A fix may be near for the traffic surging over Appleton Street in West Cambridge over the past year, but transportation planners say they’d be fixing a problem they probably did not cause – and that residents of other nearby streets will have to be ready to get Appleton’s redirected traffic.
More than 4,000 cars are turning from Brattle Street to drive north on Appleton Street to Huron Avenue, a trip of roughly one-third mile, more than 100 neighborhood residents and many city councillors learned at a May 23 community meeting. The volume is two or three times as much as on parallel streets – other so-called ladder streets between the two major thoroughfares – that have actually seen declines of around 300 fewer cars in the same time.
There’s regularly “honking gridlock” on the street, neighbors say. When there’s not, drivers tend to hurtle over the hill. Police have put a speed feedback trailer on the street with a 20 mph limit sign and a warning to speeders to slow down; city councillor Patty Nolan said she was told by an officer he’d issued 54 citations on the street within the past three days.
“This is not fair, and this is not safe,” resident Vanessa Ruget told city councillors at their Monday meeting.
A no-left-turn sign could go up by the third weekend of July, transportation commissioner Brooke McKenna said, but the Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department wanted to first use the next three weeks to do more analysis of where traffic was most likely to go if it couldn’t use Appleton. “We think they can absorb the differences,” McKenna said of nearby streets, “but we do want to do a little bit more outreach and … get ahead of that.”
The installation of a permanent no-left-turn sign wasn’t certain, but the department leaned in that direction, McKenna said.
Ruget and others put the blame on city transportation planners and changes to Garden Street, which runs to the north and east and in November 2022 got separated bike lanes. When the lanes came in, five blocks of Garden between Bond Street and Huron Avenue were made one-way, with traffic flowing only toward Harvard Square.
Looking to Garden Street
City councillors Paul Toner and Ayesha Wilson agreed this was the root – or route – of the problem.
“The resolution is for us to revisit Garden Street – not to take away bike lanes, but to revisit the notion of Garden Street being a one way,” Toner said. “We’re just pushing the problem throughout West Cambridge in terms of putting up signs for no left turn here, no left turn there, and it’s just creating more confusion.”
Wilson referred also to the “unintended consequences” of changes such as on Garden Street, which was followed by complaints from residents of Concord Street to its immediate west and smaller roads such as Raymond and Walker streets to its east. After some time and mitigation, those complaints have subsided – only to echo on Appleton.
“Have you all really thought about the impact of the infrastructure making Garden Street a one-way and how that has now impacted several of the streets across several blocks of a neighborhood?” Wilson asked.
It’s more complicated than it may seem, transportation officials said. There’s a general rise in traffic volumes across the region, with “a lot of unknowns,” McKenna said. “I don’t think you can draw the very direct correlations all of the time. Traffic is a very challenging, kind of amorphous thing that is pretty hard to control, and it’s pretty hard to understand all the connections.” The department waited at first to take action to see if construction detours were the problem.
Counting the Waze
The culprit is more likely apps such as Waze and Google Maps that drivers now rely on, especially when passing through a city from somewhere else and to somewhere else. Their algorithms may try to save a couple of minutes of driving time with “15 extra turns on small local streets,” McKenna said.
That’s also why a no-turn sign would be all-day instead of for between certain times, such as from 4 to 7 p.m.: Mapping apps disregard anything but total bans on turns, so preventing turns only during certain hours wouldn’t stop the apps from suggesting drivers take Appleton from Brattle, McKenna said. (The most common cut-through pattern is for vehicles traveling from Mount Auburn Street north on Lowell Street, then right on Brattle very briefly to go left on Appleton.)
There’s no certainty people will obey a sign, but other steps were outlined by the department for Appleton, including new painted lines and permanent speed feedback signs.
When the traffic redistributes, “we are a little concerned about what may happen with the other ladder streets – and we anticipate that residents of those streets may ask for a similar restriction,” said Jeff Parenti, assistant commissioner for street management.“Some of what we’ll be doing between now and a few weeks from now is making sure that the community understands what the tradeoffs are. Once we feel confident that the community understands, we can feel confident that this restriction on Appleton Street is a good idea.”
A stronger
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When will Toner and Wilson realize that increasing population and more cars cause traffic? The only solution is to provide alternatives to driving.
Yet, against the advice of transportation experts, they resist these efforts.
Toner, Wilson, Pickett, and now Nolan are driving us toward gridlock, pollution, global warming, and unsafe streets.
The problem will solve itself either ride a bike or stop coming in a car.
Also the experts say it’s ride apps fault – it couldn’t possibly be umm:
– Making 4 lanes on mass Ave into two lanes. Darn ride apps send drivers all over side streets.
– Making garden street one way/lane. Darn ride apps send drivers all over side streets.
Everyone wants safe EFFECTIVE bike lanes. It’s primarily not what’s been done. Hopefully with the pause they can get it right.
Wondering if there’s a way to encourage more car pooling because the data shows it dropped significantly during the pandemic. Maybe some benefits for carpooling and resources for organizing? The root of the issue is too many cars trying to drive through Cambridge.
@prc. “Let’s take a pause” is a Trojan Horse for “let’s stop them.” No one on the pause side has articulated any design flaws or suggested improvements.
The bike lane design has been successfully implemented in other cities and has shown similar success here. A federal study reported a 50% reduction in accidents due to bike lanes, increased bike riding, reduced car usage, and no evidence of harm to businesses.
There’s no need to pause. The pause is a tactic to stop bike lanes. Some prioritize parking convenience over safety, ignoring the environmental impact of cars.
It’s incredibly short-sighted. Look outside or read the news. In 10-20 years, today’s weather will seem mild.
But let’s hit pause and continue as usual. Good plan.
“Traffic is pretty hard to understand and predict” says person taxpayers pay 100000$ to understand and predict traffic in our tiny city and continues to struggle with basic laws of cause and effect that if you limit cars one place they will appear another.
Citation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-A-Mole
Instead of just bike lanes which are one part of a larger solution, we need public transit that works and is funded by fees and taxes on the massive build housing, which also should and could have stricter sustainability (and frankly aesthetic) codes. We could also reconsider free parking for city employees, and reconsider diesel buses carrying a handful of kids all over the city in addition to the trend of parents all driving across the city to drop their kids off. We could also tie excise taxes to vehicle size or efficiency and up parking permit fees.
I have to sympathize with the traffic department. After being relentlessly admonished to “listen” and “be responsive”, they get blasted for implementing projects according to local residents’ demands, like Garden Street being converted to one-way. I was tuned in to the Garden Street meeting where resident after resident was asking for the one-way conversion (in order to preserve parking) and the traffic engineer was warning that it was likely not workable. I specifically remember him saying that he was worried about impacts due to re-routed traffic. But public support for parking was strong, and eventually the local residents’ voices prevailed.
Traffic Department can’t win!
Well the traffic dept or so called experts can design correct efficient effective bike lanes so people residents bikers businesses actually want and beg for them. Other than the bike trolls slaw Frankie you know the crew the ones that have never met a plastic pylon they didn’t love lol not many people are satisfied.
It’s why the so called bike lanes are paused like it or not trolls it’s paused and for a good no great reason. People are still literally dying and business are still literally closing and auto traffic has exploded and parking yes parking is lost for small businesses on and on.
Do it right, do it once. This isn’t founding a co developing a new product it’s literally making dedicated bike lanes geez. But I guess when you look at the school system and realize !50%! of elementary school children aren’t able to read proficiently the bar is low like disturbingly low in the people’s republic of cambridge.
“if you limit cars one place they will appear another.”
Not untrue. A reason to limit cars in more places though not cater to them everywhere.
Cambridge can’t do much to improve the T besides putting in bus lanes. It could do more of that but it is doing several projects for that already.
I agree the city should get rid of free parking for city employees.
To clarify, I don’t love plastic pylons. I would much prefer a curb and real bollards where necessary. I don’t think pylons are that much protection but they do have a psychological effect that does help with safety.
I also find it hilarious you call other people trolls.
Yes you are the joke no doubt about that. Watching you insult any and everyone that has a different opinion/idea/position it’s very easy to toss you in the troll bucket – you pretty much jump into it 🤣
The sad thing for you is you actually make it worse. Most people prc included wants safe effective bike lanes everywhere around the city. Rather than admitting things haven’t worked you just double triple quadruple down. Then guess what it’s paused and everyone loses. Congrats 🎉
More lies and nonsense from @prc. The plastic flex poles were not invented in Cambridge; they are used in bike lanes nationwide.
Anti-bike lane trolls like @prc talk about “design flaws” but fail to specify any issues or propose improvements.
The fact is that bike lanes work. They reduce accidents by 50%, saving lives and preventing injuries. They also increase cycling, reducing cars on the street without harming businesses, as studies show.
The pause is a Trojan Horse to stop bike lanes, a classic NIMBY trick. It will lead to preventable accidents.
All this because some prioritize their convenience over others’ safety. Many bike because they can’t afford cars. We should support disadvantaged people, not protect the convenience of the wealthy.
Honestly, how do you sleep at night?
The Garden St project did lead to increased northbound vehicle volumes on Concord Ave, which was expected. But to also blame it for issues on Appleton St, as Toner/Wilson and some residents are doing, is a stretch.
It’s not clear from the article, but even back in 2017 (the “pre-Garden St one-way” reference point that everyone is using, though that project wasn’t installed until late 2022) Appleton had 2-3x higher vehicle volumes than other ladder streets. For example, it had 2,381 NB vehicles, compared to the runner-up which was Lakeview Ave with 1,117 NB vehicles. Appleton is a natural NB pairing to the SB Sparks St for cutting between Huron/Brattle/Mt. Auburn – this is unfortunate, but not new.
What *is* new is that from 2017 to 2024, Appleton St alone saw a significant increase (+937) in NB vehicle volume. However: this increase is roughly equal to the sum total decrease on the other ladder streets (-964 across Buckingham, Reservoir, Fayerweather, Lakeview, and Lexington).
So the overall volume of cut-through NB traffic in the neighborhood has not increased, as would be expected if the Garden St change was responsible. Rather, Appleton has simply become the preferred NB route compared to the other ladder streets, that reason likely being navigation apps like Waze designating it as such.
As usual, bike lanes are an easy scapegoat but the data says otherwise. I hope TP&T’s planned changes can reduce the burden on Appleton/help distribute traffic more evenly in the short term, but the only way to beat congestion in the end is to provide safe, reliable, and convenient alternatives to driving: transit being the biggest one, of course, but biking/micromobility as well.
@picoplaff +100 Unfortunately, facts and evidence won’t convince those who rely on lies and propaganda.
@prc The bike lanes have significantly reduced accidents, increased cycling, and there’s no evidence they’re harming businesses or increasing traffic. These myths have been debunked multiple times. Just Google it.
So, what exactly needs to be “fixed” that requires a “pause”?
The only answer seems to be people wanting to protect parking convenience.
Call me radical, but I believe saving lives, preventing injuries, reducing noise and pollution, and addressing climate change should have a higher priority than parking.
Ironically, many people complaining about walking a block or two due to bike lanes would walk a greater distance across a parking lot without complaint.
Thank you Councillors Toner, Wilson, Nolan, and Pickett for insisting that Garden street and other obviously illogical changes be reconsidered.
It is not accurate to report that the issues on Raymond, Concord, Walker, and other streets have eased–it is only that residents have been promised these things would be addressed.
It is also not accurate to assert as above that a majority of area residents were ever in favor of Garden becoming one way. The town reached out only to cyclists and those on Garden St itself in advance for meetings described benignly as “Garden St Safety Improvement”. Residents on other streets were never informed that Garden becoming one-way was under consideration.
PeterG: Let us visit the Garden St Safety Improvement Project web page. There it lists all the outreach they did. It says:
“””
Flyers: In July 2022, we distributed flyers at doors along the streets impacted by a potential one-way change. This flyer alerted community members about the three options being considered. These streets included:
Garden Street
Concord Avenue
Chauncy Street
Walker Street
Walker Street Place
Garden Lane
Bond Street
Madison Street
Fernald Drive
Gray Gardens East
Gray Gardens West
Robinson Street
Raymond Street
Garden Terrace
Holly Avenue
Huron Avenue
Winslow Street
Tierney Street
Orrin Street
Sherman Street
Cutler Avenue
“””
(https://www.cambridgema.gov/streetsandtransportation/projectsandprograms/gardenstsafetyimprovementproject)
“I didn’t read the handout the City put on my doorstep” and “I don’t like this decision” is not the same thing as “Residents on other streets were never informed”.
@PeterG
What!? The city sent out special invitations to cyclists?? How come I didn’t get one! I had to find out about the meeting from a poster stapled to a telephone pole!
I’m a cyclist, I vote, and I deserve special invitations to cyclist-only events hosted by the city!
It seems we should look to Somerville for leadership.
The Somerville City Council unanimously voted for safety improvements to city streets that will far surpass what Cambridge has planned.
New Somerville Safe Streets Ordinance Mandates 30-Mile Protected Bike Lane Network by 2030
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2024/06/18/new-somerville-safe-streets-ordinance-mandates-30-mile-protected-bike-lane-network-by-2030
The Somerville City Council prioritizes protecting lives and building a sustainable transportation system over convenience.
@prc, how exactly have the bike lanes “not worked out”? They have reduced accidents, increased cycling, and not harmed businesses.
Your claim is just your personal dislike. You haven’t articulated any flaws or design changes needed for the bike lanes.
The pause is due to political pressure on a few city council members, proving nothing except politics.
Cambridge voters have shown widespread support for bike lanes. More people attended the council meeting to oppose the pause, and more letters supported bike lanes than the pause.
Implying the pause is due to real flaws or widespread opposition is nonsense and lies.
@FrankD Re: “Some prioritize parking convenience over safety, ignoring the environmental impact of cars. It’s incredibly short-sighted.”–Keep on sliming everyone who isn’t 100% on board with the specific infrastructure “solutions” you’re so enamored with. Great way to win adherents to *your side* of the issue. It’s “incredibly” unstrategic, if your goal is to convince rather than merely rant and insult.
@FrankD: “some prioritize their convenience over others’ safety. Many bike because they can’t afford cars. We should support disadvantaged people, not protect the convenience of the wealthy.”–How do you reconcile “the convenience of the wealthy” with the fact that so many who are taking the brunt of the massive elimination of parking are people living in low-income housing (e.g., in Lafayette Square), or those who are disabled, or people who lack off-street parking on the side-streets that are now forced to absorb the overflow of parking loss on the nearby main thoroughfares? Accusing everyone who has these issues of *prioritizing convenience over safety* is profoundly opportunistic.
Itamar and Scott–
I live on Raymond and did not receive a flyer in July of 22, so I cannot opine on whether the purported flyer was clear. But as I posted above, there was a ton of publicity for “Garden St Safety”, and bike boosters did send indeed “special invitations” to their mailing lists of cyclists. Nothing wrong with either of those things, but they explain why hundreds of people in the neighborhood showed up multiple times to complain after the lanes were installed but not before
PeterG-
Ok, I’m glad we’re now talking about the same reality. At least, mostly. I never made the claim that a majority of neighborhood residents supported the change. You assumed that is what I was implying, but honestly I have no way of knowing that and did not intend to imply it was so.
Your comment really reinforces my point, though: nothing the traffic department can do will ever be enough for many people in the community. By their account (thanks Itamar for the link), they sent out nearly 10,000 notices about the project, and held half a dozen meetings. We agree there was a lot of publicity. After receiving feedback from the community, they created a brand new plan based on that feedback. Then once they implemented it, they were slammed for “not listening”.
I’m not saying that because many people didn’t bother to attend a meeting or even skim the project website they have forfeited their right to complain now. I disagree that the project as implemented is “illogical” but I support a community discussion about how it could be better. All I’m saying is, don’t try to put the blame on the traffic department. It’s difficult to imagine how they could have done better considering the many constraints they’re under, including many councillors breathing down their necks about being “responsive”. I’m not sure if you yourself hold this opinion, Peter, but many people seem to be ticked off that the department wasn’t responsive to people who never spoke up. That’s why I say that they can’t win.
If you were in charge of the project, how would you have performed outreach?
Exactly AllisS the trolls got what they deserved a DELAY. Did anyone I know including myself want a delay? NO.
I wanted the bike lanes to be viewed as “how can we get them on our street or our neighborhood”.
Instead people are panicked rightly so if and when they hear a whisper of a quick build I mean destruction lane coming in. It’s people like frankd and slow that have really damage the bike lane standing.
@AllisS You seem to be insulted by having your own position stated back to you. In that case maybe reevaluate that position rather than shoot the messenger?
People in low income housing are much less likely to own cars but they get trotted out to defend car centric infrastructure by people who don’t care about them otherwise. This is bad faith.
@prc you have the personality of a bully and the more you show it the more ridiculous your shtick of pretending to care about the thing you constantly rail against looks.
@Slaw You twist my position in the most vicious way possible, then make an absurd statement that it’s *my* position. These despicable personal attacks wouldn’t last long on a social media platform (which I’m sure you know). Disappointing that you’re allowed to spew them here.
You took a conversation that started with a discussion of preventing deaths and turned it to a discussion about convenient parking sports. Saying that is not a personal attack. It is literally what you did. If you find that offensive, don’t do it?
What a debacle. Not even considering the effects of hundreds of kids families and teachers driving and parking near the enormous new vassal lane school clogging up those streets at drop off time. (Note the city planners did not account for that completely foreseeable traffic time bomb waiting happen in their changes).
I actually don’t think every kid and teacher should have to drive to school. Bike lanes help provide alternatives.