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Traffic-Intolerant Bicyclists

and

Boston’s Greenway Network

Peter G. Furth

Professor

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Northeastern University

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Bicycle Ridership Depends on Traffic Stress

degree of traffic stress

Rid

ers

Unimproved

Low stress facility draws high ridership

Many

improvements

serve only traffic-

tolerant riders

X3

X2X1

A Test:

Could we design a network for Brookline

intended for traffic-intolerant cyclists?

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Proposed Safe Routes Network, Brookline, MA

• Accepted in 2007 as plan by Brookline Transportation Board

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Expanding the Toolbox of Low-Stress Facility Types

* New criteria developed for

traffic-intolerant riders

5. Contraflow lane

6. No-Passing-Bikes zone

7. Separated paths or “Cycle tracks”

BICYCLE CONTRAFLOW• One-way for cars, two-way

for bikes

• Excellent safety record

• Bikes do it anyway!

Recommended Contraflow Site (observe contraflow cyclist)

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Recommended No-Passing-Bikes Zone

(Carlton St.)

• Self-enforcing

• Removes stress from cyclists

• Removes pressure motorists feel to pass unsafely

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Cycle Track or Separated Path

• Stress-free between intersections

• Design for safe crossings and endpoints

• Separation is vital on high-speed roads

Cycle track on Vassar St., Cambridge

Refuge Cycle TracksCarry routes through dangerous intersections

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Could We Design a “Safe Routes” Network for Brookline? YES.

• Greenways

• Quiet Local Streets, 15 of them with contraflow

• 5 No-Passing-Bikes Zones

• 4 Refuge Cycle Tracks at busy intersections

• Separated paths along high speed arterials

• Implementation Schedule???

Boston’s Developing Greenway Network

Arborway: 8 lanes of highway, no path

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Jamaica Pond

Kelley Circle

Murray Circle

Arboretum

Engineering Students’ Design, 2008

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Regional Traffic Concentrated in Inner Raodway

Continuous Paths in East & West Side Medians

Net New Greenspace = 4.45 Acres

Newly Accessible Greenspace = 5.60 Acres

Greenway Segments (2+ mi long?)

Arborway

Route 9 Crossing

Sears Rotary

“Harbor-Ride”

S. Bay / Harbor Trail

Harbor Walk

Southampton & Old Colony

Watertown Branch

Community Path

Charlesgate Path World

Series Path

Grand Junction

Earheart Dam / Bike to the Sea

Downtown Boston

South Boston

UMass Boston

Dorchester

CambridgeWatertown

Somerville

Charlestown

Jamaica Pond

Brookline

Forest Hills

Brighton

Fresh Pond

Missing Mile Bridges

World Series Path

SW Corridor (at Ruggles) to Back Bay Fens

50% on NU campus

SW C

orridor

Ruggles Station

Huntington Ave

MFA

NU & first World Series site (1903)

Shifted median

Back Bay Fens

Mass. Pike

Charles River Mass.Ave.

Muddy River

Comm. Ave.

CHARLESGATE PATH

Proposed ConditionsThis is a rendering of what the southbound lanes of the

Bowker Overpass will look like.

Existing ConditionsThis is an image taken from the Bowker/Boylston

Intersection looking at the southbound lanes of the Bowker Overpass.

Moving The MedianMoving The Median

Down & Across the On-Ramp from Comm. Ave.

– Ramp Narrowed to 1 lane for entering Bowker Overpass

– Signalized crossing, coordinated w/ Comm Ave

– No negative traffic impact

– ADA ramp to Charlesgate West and Newbury St.

Comm Ave

Coming down to Commonwealth Ave.

Shifted curb line on Beacon Street crossing the Muddy

Proposed Path Layout: Connections AND a New 2.5 - Acre Park

LMA

MGH

E. Cambridge

BUBack Bay

NU

MIT

JP

BMC

Harvard Sq

Allston/Bri

U Mass

S Boston

Roxbury

Boston’s Future Greenway Network (in part)!

www.civ.neu.edu