Will Our River Crossings Be Bridges or Barriers?
The Charles River is one of the defining features of our region. From the time humans first arrived, we have used it for sustenance, pleasure, and travel. While the basin feels like a refuge of nature in the midst of our urban lives, nearly every inch of the river – from the shore to the deepest channel – has been shaped by human activity. The river and the structures around it need to be managed to preserve their value to the life cycle while maximizing their human functionality.
In particular, the bridges over the river can help connect our communities, provide access to the riverbank, and be an aesthetic asset. Or they can make travel difficult, even dangerous, block us off from the river, and serve as walls preventing movement on or beside the water. As the state begins a once-in-a-lifetime process of repairing and improving almost every bridge along the Charles, we need to make sure that it’s done right.
Read moreLearning from 28x — The Zen of Project Planning
Despite having a high percentage of transit-dependent households, the mostly low-income and non-white sections of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan have some of the area’s worst transportation options. The buses are old, over crowded, and slow. There is no trolley or commuter train service. Since the latest estimates are that a two-person Boston household spends up to $12,324 a year more if they use cars rather than trolleys, buses, and feet, many of these people have little choice but to take what’s given them. It’s hard not to see this as discriminatory. And many residents do.
So, the only good that may emerge from the withdrawal of the state’s application for about one hundred and fifty million dollars to upgrade bus service along Blue Hill Ave – because of community opposition to the state’s plans – is that it becomes a case study in how NOT to implement successful transportation projects. What went wrong, and what can we learn?
Read moreHow To Prevent Bridge Repair Gridlock
Except for the Mass Ave bridge, every bridge in the lower Charles River basin is going to get repaired over the next five years or so. Hopefully, the end result will be structurally sound structures within a transportation system finally able to serve pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit vehicles as well as cars — and that also provide improved access to the region’s river-side parklands. However, the construction period will cause a massive reduction in the system’s car-carrying capacity. The state needs to act, now, to encourage a significant shift from cars to transit, bikes, and walking. But how can this be done?
We already know, from bitter experience around the country and the world, that building more roads to relieve congestion will only attract more drivers until the new roads are over crowded as well. It seems that, in most transportation systems, if you build it they will come.
Read moreTen Ways To Transform Transportation — Part III
People are free to choose the way they get around. But the context shapes their likely choices. This is Part III of a three-part series suggesting high-leverage actions that would shift the context from one that makes getting into a car the default option to one where walking or cycling would be equally – and in some situations more – easy to do. Because mass transit is such a huge topic, I will deal with it separately in a later series of posts.
The ideas discussed in Part III include:
8. PRICE PARKING PROPERLY
9. CHANGE LIABILITY ASSUMPTIONS
10. SET GOALS AND MEASURE PROGRESS
Ideas 1-3 are discussed in Part I and ideas 4-7 in Part II. However, this is my list of the top ten ways to transform transportation. I’m sure readers have others. Please comment and add your own.
Read moreTen Ways To Transform Transportation — Part II
People are free to choose the way they get around. But the context shapes their likely choices. This is Part II of a three-part series suggesting high-leverage actions that would shift the context from one that makes getting into a car the default option to one where walking or cycling would be equally – and in some situations more – easy to do. Because mass transit is such a huge topic, I will deal with it separately in a later series of posts.
The ideas discussed in Part II include:
4. EXPAND SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL and SAFE ROUTES FOR SENIORS PROGRAMS
5. REQUIRE LOCAL CITIZEN’S BIKE/PED ADVISORY COMMITTEES
6. CHANGE REGIONAL & LOCAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
7. ENCOURGE SMART GROWTH
Ideas 1-3 are discussed in Part I and ideas 8-10 plus a list of the provisions of the new Bike Safety Bill in Part III. However, this is my list of the top ten ways to transform transportation. I’m sure readers have others. Please comment and add your own.
Read moreTen Ways To Transform Transportation — Part I
People are free to choose the way they get around. But the context shapes their likely choices. This is Part I of a three-part series suggesting high-leverage actions that would shift the context from one that makes getting into a car the default option to one where walking or cycling would be equally – and in some situations more – easy to do. Because mass transit is such a huge topic, I will deal with it separately in a later series of posts.
The ideas discussed in Part I are:
1. LOWER SPEED LIMITS
2. DESIGN FOR ORDINARY SITUATIONS AND ORDINARY PEOPLE
3. STRENGTHEN DRIVER TESTING and TRAINING
Ideas 4-7 are discussed in Part II and ideas 8-10 plus a list of the provisions of the new Bike Safety Bill in Part III. However, this is my list of the top ten ways to transform transportation. I’m sure readers have others. Please comment and add your own.
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Why BRT Is NOT A Subway Line
The foundation for a healthy transportation system is a great public transit network. But public transportation is expensive, so might buses do the job?
What makes for a good Rapid Transit system? The basic characteristics are pretty straightforward:
- A dedicated travel corridor reserved for the transit vehicles, with minimal stops (except at designated passenger pick up/drop off locations), and engineered for a smooth and safe ride at relatively good speeds.
- The ability to provide limited stop express service as well as local service.
- Prepayment and vehicle door-level boarding at transit stations so passengers can quickly move on and off the vehicles.
- Capacity to move large numbers of people.
- Extended hours of operation across a wide area.
And the best systems also incorporate:
- Advanced technology to keep passengers informed of wait times or problems, to keep the vehicles moving closely but not dangerously behind each other, and to allow for tight alignment of vehicle doorways with boarding areas.
- Hybrid or electric engines to minimize pollution.
- Regular maintenance to sustain reliability and keep fares low.
The problem is that fixed rail systems – trains, trolleys, subways, and light rail – are incredibly expensive to build, and once constructed they are forever frozen in one location.
Read moreWhy The Next Stimulus Bill May Not Transform Transportation Either
We’ve begun hearing rumors of a potential follow-up stimulus bill that will inject additional billions into infrastructure spending. But if state officials use the same narrow definition of “shovel ready” to select projects for funding for the new bill that they did for the old one, we’ll be stuck with another set of old car-centric highway plans that don’t incorporate today’s “complete streets” approach.
To its credit, Massachusetts was one of only six states to spend more than 10% of their federal stimulus funds on non-car projects. But the reality is that stimulus funds are intended to provide a quick stimulus – to be spent quickly and have an immediate impact. On the other hand, road projects take a very long time to plan, design, and get approved.
Read moreThe “Healthy Transportation Compact” in MA’s New Transportation Reform Act
While much of the state’s new Transportation Reform Act simply feels like a rearrangement of the deck chairs on a financially sinking ship, it does contain some ground-breaking components that – if aggressively utilized – could significantly change the rules of transportation planning for the better.
Read moreTraffic Engineering Myths Revealed
We are finally emerging from the InterState era. This was the long period where the vision of the ideal road was the limited access freeway – a road designed specifically to move as many cars as possible as quickly as possible, with wide lanes and soft curves, while eliminating potential distractions such as stores or traffic lights or any other method of travel by foot or bike. The InterState was about moving vehicles. People were only important as the occupants of those vehicles.
The InterState era was also a time when what every self-respecting traffic engineer really wanted to do was create highways or at least car-centric designs. Quiet residential roads or people-focused plaza were boring – the money and glory was in becoming another Robert Moses: the man who transformed New York with his highways and bridges, a master builder.
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