Have you been stuck in traffic at Massachusetts Avenue and Alewife Brook Parkway while no buses run on the dedicated bus lanes and impatient drivers whiz by on those unused lanes with very few bicyclists on the separated bicycle lanes? I have on many occasions, and reported it on SeeClickFix back on June 8. It was immediately closed with the note that “We have passed this information along to Cambridge Traffic, Parking & Transportation staff. Additionally, Alewife Brook Parkway is state property, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation” and a suggestion to contact TP&T.
Yesterday I had to go to Burlington around 8:30 a.m. It took me 13 minutes to go from Norris Street to Alewife Brook Parkway, a distance of 0.6 miles that should take only five minutes during non-rush hours. While stuck in the traffic at Churchill Avenue, I counted more than a dozen cars whizzing by on the dedicated bus lane, with only a handful of bicyclists braving the bad weather. The right eastbound lane of Alewife Brook Parkway was backed up almost to Whittemore Avenue, a distance of 0.3 miles.
My many pleas to the city to mitigate this congestion at this gateway to the city have fallen on deaf ears, but there is finally a ray of hope thanks to councillors Patty Nolan and Marc McGovern, with whom I had the opportunity to discuss the issues recently.
TP&T has crash data and travel data from 2016 and 2021. The congestion is in stark contrast to a traffic impact analysis presented by TP&T on Oct. 28 during its second community meeting on the Massachusetts Avenue project between Dudley Street and Alewife Brook Parkway.
At an on-site meeting Oct. 18, 2021, transportation staff promised me that once the North Cambridge project was implemented, they would be able to monitor traffic volume and implement adjustments to mitigate traffic issues using the 2016 travel data as the baseline. I do not recall them mentioning the 2021 data. If they had, I surely would have asked for it and analyzed it before the community meeting.
I urge all the readers to contact city councillors to hold TP&T accountable and order a traffic study at this intersection, if for no other reason than to reduce air pollution caused by all the idling cars. Time is of the essence, as Public Works is proceeding with the MassAve4 – Mass Ave Partial Construction project from Harvard Square to Alewife Brook Parkway. The scope grew seemingly overnight from the approach and timeline of four segments (as described in the Cycling Safety Ordinance) adopted and placed on file April 25 to the expanded scope in proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget appropriation orders presented May 2. Let’s make sure that the congestion at this busy gateway doesn’t become congestion2.
Young Kim, Norris Street
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.
You design for the city you want. If you design roads focused on transit, walking, and cycling, you will get more transit users, pedestrians, and cyclists. If you design your roads for high speeds, vehicle throughput, and parking, you will get more people driving.
That is GREAT news those two c councilors are listening. They both seem open to continuous improvements to things and lit family has always appreciated both of them going back to s committee days.
To note the paint used for the so called “bus lane” that has now turned into parking spots effectively voiding the bus lane useless is destroying the pavement. There are patches of pavement torn up everywhere. It’s not the pavement it’s the crazy war paint used. This isn’t surprising seeing the plastic pylons broken off, paint eating pavement, cars parked in the bus lanes, delivery trucks on side streets oh and idling cars as far as you can see.
Progress umm no. As most have said and feel we all want bike lanes just not at the expense of the great small businesses, families, seniors and just plain residents of Cambridge.
Thank you Marc and Patty!
“You design for the city you want” is 100% correct. If you make things easier for drivers, it makes traffic worse through Induced Demand.
We need to invest in mass transit and non-driving options. The solutions are to better protect the bus lanes from drivers, increase bus service, and add more bike lanes. Every person in a bus or on a bike in one less car on the road.
There are more people moving here. The only way out of traffic problems is fewer cars. Opening up more lanes to drivers does the opposite by encouraging more people to drive. This is a well-known consequence.
@PRC There is no evidence that bike lanes hurt businesses, families, or seniors. However, cars kill tens of thousands of people every year in the US and they are baking our planet.
We need a new way. The status quo of a car-centric culture is driving us off a cliff.
The City has repeatedly explained that they design streets with the goal of helping people of all ages and abilities, using various modes of transportation, move around the city safely. Moving private cars to their destinations as quickly as possible is not their top priority. They point out that “moving people slowly is moving people safely.”
These are good principles and I hope the City continues to apply them.
>> Have you been stuck in traffic at Massachusetts Avenue and Alewife Brook Parkway while no buses run on the dedicated bus lanes and impatient drivers whiz by on those unused lanes with very few bicyclists on the separated bicycle lanes?
I don’t drive through there at rush hour. That’s a fools game.
I have on many occasions reached the end of the bike lane there and wished it continued into Arlington. And also reached the spot where it gives up through Porter Square. Can’t wait until it’s end to end and connected to a network of bike paths and lanes throughout the city.
I have also been stuck on and waited for the 77 bus. I wish the bus priority lane had better separation from car traffic and also continued through Arlington.
At no time have I ever wished for better motor vehicle traffic accommodations there.
If you are concerned about pollution from traffic, you should be encouraging the city and neighboring towns to build out the transit system with more busways and trains and bring the system up to good repair. And build out bicycle infrastructure that connects areas people actually want to go, major transportation corridors like Mass Ave.
This is worth a read.
Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It? https://nyti.ms/3X7kMiN
@WilliamF and @James Zall Exactly! What the author is suggesting is NOT the solution.
Moving people safely is the most important thing. Offering alternatives to driving is good for everyone, even those who drive. If you open those lanes to cars, it will improve congestion for a short while then things will become just as bad as before, if not worse. It’s called Induced Demand.
Here’s a relevant quote:
“Matt Turner, an economics professor at Brown University said adding lanes is a fine solution if the goal is to get more cars on the road. If you keep adding lanes because you want to reduce traffic congestion, you have to be really determined not to learn from history”.
By my observation of thousands of cars in Cambridge, over 85% are a single driver. Often in a compact SUV hogging space. Cars already get over half of the usable roadway. If anything, my preference is that this allocation goes down rather than up. I am a huge fan of the Cambridge city trajectory, though it is about half as fast as I would like
Just drive in the bus lane like everyone else. Those “impatient drivers” are actually heroes doing more for pollution in North Cambridge than toothless letters to the editor. No need to analyze a study, that’s just “math” Some people just like complaining, lol.
Typical Cambridge, where virtue is sitting around in traffic polluting our neighborhoods literally counting the people who are actually doing something productive. Why take the common sense path right in front of you when you can blame others and write a letter begging people you know aren’t listening to do a study?
@RetiredKM Wrong. Studies have shown that bike lanes and bus lanes reduce pollution. It encourages some people to not use their cars. 40 people on a bus are 40 fewer cars on the road.
That is why bike and bus lanes *reduce* pollution despite the extra idling of the remaining cars. And the backup at Mass and Alewife is not constant, it is only during peak hours.
There are studies on this topic. You can look them up yourself.
We need to change our car-centered culture. There are more people every year and that is more cars. If we don’t change things and offer people alternatives, in a few years the kind of backup you see and Mass and Alewife will be constant, not just at peak hours. Plus, cars are a major contributor to global warming.
Thank you- the lack of enforcement of any kind makes the intersection difficult for bikes, pediestrians and drivers. All of whom regularly flout the laws making this more difficult and dangerous.
Young Kim,
Thanks for putting this topic and the egregious decision to prioritize bike lanes and bus lanes, foolishly. It seems the city caved to unwarranted and misleading bicycle lobby folks (many of whom are in these comments and write disingenuously imho to continue the pretense that designated bike lanes is a majority concern when clearly it is not–the different angles expressed here feel as though they convened a meeting and handed out assignments). The reality is that cars are here to stay for the foreseeable future, whether electric or gas powered, therefore, it makes littles sense to plan and pretend that something else is true. People’s lives and livelihoods can and do depend on getting to and from point A – point B, in a predictable and timely manner. Your article points out how difficult that has become because of a small group of activists, ones who selfishly believe their way is the better way. Here in Cambridge feels much like Kevin McCarthy in DC’s craziness where he’s had to stare down a small group of radical Republicans. While I’m not a McCarthy fan in any way, shape, or form, I can see the shenanigans for what they are, and I am reminded of Cambridge and its small groups and lobbies that try to turn us into something we are not, and strategize to accomplish radical changes and then force it upon us, even though the majority reject their ideas and petitions. Oh, I’m someone who rides a bike around Cambridge and commute in a car to work when I don’t ride the bike. There are far far fewer in the bike lanes and many many cars stuck in traffic ALL OVER CAMBRIDGE, idling and idling and polluting away. I wish Cambridge had the leaders it needs. And now let’s talk about the same issue with small groups in bed with developers in meetings to move the city council, the mayor, and the city manager in hopes of amending the AHO, parking minimums, and ‘affordable housing’–same story!
I live here and fully support the bus and bike lanes.
Cars aren’t the only form of traffic, although it clear the author doesn’t think people on bikes or buses count.
@Faulkner
In reality, only a minority of trips around Cambridge involve cars. By a wide margin, more people walk, bike, or take public transport. Almost 70% of trips do NOT involve cars. Only 30% of Cambridge residents commute by car. Nearly half of Cambridge residents do not own a car.
Cambridge voters and surveys have made it clear. The majority are pro-bike lanes and other safety improvements. It may be hard for you to believe, but many people here do not use cars.
Despite your concern about idling, studies have shown that bike and bus lanes reduce pollution. 40 people on a bus is 40 fewer cars on the road.
It is time for Cambridge to stop ignoring the needs of the majority of people. Drivers have been the only priority for decades. These changes are well overdue.
Faulkner I totally agree, the councillors have used their unfathomable stockpile of developer money to buy elections and probably the commenters on this website too. Why bother writing a well-researched letter to this “radical minority” on the City Council to convince them of the reality that idling cars (except the ones that ignore the “magic” paint) polluting our planet while they promote a foul bus and bike riding agenda! You are right that we could use someone like Kevin McCarthy who knows how to stand up to bullies. Until then don’t wait for a study to do something about your car exhaust… just use “common sense”
@RetiredKMon
Everyone who disagrees with you has been bought by developer?? Are you serious?
Cambridge voters have made it clear through multiple elections. The majority are pro-bike lane. Most trips around Cambridge do not involve cars.
It is the anti-bike lane drivers who are the radical minority.
Many of these comments ignore that small businesses are already going under and that many professional offices do not have parking and have always relief on Mass Ave for parking. This is not to mention older citizens or the disabled who need cars to get around. The bike lobby has far too much power in this City. And too few people had input before these decisions were made. Despite the comments here, most Cambridge residents think this whole project is completely crazy.
@joyce
There is no evidence that bike lanes are harming businesses. It is a tough economy all over, with or without bike lanes. There is zero evidence that bike lanes are too blame.
In fact, studies have shown that bike lanes *help* local businesses by bringing more shoppers into neighborhoods. People in cars tend to drive through without stopping to shop.
You seem to not be aware thar surveys show that 2/3rd of Cambridge shoppers do NOT use cars. When Cambridge shoppers were asked what they wanted, it was not more parking. Better public transit and bike lanes finished much higher on the list.
Some may have trouble with the concept of shopping without a car but, in fact, that is what most Cambridge residents do.
@joyce I don’t know of any disability or elderly advocacy group that is pushing for more parking. Many elderly people can’t or shouldn’t drive. The city offers transport services for the elderly and disabled.
Anti-bike lane people often use the disabled or elderly as an excuse to get what they themselves want.
I am elderly. Do you know what my friends and I could really use? Regular bus service. Bus lanes are a big plus for us.
What’s more likely…. that people genuinely want bike lanes more than getting to places without traffic and are on this website the whole weekend, OR that big developer money is going towards controlling the narrative so they can once again drown out the “silent majority” The answer is obvious, so let’s ask the city to conduct a study
Joyce THANK YOU for bringing up this important issue after the author did not mention parking even once. All these bike people have is the results of their elections which were bought and paid for with big developer dollars! There needs to be a way (not a study) for real Cantabridgians to have their voices heard!!
@RetiredKM
You are assuming that everyone is like you and drives everywhere. That is not true. Many people do not use cars to get around Cambridge. The majority of people walk, take mass transit, or bike. Fact.
Why do developers want bike lanes?
@RetiredKM
Facts. Nearly 40% of Cambridge *households* do not own a car. That means the number of people notvowning cars is 50% or higher.
Most of trips (nearly 70%) around Cambridge do not involve cars.
Only 30% of Cambridge residents commute by car.
A lot of people can’t afford or don’t want cars. Low-income people often do not own cars. Students do not own cars.
These are the real Cantabridgians. That is why we have bike lanes. The MAJORITY of people want them. Stop assuming that everyone is just like you.
@Frank D,
You crossed the line with your comment “these are the real Cantabridgians (sic).”
Are my wife, my family and I not real Cantabrigians (please note the correct spelling)? What makes us “not real”?
Do we misbehave? Do we not pay our taxes? Do we throw litter in the streets.
My wife and I walk a lot on Cambridge. My wife also uses her bike a lot of the time. However, we also use our car when necessary. It is a necessity for us.
Low income people, and students (who mostly are not voters), are not the only “real Cantabrigians”. All of us are. Please don’t forget that, because “real” and “not real” when referring to citizens has terribly ugly historical connotations, some of which my family was subjected to.
@concerned43
First of all, re-read the thread. The “real” was in response to another comment.
Don’t vulnerable people on the streets count?
Don’t they matter? Aren’t they real? Don’t forget them.
You are talking about some traffic backup during rush hour. People are being injured and killed on our streets! Lives are more important than traffic.
Many people can’t afford cars. They need bikes for transportation. They should risk their lives? We shouldn’t prevent *preventable* deaths and injuries because of some backup largely limited to rush hour?
I would gladly add extra time to my travel if it saved lives. How about you?
As for the bus lanes, 40 people on a bus is 40 fewer cars on the road. If you are concerned about traffic, you should be pro-bus lane.
@concerned43
You are correct in that this is a zero-sum game. Some sacrifices need to be made.
Here is the tradeoff: Extra travel time for some vs the lives of others.
Me? I think lives are more important.
This city is being bought and sold by the real estate developers and they now don’t even have to provide parking spots. So guess who has to park on the street? The bike lanes are a disaster for the majority of people who didn’t get a vote over this matter.
Laws don’t seem to matter. I love the bumper sticker “share the road”. Really? Try telling that to the bikers who laugh at you and give you the finger when you beep your horn after almost hitting them as they fly though reds lights and stop signs. I say follow the money.
@myplanb
1. The majority of Cambridge residents want bike lanes. They made that clear through multiple election cycles. Surveys show that 2/3rds of Cambridge residents are pro-bike lanes. Your “majority” is actually a minority.
2. Drivers break the rules just as often as cyclists. There are many studies that have shown this.
Here is one study:
Study: Cyclists Don’t Break Traffic Laws Any More Than Drivers Do
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/01/03/study-cyclists-dont-break-traffic-laws-any-more-than-drivers-do/
The difference is that drivers are operating heavy machines at high speeds. That is why *virtually all* (more than 90%) of the fatalities and injuries on the streets are due to cars, not bikes. You can find these statistics in the Cambridge Police accident log.
I see drivers running run lights, rolling through stop signs and crosswalks without looking, drivers talking on the phone, etc every single day. When you call them on it, they laugh and flip you off too.
No one behaves. That’s why the streets need to be made safer.
3. We have an affordable housing crisis. People need homes. Parking convenience is not a good reason to deny people homes.
Getting rid of the parking requirement for developments that include affordable housing has been shown to work.
People Over Parking
Planners are reevaluating parking requirements for affordable housing.
https://www.planning.org/planning/2018/oct/peopleoverparking/
Are people unwilling to make any sacrifice or give up any convenience even if it means saving lives, preventing accidents, and providing people with homes?
The population of our cities is increasing. We can’t build any more roads. If we don’t offer alternatives to driving, then in a few years that backup at Mass and Alewife will be constant, not just during rush hour.
That’s why the bus lanes are important. 40 people on a bus are 40 fewer cars on the road. If you give it time, people will adjust their behavior and the backups will decrease.
We. Need. More. Bike. Lanes. They. Save. The. Planet.
😂
Indeed, they do save lives and the planet.
Protected Bike Lanes Increase Safety, Save Money And Protect The Planet, New Report Finds
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2022/11/30/protected-bike-lanes-increase-safety-save-money-and-protect-the-planet-new-report-finds/
“A 13-year study of a dozen U.S. cities found that separated bike lanes make streets safer for everyone, whether they are walking, driving, or biking.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529113036.htm
Protected Cycle Lane Networks Can Make a Big Impact on Climate Change
https://www.itdp.org/2022/10/24/protected-cycle-lane-networks-climate-change/
What do you have? 😄
Bus lanes too. They have a big positive impact.
Dedicated Bus Lanes Are Making Commutes Faster In And Around Boston, Data Show
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/06/24/bus-lanes-faster-boston-commutes
Reimagining the street: How bus lanes speed up the morning commute and why it matters
https://pirg.org/articles/reimagining-the-street-how-bus-lanes-speed-up-the-morning-commute-and-why-it-matters/
New NACTO Report: Improving Bus Service is Key to Fighting Climate Change
https://nacto.org/2022/08/18/new-nacto-report-improving-bus-service-is-key-to-fighting-climate-change/
🤣
@prc. Sometimes reality can be like a splash of cold water.
This issue has been studied. The answers are out there if you look for them.
I’m with Faulkner.
I’m not sure whether the FrankD account is a propaganda bot or a real person, but I ask that you please limit yourself to 1-2 posts per article.
@Nimbus
I’m a real person with real evidence. Click on the links for the evidence.
Who are you?
I didn’t know there was a limit to comments. I assumed the more traffic, the better for Cambridge Day.
To FrankD. I am a Cantabrigian. I don’t consider the links you are posting to be “real evidence”. At best it’s very thin. They are news articles (and from outside Cambridge) or “reports” from organizations with a likely bias. And many of your earlier claims have no evidence at all. If you want to help the discussion, cite evidence from serious, representative, unbiased, relevant studies done in and for Cambridge and that are not influenced by housing developers or other such lobbyists. I suspect you will not find much. Which is perhaps a sign telling the city where they should put some energy- instead of jumping head first into a pool of ill-conceived proposals underwritten by lobbyists.
@Nimbus
Please look at the articles. Or just scan them. You’ll see they contain links to peer-reviewed studies by transportation scientists. What’s your evidence?
Please. Read. The. Biased. Articles.
We. Will. Save. The. Planet. One. Bicycle. And. One. Bus. Lane. At. A. Time.
We. Will. Destroy. The. Fabric. Of. A once. Great. City. At. The. Same. Time.
😂 😂
@prc. Studies paid by federal research dollars. Not biased studies. That’s not the way it works.
Whadda you got? Anything? 🤣🤣
Read the news. Cars destroying the planet. Fact
@prc
I. Don’t. Care. About. The. Lives. Of. Others. I. Need. To. Get. There. 10. Minutes. Quicker.
😪😪😪😪😪
@prc
Don’t. Care. About. Climate. Change. No. Future. I’m. In. A. Hurry. Now.
😪😪😪😪😪😪
@Nimbus
Everything you said about those articles is false. The studies were conducted by transportation scientists funded by federal research dollars. They are real science by real scientists. They were NOT funded by cyclist groups. There were NOT biased studies. That is not the way science works.
The funding sources are listed in the published research articles.
Here’s a tip: Read things before you comment on them.
Food for thought from today’s Boston Globe:
“The only way to reduce the amount of traffic is to create reliable, affordable, and safe alternatives. The City is working to improve other modes of transportation like public transit and biking so they can become viable options for people.”
“Such a plan, Ryan said, “can support infrastructure projects that reduce traffic, improve air quality, and create better alternatives to driving.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/11/metro/boston-traffic-ranked-fourth-worst-world-study-says/
A bus lane can carry more people per hour than a general lane…in theory.
But not if it’s the 77 which runs every 10 to 12 minutes at rush hour. Even if every bus was crush loaded, it still would only carry a fraction as many people as a general lane full of single-occupant cars. And the bus only helps if you’re going somewhere within walking distance of Mass Ave up to Arlington Heights.
It wasn’t that bad outbound in the AM rush before, so there’s no reason why buses need a lane to skip the jam.
A real bus-friendly corridor would have frequent routes to a whole bunch of destinations. That’s not what exists in North Cambridge, and there are no plans to make it that way. So the bus lane is a net waste of people’s time.
The quickest transit route to Arlington and beyond will always be the Red Line, no matter what type of bus lanes Mass Ave gets. Unfortunately the sparse bus service from Alewife was reduced further during the pandemic and not brought back, so most people need to drive there, or bike if they’re able.
@pattyorland
Do you have actual data that the 77 bus would only carry a fraction of people during rush hour? Or is that just a guess? Because I read that buses carry as much as 50% of people on some routes (e.g., Mt Auburn St) during rush hour.
There is actual data that bus lanes *improve* commute times. For example:
“Results from cities that have tried out dedicated bus lanes are promising: A bus-only lane in Arlington, Massachusetts, has cut down commute times by 10 minutes.”
Reimagining the street: How bus lanes speed up the morning commute and why it matters
https://pirg.org/articles/reimagining-the-street-how-bus-lanes-speed-up-the-morning-commute-and-why-it-matters/
Dedicated Bus Lanes Are Making Commutes Faster In And Around Boston, Data Show
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/06/24/bus-lanes-faster-boston-commutes
How better bus lanes can fix everyone’s commute
https://archive.curbed.com/2020/1/23/21077583/bus-transit-traffic-congestion-busway-car-free
The 14th street busway in NYC is a good example.
It was supposed to lead to a “carpocolypse.” The 14th Street Busway was predicted to be a disaster for drivers. In fact, the opposite happened. Traffic improved. You have to give people time to adjust to the new.
https://archive.curbed.com/2020/1/23/21077583/bus-transit-traffic-congestion-busway-car-free
Its so true what a small percentage of households own a car! For example, my kids, dog, and goldfish do not own a car, so that leave 30% of the residents of this household carless!