Commonwealth Avenue

IMG_5783turnpike overpass

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

IMG_5712dashedsm

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

This photo tour takes us along Commonwealth Avenue from just east of the Boston University Bridge to Kenmore Square, and back. A bike lane begins on the turnpike overpass east of the Boston University Bridge. There is a right-turn lane appropriately to the right of the bike lane.

IMG_5682truck

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

In the first block with parking east of the bridge, we find this truck encroaching into the newly-striped bike lane. Truckers making deliveries have no choice but to park at the curb. A potential solution stares the photographer in the face: a bike lane next to the median, where there is no parking -- as was done, for example, on Ravenna Boulevard in Seattle, Washington.

IMG_5683truck

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

Just past the first truck, another.

IMG_5684car

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IMG_5685door

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

This photo was taken from the photographer's bicycle, in motion, just after he passed the car with the open door. The photographer's line of travel, straddling the bike lane stripe, spared him an encounter with the door. The truck from the previous photo is visible in the background.

IMG_5686narrow

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

A bulbout encroaches into the width allocated for the bike lane. The lane is less than 3 feet wide here. Standard width is 5 feet. Note the truck in the next block.

IMG_5688inlane

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

In this block, there is no parking, and the bike lane is adjacent to the curb. Truckers must stop here as well to make deliveries. If ivory-tower designs corresponded to reality and deliveries were made to the roofs of buildings from helicopters, bicyclists would not have to merge out of the bike lane here. In this bike lane which is designed, in theory, to give bicyclists a clear path, they get plenty of practice in merging into the stream of motor traffic. Again: a designer with any imagination would have placed the bike lane against the median. And, bicyclists are going to have to learn to negotiate right of way, no matter how ambitious the attempt to relieve them of that task.

IMG_5689SUV

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

The photographer approaches a press conference where the Mayor is announcing the reconstruction of Commonwealth Avenue with the new bike lanes. That's his SUV parked in the bike lane. Might it not have been parked around the corner on a side street instead?

IMG_5691bicyclists

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

These bicyclists, apparently a family, are riding in the newly-striped bike lane, approaching the location of the press conference. The closest bicyclist is merging left to get past the Mayor's SUV.

IMG_5694truck

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

Following the press conference, a cameraman positions himself to shoot video of bicyclists. Bicyclists are riding away from the press conference.

IMG_5695lineriders

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

The bicyclists are avoiding the risks of turning traffic -- note turning box truck in background -- pedestrian walk-outs, and dooring by riding just inside the left bike-lane stripe, or entirely outside the bike lane.

IMG_5696truck

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

We approach Kenmore Square with its famous Citgo sign. Another truck encroaches into the bike lane.

IMG_57174ftlane

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

The roadway narrows in the last block before Kenmore Square. The bike lane is no longer only in the door zone, it is in the taillight zone. Signage is equivocal (see next photo).

IMG_5716signs

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

The photo was taken on August 8. The temporary "no standing" sign at the bottom remains from over a week earlier, probably the day when the bike-lane stripes were painted.

The "no stopping" sign" apparently is intended to be permanent, but it is lashed to a lamppost with wires rather than bolted on, and the tape stuck on at the bottom reads: "Mon-Fri 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM". Who decided that it would be OK to block the bike lane at all other times? Is this scrawled and taped exception official? Is it legal?

IMG_5699island

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

A sketched-in traffic island just before Kenmore Square would narrow the roadway excessively, just as the barrels in the photo do. On the day of the Mayor's press conference, there was still the possibility that the design might be changed. Stay tuned.

IMG_5704island

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

This photo looks back along Commonwealth Avenue from the sketched-in traffic island and shows how narrow the roadway would be here if the island were installed.

IMG_5792lanestart

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

IMG_5706SUV

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

We are now headed west on Commonwealth Avenue, away from Kenmore Square. Long stretches -- much longer than needed for bus bays -- are striped as shown with the bike lane away from the curb (appropriately, to maintain a straight line of travel), but with "no stopping" signs. People stop here anyway. This SUV was stopped with its 4-way blinkers on, while the driver apparently performed some task that would interfere with driving. Hats off to the driver for stopping, but the street design here leads to some cognitive dissonance. That is, why have what appears to be a parking lane, but prohibit parking or even stopping?

IMG_5708dashes

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

This truck is here as part of the lane striping project. Why is it parked in an intersection, in the bike lane? Bicyclists need to merge to the middle of the next lane to avoid the door. There are empty "no stopping" zones to the right of the bike lane just before and after where the truck is parked.

IMG_5784zigzag

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

IMG_5803crop

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

MVI_5711

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:03:38 -0400

The photographer stood on a traffic island just east of the Boston University Bridge, looking back along Commonwealth Avenue to the east, to shoot the video clip below. The clip requires QuickTime or another plug-in that will play MPEG-4 files. Click on the "play" arrow underneath the video image to set it into motion.

Commonwealth Avenue stretches out into the background in the video and continues past the camera position on the right. University Road comes in from the left in the video. The right-turn lane for the Boston University Bridge passes to the left of the camera position.

Evidently, right turns on red are allowed from University Road. During the green phase for Commonwealth Avenue, motorists turn and merge four different ways across the sketched-in outline of a bike lane past University Road.

* Vehicles from University Road may turn right onto Commonwealth Avenue, to cross the Charles River on the BU Bridge --

* or they may merge into the middle lane of Commonwealth Avenue to go west.

* Most of the traffic in the curb lane of Commonwealth Avenue turns right across the bike lane, onto University Road, but --

* some traffic in the curb lane continues across University Avenue, then bears right across the bike lane onto the bridge. Some traffic in the middle lane of Commonwealth Avenue (including one vehicle shown) also bears right onto the bridge -- crossing the bike lane from the second lane to its left.

Two motorists in the video make clearly-illegal maneuvers. One, with right-turn signal blinking, enters from University Road, crosses to the left of the bike lane and then recrosses it to make the right turn onto the bridge. Perhaps the driver thought that the bike lane must be to the right side of all the other lanes, as is usual? Another driver makes a right turn from the middle lane of Commonwealth Avenue onto University Road, crossing a travel lane as well as the bike lane.

Bicyclists' best lane position on Commonwealth Avenue to continue straight ahead is in the middle lane, not in the bike lane to the right of all the right-turning traffic. The best position for a bicyclist to cross University Road and turn right onto the bridge is in the middle of the right lane. Timing of the traffic signal at the previous intersection could create gaps in the traffic, making it easy to merge to these positions.

The lane striping appears to have been designed under the assumption that motorists are capable of merging, but bicyclists are not. The path along which the bike lane directs bicyclists carries increased complication and risk of crashes for every destination except University Road. It requires bicyclists and motorists to merge across each other's path inside an intersection, as is prohibited under the traffic law of most states. (Massachusetts law is unclear about this).

This video is not entirely representative of final conditions, due to the incomplete line striping, the service vehicles that narrow the roadway, and perhaps changes in signal phases and timing. It will be interesting to return and observe conditions once the lane striping has been completed -- and when Boston University is in session and there are more bicyclists.