Permanent thermoplastic bike lanes will be installed this summer on Cross and N. Washington Streets, connecting Atlantic Avenue at Christopher Columbus Park to the Charlestown Bridge.
Boston Bikes representative, Kim Foltz, from the City’s bike program presented with Jessica Mortell, Toole Design Group, to provide a general update on neighborhood bicycling as well as results from a safety study in preparation for a formal bike lane on North Washington Street. The July 9, 2015 video shows the presentation from North End / Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA). A similar presentation was provided on July 13th at North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC).
(00:00 in video) Boston Bikes General Update – From nearly no bike infrastructure 2007, Boston now has over 350 miles of bike lanes throughout the city.
(06:00) North Washington Bike Lane Safety Study (including Cross Street) – In Fall 2014, a temporary bike lane was painted on N. Washington and Cross Streets to evaluate safety on the busy traffic corridor. Before and after data results are presented in the video.
The temporary N. Washington Street bike lane studied showed a 27% increase in bike ridership, a 46% decrease in sidewalk riding, an 18% decrease in door zone riding and little change in wrong-way riding before and after. With more bicyclists on the road, there was also an increase in bicyclists running red lights from 21% to 24% according to the data collected during the study. Engineers also reported an increase in the illegal behaviors of vehicles, most notably illegal u-turns. Despite buses and other vehicles crossing into the bike lane, engineers observed limited conflicts when bicyclists were present in the bike lane.
(18:00) Question and comments on the bike study included a focus on sidewalk riding, traffic safety issues and how to encourage bicyclists to adhere to the rules of the road.
In an upcoming post/video, details of the plan for the imminent 2015 installation of Commercial Street’s cycle track will be covered.
