Yes to this! The city must consider that people on bikes and on foot are JUST AS IMPORTANT as people in cars. And people on foot are more likely to have just purchased something from a local business than the person in the car just passing through.

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

Based on this logic, we should also close Central Square to all motor vehicle traffic during the morning and evening rush hours. I'm pretty sure the pedestrian traffic (as well as the motor vehicle traffic) in Central Square exceeds that of Harvard Square.

There are better ways to address pedestrian safety than throwing the rest of the city into chaos.

I also agree with closing Harvard to traffic. It just doesn’t make sense anymore to cater to the minority of people who get around in this city by private auto.
Central is a straight road and only one lane in each direction and I know there are some great plans to put in protected bike lanes, slow traffic, and improve crossings, that are supported by the businesses in that area. (Motorists don’t buy nearly as much from small businesses as peds/cyclists) I assume the new city council will be pushing those through, as they should, but haven’t seen any plans to make Harvard safer/reduce private autos.

Cambridge into Chaos: What portion of cars driving in Cambridge during rush hours and other congested times are actually coming from or going to destinations in Cambridge? Waze has found a way through our neighborhoods, just as it has through our communities like Cambridge. Maybe Belmont was the first community to notice drive throughs from its neighboring and congested highway, 8-lane Route 2. With our narrow rights of way from, say, the 19th century, rising number of jobs, a predicted yet to come 20% projected rise in commuters in the next two decades to 2040, and the demand for housing, there will be more people on the street.

One might also consider, alternatives in lieu of “solving” the housing crisis all alone here in Cambridge. High speed-electrified-well maintained-rail commuter service from Fitchburg and beyond in an hour or less would access the possibility of more housing, affordably. The super highways of the 1950s-60s developed suburbs. High speed electrified commuter service could be an additional source of opportunity to build housing. Rather than chaos in Cambridge, consider the Climate ‘Crisis”.

Cambridge in chaos? You mean like a child on a bike as a victim of a hit and run on their way to high school here? You mean chaos like an elder run over by an out of town SUV driver late for a job interview? Or any of the other ped and bike deaths in our city? Chaos = being in the middle of a global climate crisis, refusing to get out of your gas guzzling vehicle bc [insert excuse here ], and declaring that peds and bikes given EQUALITY on public streets would be chaotic. Have a vision.

100 on the Pedestrian100 comment above. We have a world class amenity in Harvard Square and, from a tragic engineering perspective, we treat it like it's a suburban downtown - striving for vehicular access and storage within a stone's throw of every single parcel. From a safety and climate perspective, the future of this growing City cannot feature cars on every street. Go ahead and start with this low-hanging fruit.

Getting the bikes off the sidewalks and into the bike lane would also help - the only place they don't ride bikes is in Harvard Yard (private property).

Unfortunately the bikes don’t really have anywhere to go. The “lanes” that exist are constantly blocked by cars and trucks and are faded. If the city at least removed one of the car lanes to widen the sidewalk and put in a safe bike lane that would go a long way. NYC just dropped some jersey barriers to block off a lane and widen the sidewalk, would take 1 night to improve everyone’s lives.

Limiting traffic would already be a big step.

Taxi cabs and Uber need access to the T-station. Bikes are OK. Trucks involved in local delivery need access in limited hours.

The pedestrian crossings are not bullet proof. For example a light for a crossing between the cemetery and Harvard stays green when cars from Concord/Garden Avenue can turn right.

International News just closed.

Pedestrian 100 bring a good point.

It is a conundrum. Kids cannot ride their bike to school because of cars. So more cars are dropping kids to school.

Suggestion:
- build a tunnel along red line tunnel for vehicles going from Central square to Porter square
- reverse traffic on Mass Ave between Design Within Reach and Harvard Square
- create pedestrian zone in Smith Center, CVS area

Another conundrum!

Harvard Square lost many businesses. So we buy on Amazon and increase traffic.

Agree with J-F that people are ditching their cars/bikes and lyfting/ubering when out for a nice meal or drinking in the square, and are buying online, grubhub, etc. They live nearby and are still using cars, just someone else's. If you think that tour/school buses/vans or out of town/state tourists in cars are going away, you are likely wrong - it's Harvard and the only public high school.

The projected 20% increase in commuters by 2040 will over burden the committed increase in Red Line capacity resulting from new train sets and new signalling. There will be no capacity for attracting people from cars. One could think larger and farther away. Electrified High Speed Commuter Rail providing one hour or less service communities looking for growth like Fitchburg, could, like the construction of superhighways in the 1950s and 60s, create housing and mobility sufficient.

A poet, William Stafford, said it better.

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.

William Stafford

Thank you for reporting. This system is best suited to respond to service requests like potholes, street lights, rodent issues, etc. that can be assigned to staff and addressed in a timely manner. Issues like traffic congestion require further examination and planning and this report has been shared with the appropriate departments as we study future roadway design and other issues that impact congestion.

If you would like to discuss this traffic situation with a staff member in more detail, please contact the Traffic Department at trafficengineering@cambridgema.gov.

I emailed the conversation to trafficengineering@cambridgema.gov

Jean-Francois, Thank you.