibility for work done in the area under the contract and would handle issues that come up related to the roadway. I've reached out to MassDOT as their contractor was the one who did the paving, etc. work in this area and will post their response here, once received.

Whoever is responsible, I suggest something like manhole covers that make the roadway smooth, but can be removed to access the thing underneath. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet when I crashed and just got bruised (I did hit my head against the pavement ) - but I see people riding Blue bikes over the Longfellow all the time, and they rarely wear helmets.

Thanks, Dan. I trust this means that the City will take responsibility for following up with MassDOT in the unlikely event that they do not timely respond, and so we should expect to see an update from you in two weeks (a reasonable period of time for them to take some action), regardless of whether they address the problem?

Just spoke with MassDOT. They are having these checked out this morning to come up with a plan of action and told me they will at least mark them with paint ASAP to make cyclists aware. This report will be updated once we hear more from MassDOT.

Covers in both locations (4 in total) have been spray painted to give a visual warning to cyclists. City is working to come up with a permanent solution with the contractor who installed these covers.

Thank you, Dan, for your advocacy here. I went by today this afternoon to take a look, and here's a composite of the 3 photographs I took.

As you can see, there are three pairs of these wells, and the first pair (coming off the Bridge to Cambridge, i.e. the eastmost) have not been marked. While that pair are the least bad, I'm not sure they are so safe and unobjectionable as to not deserve marking treatment. It would be helpful to hear from the other cyclist who have been seriously affected by these wells as to their opinion, but it seems like a solution should involve them all.

Also, Dan, could you please close/dupe https://seeclickfix.com/issues/4841077 into this issue, so that this problem is being tracked clearly in one place rather than two? Thank you.

p.s.: It was also good to see the MSP doing LIDAR speed enforcement of the bridge traffic.

Oops, that's the wrong picture, sorry! I meant this one:

Thank you DR! I rode by this afternoon and now the hazards are much more visible for cyclists coming off of the bridge.

I agree with John that the 2 worst (deepest) pairs of covers have been marked. There's a 3rd pair as he noted, which isn't as deep and as dangerous as the other 2, but it would be nice of that pair could be marked as well.

Issue 4841077 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

These have now been marked as well.

Thank you!

I just flagged an issue (issue ID: 4935180) at the same location. I crashed my bike after hitting the second set. The holes are so deep and in a dark section of the road that the pink paint doesn't cut it--this remains very dangerous to cyclists.

Issue 4935180 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

I have just been informed that the contractor is planning to be on site at this location on Saturday, October 6 at 9am to drill to raise the covers and repave around them.

Thank you! This issue received one complaint per month since the bridge opened. Who knows how many others have crashed here without notifying the city about it. I'm thankful that a solution has been identified and will be implemented relatively soon.

As I biked by tonight, it was notable that:
1) The 2nd and 3rd pairs of these (the deeper pairs) have been sawcut square, presumably in advance of the October 6 work. But that makes me wonder about the first pair -- is it being left out of the Oct. 6 work, or did they run out of saw time?

2) This photo is of the 2nd pair. They're covered in white dust and much harder to see. The 3rd pair, which is also sawcut square, is not covered in dust. I assume the dust was from cutting but one was cleaned up and the other not?

Ah well, "it'll all be over soon!"

And circled! the first set that are not square cut are also circled, and the rain has washed away some dust. I realize this level of detailed update is probably not needed.

All 3 sets of covers were cut, covers raised, and areas around them patched.

Thank you, it looks much better. And thank you fellow cyclists for keeping this issue alive!!

Thank you DR! I rode by today and it was so much smoother and safer.