Recent bike path "improvements"

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

Is anyone else annoyed at the recent attempt to improve the bike path/Rite Aid situation? I was really excited that they were going to finally resolve the issue of bikers/walkers spilling into the Rite Aid parking lot. It was weird the way the bike path would just lead people into the parking lot, and most people would have no idea where to find the continued path on the other side of Davis.

I feel like they really had an opportunity to solve this problem. But instead they solved nothing. They made a new mini-path that curves around the parking lot. But is like a foot too thin, and not really wide enough for bikes or a line divider. If they just planned a little better, and made it about a foot wider, they could have had one continuous community path all the way to Davis.

Most people aren't even using the new mini-path. I'm just frustrated that they spent a ton of money on a situation where they could have really improved the flow of the bike path into Davis, and instead they really solved nothing.

Comments

[tehlunchbox.livejournal.com]

Yes, other people are annoyed at it too. Like a month ago.

http://davis-square.livejournal.com/2673020.html

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that was when it was still under construction and people were still speculating what the final results would be.

[ron_newman]

I see a fair number of pedestrians using the new narrow path, while bikes mostly continue to use the parking lot. This was an uneasy compromise, narrowing the parking lot without removing parking spaces, keeping the Rite Aid loading dock usable, and not cutting down trees that lined the north side of the lot.

West of there, the busway was narrowed about as much as it could be without impeding bus traffic, in order to allow a widened sidewalk (again, without cutting down existing trees).

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I agree. I was originally worried that they were going to prevent bikes from entering the Rite Aid parking lot with a high curb, but they didn't do that. The path for pedestrians is a nice addition. I've never really felt this particular area was dangerous for cyclists - maybe I'll feel differently when my son is old enough to ride his own bike through there.

I'm way more excited to see how the work Cambridge is doing where the bike path crosses Mass Ave is going to turn out.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

that cross at Mass Ave is going to be great. It is already much easier to cross because they set the lights/cross walk up. Once they finish regrading and paving/bricking, I think it will be quite smooth.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

From the plans, it looked like you'd have to wait for two separate walk lights to cross using the path, due to missing crosswalks and signal timing. Is that not how it ended up?

[squirrelitude]

That's how it is, but that's more or less how it was anyway. I think no matter how you slice it, you'll always have 3 streets to cross.

My approach (Davis -> Alewife) was to get on Cameron, wait for the "straight" light, bike across Mass Ave to the sidewalk, ride along that short stretch (yielding to pedestrians, of course!) and wait for traffic to pass so I could cross that little street onto the continuation of the bike path. That will still basically be an option, of course.

they did cut down quite a few trees

[wardv.livejournal.com]

At the start of the busway one of the nice oak trees was cut down on either side of the road. All the trees along the south side of the Rite Aid parking lot were cut down.

And on the east side of said parking lot, next to the community garden, they cut down a tree that bloomed beautifully every spring, and looked lovely every fall when the leaves turned.

I hope they will plant lots more trees to compensate. There are some holes in the tree line on the north side of the parking lot where trees were lost during (winter) storms; filling those in would be a good start.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty much OK with this strategy of handling the Rite Aid lot, although I'm irritated they widened the sidewalk so much rather than just striping a bike lane down the busway. Seems too narrow to share comfortably now as a cyclist, but the wide sidewalk (for all that it has striping, which I expect will be roundly ignored) seems like a terrible place to bike -- way too much conflict.

[ron_newman]

The sticking point here is that the MBTA doesn't officially want people biking in the busway at all. The narrow little new fire lanes on each side can act as de facto bike lanes in each direction, but can't be marked that way.

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I use the new walkway.

[turil.livejournal.com]

It's not a bike path. It's a sidewalk. It should be marked as such!

And I don't believe it was an attempt to connect the two paths. I believe it was just to get some of the foot traffic out of the parking lot.

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

OK, well, explain why it links up with both the Somerville Community Path, as well as that new line-divided path that brings you to the T Station. It really doesn't make any sense to make bikers go through the parking lot, only to link right back up 50 feet further.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Some markings/signage would be helpful, as I said. Biking in the parking lot is reasonable, though.

Many bike paths in the US actually end in parking lots. Because people treat them as recreational facilities, where they drive a car to the path and then use the path, as silly as that sounds.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

One question I have about this, and maybe it is silly, is I thought that they were actively discouraging bikes actually going through the center of the square. On the far side (towards Arlington) there are signs directing bikes to go around rather than take brick path into the square. (or at least there were, I haven't noticed lately). Is that still the case? or are bikes now "allowed" to cut through the center?

[ron_newman]

Bikes are fine in Seven Hills Park (especially given the large number of bike racks near the T station), but are supposed to be walked rather than ridden through the plaza (aka Statue Park).

[cden4.livejournal.com]

With the recent modifications, pedestrians are supposed to use the new sidewalk adjacent to the Rite Aid parking lot, which feeds into the widened sidewalk by the busway.

Bicyclists should use the parking lot as they always have and then follow the Bike Route signs and arrows to use the roadways to get to the path at the other end of the square.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the official routing for bicyclists, it is as follows:

Going westbound: Go through Rite Aid parking lot (following it around the building) -> right onto Highland Ave -> left onto Dover St -> right onto Meacham Rd -> right onto Buena Vista Rd -> left onto Community Path

Going eastbound: Left onto Buena Vista Rd -> right onto Holland St, continue onto Elm St -> left onto Grove St -> (cross Highland Ave) -> right into Rite Aid parking lot

(Technically, the MBTA does not want bicyclists in the busway, and bicyclists are supposed to walk through the plaza near the Holland St headhouse, which is why the official route is on-road.)