Cedar Street CLOSED at Community Path intersection, all week, June 15-19

[ron_newman]

this e-mail (and presumably robo-call) went to some people, but not to me. Someone re-sent it to the STEP (pro-Green Line lobby) e-mail list, so I'm posting it here too.

I don't know if pedestrian and bicycle access through and across this area will be maintained during the closure. I've asked some folks, and if I get an answer I'll edit it into this post.

------------------
Hello, this is Jackie Rossetti from the City of Somerville with
important information regarding road closures in your neighborhood.

In order to construct a raised crosswalk on Cedar St. at the
intersection with the newly expanded Community Path, the section of
Cedar St. at the Community Path will be closed to all traffic from
Mon., June 15, through approximately Fri., June 19. Work will be
conducted between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.; however, this
section of Cedar St. will remain closed at all times during this time
period to allow the structure to properly set. Please follow posted
detour signs.

The newest section of the Community Path between Cedar St. and Lowell
St. is expected to open in July.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call 311 (617-666-3311).

Comments

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

I will also note the complete signage fail for people who turn onto Albion at Lowell, and expect to turn right on Cedar to get past the bike path. No indication that any detour existed from that direction until oh, oops! there's a giant barrier of vehicles and machinery! That's a fairly common route for people going towards Davis in the AM, to dodge traffic and traffic lights on Highland Ave.

And while we're on about traffic, how hard would it be to remove a couple of parking spaces on Highland right in front of the bank on the corner of Cedar so that people waiting to turn left onto Cedar do not back traffic up past the fire station? Honestly, it's like no one ever does traffic studies, and the ones that are done seem to result in decisions that make driving as slow and frustrating as possible.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, it seems Somerville does want to make driving as slow and frustrating as possible so that less people drive. I have spoken to at least one business owner who moved out for this reason.

In all fairness traffic studies are kind of like military intelligence (i.e. an oxymoron or often a failure). Newton redid traffic in Newton Center a while back (last summer?) to make one lane outbound on Beacon at Langley right turn only when the traffic making the left turn usually backs up the left lane and also changed the traffic turning right from Center onto Beacon inbound in some way which I've managed to block out of my mind. The residents all pretty much said - those changes aren't going to work and are going to be a complete hairball and make traffic worse. After about a month of worse traffic, Newton had to redo both of those changes at some non-minor expense.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Is it typical to close a street 24/7 for an entire week to build a raised crosswalk? There's plenty of them around here, and I've never heard of such a long closure.

Also, I find raised crosswalks to be particularly unpleasant when biking. In this case, it would apply to biking on Cedar. They're very jarring and uncomfortable, and they distract me from watching for pedestrians and other traffic.

What's particularly bad is the common practice around here of putting granite "lines" across the road at the edges of the crosswalk. I have no idea why they do this. They're what cause the worst of the bumps, especially as the pavement ages. And they're not nearly as visible as white paint. The Davis raised crosswalk shows typical shifting of the granite: https://goo.gl/maps/4jtvA

The number one cause of bike accidents is a rough road surface. And a smooth road is the most important factor for an easy and happy bike ride.

[ron_newman]

I recall that the city announced a week-long closure for similar raised crosswalks on Holland Street (at the T station) and Willow Ave (at the Community Path). I don't remember if the projects actually took that long to build.

As a cyclist, I don't at all mind having to slow down on Cedar Street where the Community Path intersects. This is a busy place with lots of pedestrians (and somewhat fewer cyclists) crossing, and it's best for everyone if I'm not zooming through at 18 mph.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

I don't mind slowing down. But the bumps from poorly-maintained granite strips are a problem even at very low speeds.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Not defending the installation results, or the shifting - both of which are definitely problems - but those granite "lines" are flush curbing, installed so that there's a rigid edge to hold the line of the pavers in place.

Asphalt is a soft and somewhat fluid material, in hotter weather - without some sort of rigid edge, pressure on the pavers (ie, truck tires) will slowly push the pavers apart from each other and cause all sorts of problems. Curbing, in theory, fills that role pretty well, as it's locked in concrete under the street surface. And in the long term, granite holds up much longer than concrete curb, especially with plowing.

That said, it's gotta be well installed. When there's a lip sticking up by a bit that a plow catches, or improper base material that moves around either with loading or with frost-heaving, or other problems, then the curb starts to be its own problem... But it's still better than a rutted, separating, messy crosswalk of uneven pavers all the way across, for both pedestrians and bikers.

- Your friendly local Landscape Architect and Bike Commuter.