Signposts

[xxv.livejournal.com]

I am a recent resident to this area and absolutely love the bikeway. Recently, I discovered how very close Porter Square is to my home (on Highland Rd.), when crossing through the park that's near the end of the bikeway. After discovering this, I would like to share this with others, as it's not entirely obvious (and the bikeway leads straight to Davis).

I would love to see a wooden signpost put at the intersection of the walkway leading through the park (to Porter) and the bikeway. I was thinking something along the lines of this wooden sign post, but with kilometers/mileage instead of icons (and also perhaps weatherproofed and/or painted, depending on aesthetic preference).

Obviously this is not the only place that could use such a sign post - I'd love to see more locations marked!

So! Do people think this is a good idea? If so, does anyone know who I should contact regarding installation / regulations / fabrication of such a signpost? I'd be more than happy to make it myself (or with others) if needed.

Comments

[ron_newman]

If you ride the Tour de Somerville tomorrow (Saturday) morning you can meet me and other members of the Somerville Bicycle Committee. See this earlier post for details.

Or come to our next meeting, this Tuesday, October 17, at 6:30 pm in the basement of City Hall.

[xxv.livejournal.com]

I missed that. Thanks! Any idea how long the ride will go?

[ron_newman]

Probably a little over two hours.

[xxv.livejournal.com]

btw: A while back, I found this site which lets you click on a Google map to make a route. It also gives distances and can export to GPX:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

[ron_newman]

I'll play with that for next year's rides. Meanwhile, our map and cue sheet are here: http://www.MiddlesexCanal.org/Ron . See you in an hour or so!

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

As a right in the middle of porter resident, I whole-heartedly disagree!!!

Anyhow, signs as such seem a bit touristy. I think it's a lot more rewarding to learn a place on your own without such silliness or other nonsense.

[xxv.livejournal.com]

I declare a Porter Square pedestrian tourism invasion!

Seriously though - I was thinking more along the lines of what you see when hiking; at the base of a trail. A simple reminder of a pathway and the distance toward a destination on it. The simpler the better. Nothing gaudy with gold paint or anything like that.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

oooo, if it had gold paint and maybe some flashing neon I'd be all for it.

I think, once you realize how incredibly small the area is, you will not care so much. Though I guess when you live out on highland, stuff seems more spread out :)

[xxv.livejournal.com]

Before the kidder split or after? (from the bikeway, obviously)

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Something that would be even more useful would be a series of signs (or trail blazes??) showing how to catch up with the bike path again on the other side of Davis Square!

[xxv.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Is there a good way to do it on a bike? Avoiding traffic and such...

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

"I want to pass through Davis Square, avoiding traffic."

"I want a pony."

[xxv.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just realized that you could do such, by using the MBTA tunnel. It doesn't take fare until you want to go down to the trains.

Of course, for a biker it'd probably just be easier to brave the cars than the stairs / escalators.

[ron_newman]

From the Bikeway Community Garden, just ride through the Brooks parking lot and the busway to Holland Street, then turn left at the T station entrance to enter Seven Hills Park.

From Seven Hills Park, ride past the T station to Holland Street. Turn sharply left at College Avenue and right into the busway. Ride through the busway and the Brooks parking lot to the path.

Full disclosure?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Just a note, that technically, this is illegal (since the T busway is closed to non-T traffic) however:

A. Nobody will ever stop you, since no one thinks of bicycles as vehicles these days.

B. Officially routing the bikeway through the T busway has been planned by Somerville officials for a while now, and implementation of the plan is only waiting (could be forever!) for the T to approve of it (is that still correct Ron?).

So, if you do this, just be careful not to get in the T people's way, since if you happend to get hit by a bus, you might well be found at fault!

Re: Full disclosure?

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I think, regardless of who's at fault, "don't get your bike in the way of a bus" is a good creed to live by. Literally ;).

(And I say this with respect for T bus drivers, who are generally more aware of me when I'm on my bike than other drivers are.)

Re: Full disclosure?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Well, that depends on what your idea of being "in the way of" is! Legal right of way is sort of the key, here. Getting in the way of a bus is very normal and safe if you have the right of way. (If you are travelling down the road and a bus comes up behind you, it's quite right that you stay "in the way" of the bus :-)

But in the case of the T busway, you, as a non-T vehicle operator, have absolutely no right of way at all. So, if anything happens, it's legally your fault.

Re: Full disclosure?

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you, I've been a bike commuter for years and have traveled around more than my share of buses, as I tried to indicate with my message. I am all about my right-of-way and have aggressively stared down any number of much larger people to defend it. I still maintain -- perhaps you missed the humor -- that not being in the way of buses is a good creed to live by.

Re: Full disclosure?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yes, I got your humor. And I did think it was funny, but I wanted to make the point to others that your creed is not something to take literally, since if you did, you probably would be able to go anywhere in this city :-)

I guess my reaction to your comment came from the fact that some people do tend to take this kind of creed literally, which is what leads to that old standby the cyclist "inferiority complex". It's something that I think about frequently as a sustainablity activist - this idea that cyclists should cower at the edges of the roadways and hightail it "out of the way" when someone bigger and louder and in more of a hurry comes along. It drives me crazy as a cyclist who really wants the world to understand that human powered vehicles are one of the best forms of transportation we humans have come up with so far, and the world would be so much better off (happier and healthier) if we promoted HPVs as at least equal to the alternatives. And that's why I was inclined to take advantage of the opening your comment created to make sure that no one was taking it as an indication that bicyclists should literally yield to buses at all times.

So, I'm sorry if my comment upset you, it was most certainly not mean to. And I do know that you are a cyclist, and I'm very happy that you've discovered the wonders of HPVs:-) I also know that when someone is on a mission (to help the world see all the amazing things that are out there, such as super efficient and socially and environmentally friendly vehicles like bikes) they tend to get a little more enthusiastic for some people's comfort levels. I'm prbably guilty of that here with you :-) If so, I'm definitely sorry about it.

Re: Full disclosure?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Make that:

And I did think it was funny, but I wanted to make the point to others that your creed is not something to take literally, since if you did, you probably wouldn't be able to go anywhere in this city :-)

Ramp

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

I'm of the virtual architecture/urban improvement ilk (as a way to highlight an issue or present an alternative solution to some actual urban "improvement" - like that horrid eyesore of a zebra "park" in Porter)

So... I propose... an elevated ramp - from the end of the bikepath by Brooks, over the Square, to the park behind the Somerville Theater. It needn't be a complete ramp - just the starting and edning bits - and then we sit outside JP Licks eating ice cream and watch as people try to make the jump on their bikes.

Could be cool...;-)

Re: Ramp

[xxv.livejournal.com]

So... what velocity and ramp angle would be required to clear the square? And how many rockets would that require to get a standard mountain bike and rider to achieve such?

Obviously these issues must be addressed...

Re: Ramp

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

well, we build an approach to the ramp that reaches 100 feet or so so they have some height. The ramp will also have to be really narrow - like 8 inches or so - so it's not an eyesore. Would be like the St. Louis arch - but with a gap in the middle... think of the postcard opportunities! ;-)

[elements.livejournal.com]

I think it's a great idea. Singposts like the ones you linked wouldn't be very obtrusive, and it would be a way of making both our bikeway and our city friendlier to visitors and to new residents. That spot on the map is pretty much equidistant from Davis and from Porter, and it's a shame if folks who pass that way regularly as newbies to the neighborhood don't know and so can't take advantage of it.

As an interesting historical FYI, I learned recently that at one time, the stretch of Highland Rd between Kidder and Morrison was a park (not houses), or at least was meant to be such, and the bikeway right where your marker is was once the main train station (back when the bikeway was the old regional railroad track). I'd be sort of interested in some kind of historical marker in that spot for that reason, which could be combined somehow with putting up directional markers. I like the idea of an annotated city. It makes the place live just a little more.

Evidently, btw, the former-park issue is why the roadway on Highland is wider than on the other streets it parallels in the neighborhood, and is why Highland has a strip of green between the sidewalks and the street while none of the other streets in the immediate area have room for one.

Re someone to approach with the idea, how about our lovely alderperson, Rebeka Gewirtz?

- a Ball Sq area neighbor

[ron_newman]

I'm not sure the story about the park is correct, but Lexington Playground was indeed the site of a railroad station, called Somerville Highlands. Passenger service ended in 1926, but freight trains continued to use the line until about 1979. Thats' when the Red Line extension project disconnected it from the Fitchburg Line at what is now Alewife Station.

When Somerville Highlands station was dismantled, its bricks or stones were reassembled into the Field House at Powder House Park.

[elements.livejournal.com]

When I was told the story, I wasn't sure (and as it was a pedeconversation and quickly turned to many other things didn't end up asking for clarification) whether the park ever actually happened, or whether that had just been the initial plan, accounting for why the street space is wider.

A quick Zillow search of a friend's address on that stretch of Highland Rd. seems to refute the idea that the park actually happened - her house was built in 1900, and mine a few streets over was actually built a few years later.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Ron, that's fascinating about the Field House. No wonder it's so beautifully constructed. Do you know anything about it's current use? It looks like it could be the world's nicest community meeting space but I have never seen a soul inside.

And regarding signs, I say the more the better. I've lived in the Davis area for a cumulative total of about about a decade, and I still hardly know the street names, much less all the secret pedestrian paths, and I'm definitely an urban explorer. There seems to be an unhealthy aversion to clearly marked streets around here.

[ron_newman]

Some past uses of the Field House include city-sponsored youth activities, the Traffic & Parking department, and (during the Vietnam War) the local Draft Board.

[ron_newman]

I asked Rebekah Gewirtz yesterday about the Field House. She said that community groups who want to use it should book it through the Mayor's office.