Cambridge - All

On morning of 10/22/18, left turn signal from westbound Mass Ave onto westbound Rindge Avenue was not working.

This new marking on Broadway has cyclists in the door zone it’s too narrow and it was so much better before when we had the sharrows because traffic in this area moves slowly ...people jump in and out between cars and cross the street in this commercial area, so to be pushed over into the cars is really dangerous

Of 50 cars to traverse this 4 way stop intersection at a park corner, only 10 cars came to a complete stop. 20% compliance is an opportunity for serious injury. Some cars did not come to a complete stop even when children were crossing the intersection. This is typical when I do this counting.

The major snow emergency routes throughout Cambridgeport (Putnam, Magazine, Pearl, Brookline) have barely been plowed! I am shocked not to have seen a snow removal vehicle since early Friday morning. Compared to other parts of the city, nearby cities (e.g. Watertown) and Cambridge's historic effectiveness at ensuring streets are passable, the Cambridgeport neighborhood seems to have been forgotten this week. There will certainly be problems once school buses are trying to navigate tomorrow, and this should be anticipated and avoided.

There is no longer a No Turn On Red sign from Main Street east to Ames St south. There has always been one in the past, but it was not reinstalled with new traffic lights. See Google Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/eA2n6rFftkG2. This is a high pedestrian area which should not allow right on red.

Please repaint the crosswalks on Mass Ave near Porter Square. It’s been weeks since the road was repaved, and now holiday madness is upon us. It’s already too dangerous to cross the road, and it’s only going to get worse. The city is at risk of a lawsuit, or worse. The crosswalks need to be put in NOW.

I witnessed a bike-on-bike crash today. Luckily, everybody was OK, but the crash illustrates an important problem with our infrastructure.

I was heading South toward Main St on the new two-way bike lane on Ames St, riding behind one other person. Right after we passed Cava, at the driveway leading toward Google / Kendall Center, another person on a bike swooped across the bike lane, apparently taking a left from the southbound travel lane on Ames, and crashed into the person in front of me. Thankfully, they both got up, inspected themselves, and appeared to be OK.

Now, you might think, 'huh, sounds pretty reckless on the left-turner's part', and you wouldn't be wrong. However, there was another contributing factor worth considering: a catering van was illegally parked exactly in the daylighting spot intended to prevent such incidents. See my photo of the scene below. While it's true that the left-turner should have noted the limited visibility and the obvious bike lane, and proceeded cautiously, but I think that gives an unfair pass to the delivery driver who created an unnecessarily dangerous situation in the first place.

If you look at the picture, the problem might become more clear: there's nothing physically preventing the driver from parking in the daylighting spot. This is true in a concerning number of our protected bike lanes (see also the South Mass Ave lanes). I understand the pressure to conserve flex posts (which are hideously expensive), but we really need to account for the fact that people will park anywhere they aren't physically blocked from accessing (i.e. paint is not protection). It's possible that a single additional flex post might have made this incident much less likely.

The overlapping signals, while I am sure are important to reduce vehicle congestion, are dangerous at this intersection. This morning my 3 yo son and I were inches from a bumper. We were in the crosswalk at the end of Cameron and a left turning vehicle from Massachusetts avenue onto Cameron screeched to a stop inches from us. The driver looked irritated that we were in his way. I am grateful we are alive. We had the crossing light. He had a green.

We regularly have these types of problems crossing this intersection, but this is by far our closest call. We use this intersection to get to and from daycare. I dread crossing it.

The overlapping signals during morning rush hour put pedestrians and vehicles in conflict. This is dangerous to do during rush hour when drivers are already rushed and frustrated. Signage warning to yield to pedestrians doesn't (and cannot) succeed in calming drivers adequately for this design to be safe.

In the Main St WB bike lane there are 2 sets of 2 pipe holes in the street that are very deep in the pavement and pose a serious hazard to cyclists, who are likely to be riding at high speed coming off of the downhill at the end of the Longfellow Bridge. They are unmarked and nearly impossible to see at night.

Please smooth out the pavement around the pipes so that they are not so hazardous and mark them with bright colors so that they are easily visible to cyclists at night.

Livery driver. Ticket and separate infra please.