Lane shift ahead: State looking at moving, shrinking Storrow Drive under Longfellow so hospital can expand

Storrow is flooded with cars coming and going from Longwood and Fenway Park. Memorial really isn't a good alternative (I've tried many times) to Storrow - slower and more lights and crosswalks. Just as the bike path on the Boston side is better than the bike path on the Cambridge side.

90,000 cars a day use Storrow and there is nothing else that can handle the volume.

I know there are proposals to put lights on Storrow. Neighbors on surrounding streets will go nuts with the extra traffic.

Additionally the Charles River Conservancy is pushing for a lane reduction on the east end of Memorial.

Clearly if you could get cars from Longwood and Fenway on to the pike reducing the size of Storrow would be a lot easier.

Now Memorial Drive is chocked full of cars that used to be on Storrow. As would Beacon Street and Comm Ave. Of course, I don't know how people would now be getting out of the Back Bay, since Boylston Street is for some reason insane before the theoretical demise of Storrow.

I use Storrow to avoid driving through the Back Bay proper, and I won't even start on how it's basically the best way to the New Balance area of Brighton from Roslindale (yes, I could go via Cleveland Circle and Brighton Center, but that would entail having to go through Cleveland Circle and Brighton Center, which should be avoided at all costs while driving during the day.) It's a great bypass, and a mighty pretty one too boot.

Now, were ramps added to the Pike, I'd be willing to chip in $.50 a go, maybe a buck to go that way, but Storrow serves a purpose, and despite the naysayers doesn't detract from the Esplanade.

Don't bike? take the green line from north station. or from the money you would save by not driving and parking...u could do an Uber from north station.

You're full of contradictions today. So its OK not to drive, but its OK to use Uber? *confused look*

A car is a car is a car, no matter who is driving. Still uses gas. Still emits green house gasses. Still is added onto city streets.

Advocate for LESS cars on the road, and yes that includes taxis and Uber.

Don't bike? take the green line from north station.

Great ideas. This very blog is a testament to the reliability of the T, and what a bike-friendly city Boston is.

It's just not technically possible to do so. Too many buildings abut the pike to add more exits. It would be too much land taking and/or NIMBYism would totally kill it.

Storrow Drive was meant to be. It was designed to take thru traffic off of Beacon and Comm Ave and put it somewhere else that wasn't a residential neighborhood (remember Storrow pre-dates the Pike). After the pike was built, Storrow became local traffic, and the Pike is meant for thru traffic. Getting rid of Storrow would push the traffic back onto local streets, and I'm sure the residents of Comm/Beacon would have a lot to say about that...

And I use the Tobin Bridge, and even though from my door its a tad further to the Pike (via East Boston/1A), I always use the Tobin. Why? Because it's just far faster to get to points in Cambridge (MicroCenter), BackBay, and Allston. The Pike adds time to my trip.

house sees you.

I've been multiple times. Nice to ride around in, still too twee for comfort.

Regarding Storrow, I understand what you're saying, but I think there's still plenty of room for reform somewhere between the current, decrepit, 1950s-style anti-urban highway and a proper street that actually helps everyone with accessibility between Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, Fenway and the Esplanade.

I will admit a parkway (more Memorial Drive-like or SF-style Embarcadero ) would be a good replacement. but I don't support getting rid of it all together like others on here have suggested.

And yes you are correct about PR... like the Longfellow. Good communication and little traffic issues because of the lane restrictions. So yes, it does work.

(Edited to add second paragraph)

I think on this website, we don't disagree reducing lanes can actually reduce congestion. The water molecules thing is just trying to explain concepts without getting all the clauses and nuances.

That said, your examples of carmegeddon and etc is troubling to me. If you're merely trying to say that we need to factor that people will change behavior patterns in face of changes in the environment, we can get that. If you're using "Carmageddon" and Alexander Hamilton Bridge towards reducing lances will reduce congestion, we got a problem. With all the media hype, its the same thing as the traffic shutdown hype of the DNC convention.

Yes, traffic during DNC was great in that time. It doesn't mean things were better. Reducing lanes can relieve congestion, but while the cars can go away, the people does not. The person will have the same options between bike, train, bus, car, foot, and other modes. But the only thing changed is now the car option looks less enticing because driving sucks more. I'll write a clause that's not necessarily true, as people do not always pick the most "optimal" way to commute/get-around. Thus, changing a pattern may switch a person that actually be better for the person. But I'm going to argue more times than not that it's a strategy of serving less. If we are going to discuss about reducing lanes and options, we are going to have ask if we are attacking the sub-optimal users or making people lives harder.

All of that said, what this means when applying to the case of Storrow Drive is we can't just merely reduce/close stuff down without improving in equal or greater amount somewhere else. While this can easily mean adding ramps to the Pike, I'll add that it can also mean making the Green Line faster (or both). If we just merely reducing lanes without any other action, then we're just forcing people to use other modes by using vinegar rather than honey.

Edit: I want to add one thing. I argue against you because your argument against "water flow" thinking have issues to me that I must repeat every time you raise it on this site. Traffic does not flow like water, but we can't just remove lanes everywhere and dust our hands off either. In regards for Storrow aside from Pike ramps. I dream of a day Storrow can be shutdown and restored to the vision of James Storrow. It remains an enraging injustice the state did to him after his death by waiting for him and his wife to die, building it that is against his wishes during his life, and naming it after him. But I also recognize - especially in my post college years (though I think I have some understanding before) - what's needed before we can make that happen, if ever. I'm not one to toss aside 90,000 users unless we can set up something to is equivalent or better (that sentence is only in regards to a Storrow Dr Shutdown, reducing a lane not affecting on that deep of a level).