After Friday’s heavy snow, I waited patiently until this morning to get on my bike and pedal through the roads of Newton. The Upper Falls Greenway, soft and icy, was out- OK for walking but not for biking. I knew that that chief danger for me lay in passing over piles of leaves, which might be covering icy snow or a hole in the road. Many years ago my friend Bob Zeeb, a talented curriculum coordinator for the Newton Schools, died one autumn day in Cambridge after a hard fall off his bike caused by a hole obscured by leaves. Another friend broke his hip a few years ago when his bike skidded on ice similarly hidden. Believe me, I pedaled slowly and cautiously from start to finish today.
From my Waban pandemic lair I crossed Chestnut Street, headed down Fuller, turned right on Exeter, and soon joined the Commonwealth Avenue Carriage Lane heading east. Technically, the lane is one-way outbound, but in practice that holds only for automobiles. Joggers, dog walkers, strollers, and a few cyclists like me passed along in both directions, and it felt perfectly safe. Happily, not a car drove on the Carriage Lane from Exeter to Centre Street. Credit goes to those bump-outs the city installed to discourage through traffic. Remember in the Seventies when drivers would speed along the Carriage Lane to circumvent traffic jams on the main road? Things are much safer these days. Recently, the city is considering legalizing the two-way foot and pedestrian traffic on this stretch. To keep things safe, two principles should abide: the only automobile traffic should be local, one-way, and slow; and speedy cyclists should stick to the main road, not the Carriage Lane.
Have you ever wondered about that endless public works project on the median of Commonwealth Avenue near Valentine Street? Not only has it closed the Carriage Lane to westbound traffic for a block, but it forces pedestrians and cyclists briefly onto the sidewalk or main road. Its duration (two years?) reminds me of the mess on Chestnut Street between Beacon Street and Route 9. Since time immemorial stretches of Chestnut Street have been dug up and traffic diverted through the quiet adjoining streets. The work probably consists of several distinct projects, but couldn’t all of it have been done in a more coordinated and timely manner? I wonder.
A final subject passed through my mind as I cycled along this morning. I learned in the news that hundreds, perhaps thousands of Trump partisans who attended his rallies this fall have caught the Coronavirus, and dozens, perhaps even more have died as a result. At the rallies themselves, Mr. Trump usually reassures his largely maskless audience that “We have turned the corner” on the Pandemic, and that wearing masks is for losers like Joe Biden who want to spend their lives in their basements. Rather than imparting this dangerous, even fatal advice, President Trump should have considered the words of a far better president, Abraham Lincoln, who in his Second Inaugural cited Matthew when addressing the issue of slavery: “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” Need I say more?
Excepting the political thoughts, by Sunday morning the shoulders of the roads were pretty much ok for cycling (I can’t speak for paths like the Greenway). Wider treaded tires and fenders did the trick.
True road bikes on the byways and thoroughfares of Greater Boston are a recipe for disaster anytime of year but especially now, given the perils of leaves and ice that Bob mentioned. In line with Dulles’ comment about wider tires and fenders, I’m amazed at how well Bluebikes, or more specifically their Montreal analogue Bixi, stand up to ice, slush, and potholes – I’ve ridden Bixis through several Montreal snowstorms and they’re unflappable (the bikes for both systems were originally manufactured by Cycles Devinci up in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean).
I saw a bike a few days ago that really caught my attention; very heavy frame and the tires looked like they were 3 inches wide. The cyclist appeared from his pedaling and very slow speed to be using a very low gear. Anyway, I was surprised it didn’t seem to have a motor.
@Bob Jampol – you referred to making the Carriage Lane two way for pedestrians and I think you meant bikes. It is de facto two way for pedestrians and bikes who use it. Given how narrow it is, especially with the neck downs, I certainly agree that this is not the place for fast cycling. And it is imperative that bikes obey the rules of the road too. As for the proposed changes for two way cycling, people tend to forget that it is part of a state route (30). Unless this has changed over the past 23 years, the state establishes the speed limit on route 30. As a state road, I’m not persuaded that the city can just modify the one way portion and make it two way for bikes as that would conflict with state law requiring bikes to operate consistent with state traffic laws. I’ve not researched this thoroughly but … sometimes it is better not to call attention to something people do anyway.
Another thing to watch out for at this time of year if you are a very early rider: When a roadway is wet, convection currents that occur around sunrise can cause a quick freeze and create black ice. I learned that the hard way one year on South Street in Needham when I gently braked going down a hill towards an intersection and found my bike sliding horizontally toward the red traffic signal (with me still on it!) for about 30 yards. Luckily I stopped before reaching the cross street, but it was very scary.
I’ve been riding bikes for 72 years (beginning at age 8 on the streets of Jamaica, Queens, NYC, then on Long Island, in St. Louis, in Manhattan, for years in Cambridge, and then to commute between Newton and Cambridge). I still ride bikes. I also owned and rode motorcycles for years. But NEVER, EVER by choice would i ride two wheelers — bikes or motorcycles– on wet or icy roads!
The commonwealth avenue project is an MWRA valve for drinking water that needs to be upgraded to protect our tap water before a fully redundant tunnel is dug between 128 and boston
Chestnut between Rt. 9 and beacon is a city water main project that needs to be completed before repaving. It should be done by mid-November, but the paving won’t start until spring at the earliest (the trenches need time to settle, DPW tells me)
So—two agencies. The median/Carriageway work was halted at least until the paving of Comm Ave was done.
https://www.commonwealthavecarriagelane.com/@Lisap: Regarding the two-way for bikes on the Carriage Road, first, this is for the time being only certain segments. Second, it is understood that only the slower cyclists would be riding on the Carriage Road; the faster riders would have no interest in riding on the CR. For one thing, the CR will have a stop sign and stop line before every intersection for the cyclists. This will be the traffic regulation required of every rider and it will be legal and enforceable. As it stands now, there are already stop signs in the WB direction before every intersection. This is one reason of several reasons why the faster riders prefer – and will continue to prefer – Comm Ave and why many sections of Comm Ave already have a striped bike lane: Comm Ave does not have the numerous berm openings that require the drivers to stop and start and stop and start, etc. Keeping kids on the CR will protect children and others who prefer to ride at a slower pace and do not feel safe riding with traffic. It will give them a safe route to school and back home again.
Secondly, Bob, drivers stopped using the Carriage Road to bypass intersections when my husband Phil and I started working with the City to make changes; we started noticing the change immediately. These changes involved moving WB stop signs closer to intersections, and making sure that there was consistency in the stop signs. Somewhere around 15 stop signs were added to the Carriage Road for WB bicyclists at intersections that previously had no regulations and also for drivers crossing the CR heading south. We have Councilor Downs and Councilor Norton to thank for docketing (before Traffic Council) these additional stop signs over a period of two years.
You can see https://www.commonwealthavecarriagelane.com for more information.
@Jane,
I appreciate the comment but there is still an issue as to the city adopting a change to a state route which grants bikes a right they don’t have under state law. As it stands, bikes are required to proceed in the same direction as motor vehicles on a one way road. I don’t believe it was the City that established this portion of Commmonwealth Ave as one way for motorists, but I’ll happily stand corrected if that were so. Notwithstanding who established the one way status, a municipality is not privileged to make up rules and regulations that conflict with state law.
As for stop signs heading East bound that’s an excellent idea provided there are more signs showing that the road is one way west bound. Otherwise, this implies that motor vehicles may also proceed East. Someone viewing a stop sign would not unreasonably conclude that they may travel toward the stop sign unless there is a clear “do not enter” sign for vehicles.
I think you are mostly correct that fast cyclists will generally stay on the main road. Not all will and I’ve had more than a few close encounters with aggressive cyclists who ignore stop signs nor do they ride at a leisurely pace heading uphill from Bulloughs Pond. I was home and at the scene the day of a terrible bike v car collision at Commonwealth and Morton. I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. I never want to experience another day like that again.
Be well-
Yes, Jane and her husband and their group deserve all the credit for pushing the city leaders to make the Carriage Lane safe for those on foot and on bike. Passing this measure would be, perhaps, the final step in that process.