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A region in gridlock
By adamg on Thu, 01/29/2015 - 4:13pm
Gridlock at Boylston/Charles/Tremont. Photo by Guglielmo.
Traffic reporter Scott Eck is calling this a chaotic afternoon, with drivers on many local roads just not moving.
One of the worst is Memorial Drive, which is at a complete standstill. Where, specifically? Pretty much from one end to the other.
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Comments
McGrath was a mess this morning
It took 45 minutes on my 88 bus to get from Somerville Ave and McGrath to Lechmere this morning! What the heck is going on today!
The whole city is a mess. I
The whole city is a mess. I got a ride downtown from Fort Hill, Roxbury this morning. It took an hour and 30 minutes leaving at 7:45am!
So glad I chose a neighborhood
So glad I chose a neighborhood with a commuter rail station. I have a short walk on both ends.
Is anyone talking about the wisdom of the decision to shutdown public trans? Seems to me that keeping it running avoids a ton of problems.
No Relief on the T
There's no relief from the insanity on the T today. The Orange Line is already running what they call "minor delays" due to a switch problem at Wellington. I'm at State and haven't seen a train in 15 minutes. And it's not even 4:30!
http://www.sigalert.com/Map
http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?region=Boston
I don't really see any more red on the map than usual.
that shows nothing on the
that shows nothing on the roads that are backed up. Lots of Comm Ave is one lane both directions with cars parked in the right lane. Same with Brighton Ave in Allston. Bumper to bumper all the way from Kenmore to Union Square. Lots of other pseudo-arteries/local streets seem to be similarly backed up. Friend who walked to work in Brookline at 10:15 AM said all the neighborhood streets were similarly bumper to bumper at a time when you normally just see a few cars cruise by.
Hey everybody!
Let's expand the population without expanding the capacity for traffic...and keep compelling everybody to work at the same times every day!
Not the cause of today's traffic
So come down off your soap box.
Most roads downtown are not cleared. State Street is down to one lane. Everything is backed up. I'm sure its the same around the rest of the city.
Well, gee, Sherlock
If a road that's usually two lanes and can't handle the traffic is down to one lane, what should we do about that? Sit on our laurels and wait for government (which actually does an impossible job in removing snow quite well) to fix a real problem? Or ask the private sector to work on a solution?
State Street is in the Financial District. Was it really essential for every single person who went to work in those buildings today to go and work in those buildings and then all stop at 4 or 5 PM? Nobody in 2015 in those buildings has a job function that can be performed from home?
We already tore down the elevated highway...
Where do you propose adding more roads?
Show me the money...
I don't propose adding more roads
That's the point. Boston is tiny and can only accommodate so many people moving through a space at one time.
I'm realistic about public policy. Cars, like guns, will be pried from peoples' cold, dead hands, especially since the T just doesn't work on cold days. So the only other way to make traffic better is to reduce it.
If you think driving into
If you think driving into downtown for work is a good idea then you deserve to sit in traffic for hours. Who would think that streets designed hundreds of years ago for cows would not be able to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people all leaving work at the same time! Now add in snow.
Cow story is bullshit. It is
Cow story is bullshit. It is a local yarn. But the streets in our old and most quaint areas are meandering and lovely. But made for people walking not cars.
Expand the population?
Peak Boston population was >800,000 people in 1950.
The roads are better now and the road network is expanded more now than it was then.
Seems like the problem is ...
Suburbs
There, I finished your sentence.
You two make a good team.
People who live in many parts of the city do not need cars to get around in the city.
People who commute from Swellesly, Weston, Canton, Norwell, Marshfield, Andover, Wilmington, Salem, Lowell, Sudbury, Concord, Worcester, Nashua and have budgets for executive priced parking, drive.
Hey Kaz, you hear anyone complain about how drivers in Boston are causing a public safety crisis today?
The population of METRO Boston has if course expanded
and the population of Greater Boston never decreases, there's always a net increase, same with the state as a whole. And most of that increase is in eastern MA, Greater Boston. Boston's population itself has once again been expanding for some time now, and is now at 650,000. And it will continue to grow.
Also, bear in mind, Boston is the 3rd most densely populated big city in the US, after NYC and S.F. And MA is the 3rd most densely populated state in the US, after N.J. and R.I. Finally, there were far fewer vehicles on the roads when the city's population was 800,000 in the 1950s.
OLYMPIC QUALITY
THIS IS OLYMPIC QUALITY TRAFFIC.
Quick let's snap some pictures for the IOC..
When you socialize the costs of driving...
Via a federal gas tax that hasn't changed since 1993, free residential parking on city streets, zoning laws with parking minimums for new homes and businesses, property taxes that pay to plow streets but not sidewalks...
You end up with streets that are over their limit on a normal day, and are absolute mayhem anytime snow/heavy rain/major sports events/back-to-school happens.
the city of Boston took 3 days to cleanup after a 2' snow storm
The city of Boston took 3 days to cleanup after a 2' snow storm and look at the result.
Instead of expanding capacity
Instead of expanding capacity for traffic, let's expand and improve public transportation so people won't need to drive everywhere.
Downtown is Gridlock...
As of a couple hours ago, no one was moving anywhere downtown (near the common). There is something in the air (car horns) that gives me the impression that everyone is quite frustrated. The environment really feeds upon itself, absolutely no one gives a @#$% at blocking any intersection to cross traffic.
Just a really bad aura really, I certainly "felt" it just walking around this afternoon.
It is really pretty disastrous for just about anyone who uses the road, including buses. Snapped this at Washington @ Northampton this morning, check out the SL4/5 right of way (how do I link this properly?): http://i.imgur.com/wOgPU97.jpg
So much for "BRT" :(
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Frustration
I noticed the vibe tonight, too, but on the red line (experiencing "moderate delays" due to a disabled train at [mumbley] - we red liners cashed in the day's patience with T snafus when it all imploded this morning) and with pedestrians. I feel like the snow's constricted movements on all levels and so everyone feels like everyone else is in their goddamn way (which is true) and is getting snarly. I prescribe hot toddies/cocoas all 'round.
Shouldn't have lifted the parking ban
At least not on the main roads and major intersections. There needs to be a better policy that favors clearing our roads and sidewalks properly before we let people park their private vehicles on public roads again.
Comm Ave was practically a parking lot this morning. The road was cleared due to the amazing work of the plows for both car lanes and the bike lane, but cars "parked" in the bike lane couldn't fit there, so now they are parked partially in the right lane.
So really what should be 2 lanes for cars and some buffer zone turns into 1 lane and everybody loses.
Car drivers park in bike
Car drivers park in bike lanes no matter the weather or time of day. Can't say I feel bad for any driver stuck in traffic.
Buses
Buses are driven by drivers. And the No. 1s were stuck right beside everyone else > 1.5 hours from Back Bay to H. Sq, half of it on foot is unshoveled slush
Beacon St
Is the same way (Arlington-Mass Ave), what was 3 travel lanes with parallel parking on either side, now has snow in both parking lanes, so people are parking their cars in the left and right travel lanes, I'd hate to be traveling in an ambulance trying to get to a hospital with cars parked in the travel lanes.
You're absolutely right!
The parking ban was lifted way too prematurely. I always thought the point of the ban is to allow for complete, efficient snow removal. Just taking nice, wide Westland Avenue as an example, car owners did a great job getting off the street for the storm, the plows did a nice job clearing a travel lane each way, and building managers did a GREAT job of clearing sidewalks (except the brand new condo building, of course, who couldn't be bothered -- but that's another story).
But when things settled down Wednesday, there was no snow removal via backhoes and dump trucks, and snow continued to fill one lane on each side of the street. Then City Hall lifted the parking ban, and voila -- all the cars were back, parking up against the snowbanks, not the curbside. If the drivers wanted to park, they should have to shovel out spots up to the curb, Basically they're parking in the middle of the street and getting away with it. I saw no evidence of parking enforcement, ticketing, etc.
And speaking of which, I had to spend about 2.5 hours in Ubers on Thursday making deliveries for work, from Brighton to Beacon Hill to Government Center to the airport, in two separate trips, one mid-afternoon and one around 8-9 PM. As others have reported, traffic was godawful everywhere. But interestingly, I saw only one traffic cop the entire day, and that was at Leverett Circle.
Now, it was a big storm, and it's only been a few days. Plus, I'm inclined to give public works and law enforcement the benefit of the doubt, and I'm still on the (relatively) new mayor's side. But I'd have to say the response has been pretty bad, and with another storm brewing for Monday, I hope they get their act together quick.
WTF! Not again.
The ninety minutes I spent in my car this morning trying to drive 13 miles had me wishing for the reinstatement of the travel ban.
The T
Makes the T look attractive :)
Took me all of 25 minutes to get home this afternoon vs the over an hour this morning. Of course I skipped the 116/117 mess up meridian and just took the 112 from Wood Island. Was worth waiting the extra few minutes rather than deal with the crowd of angry people at Maverick.
But the ambulences
I can't believe the city made this destructive decision. When they decided to lift the parking ban they should have thought about all the ambulances that are now not going to get to the hospitals. This is irresponsible and should be condemned.
Actual engineers design with safety margins
Urban traffic engineers, not so much. They remove travel lanes for wider sidewalks, bike lanes, and "parklets" with zero margin for events like snow, public events, water main failures, breakdowns, "routine" police stops etc.
So, anytime all is not perfect, we get outcomes like those today. That's why transportation like actual fields of engineering needs to be designed with surplus capacity or strength and alternate routes to cover for less than ideal conditions.
Why?
OK, so you think we should design roads for the worst-case situations we get 3-4 days a year at the expense of making the city far less enjoyable for it's residents on the other 360 days a year?
I will fully agree with you that banning on-street parking for 1-2 weeks after a storm would go a long way to solving these problems.
Of course! All the traffic
Of course! All the traffic gridlock was caused by those numerous, pesky bike lanes (pretty sure they were all used for dumping snow and/or parking cars today), parklets (can you even name the location of one parklet in Boston?), and ultra-wide sidewalks (these were also used for dumping all the snow from the car lanes, and are now extra narrow if they're cleared at all). It couldn't have possible been caused by too many cars.
Maybe those engineers should start tearing down more buildings and paving over parks so we can widen the streets a bit more. That would never, ever result in more cars coming into the city to fill up the new lanes.
If a chemical engineer
If a chemical engineer designs a chemical reactor is expected to run at 100 psi, I can design it to withstand 200 psi, the reaction won't magically start running at higher pressure. If a structural engineer designs a water tower's tank to hold 100 gallons and the structure holding it up to hold 200 gallons, the tank won't magically increase in volume as compensation.
If expected traffic on a road is 100 cars/hour, but I design for 200 cars/hour, more than 100 cars/hour will show up. Traffic is inherently different from other engineering in that it can adapt to over engineering. A wider road means more people will use that road as it will be faster than the alternatives. Even if you disagree with the idea of induced demand, surely it is evident that if a route takes 10 minutes to take one road and 20 on another, people will shift routes until they take equal time. And suddenly, both roads will become gridlocked when lanes are blocked due to snow.
then the answer is simple
Either prevent more cars than will fit on the roads from entering the roads or simply ban cars from roads which were designed for streetcars, pedestrians, cyclists, and horses/horse drawn equipment.
There's your safety margin consistent with design.
Simple, but not what's done!
Cambridge engineers crippled Concord Ave on the Belmont side from the rotary on Fresh Pond Parkway in order to create a little used bike track (minuscule compared to vehicular traffic).
They Made Concord Ave TWO lanes entering the rotary and ONE lane exiting the rotary. To further enhance the likelihood of gridlock, they placed a quick changing pedestrian crossing on Concord near the rotary to back it up so no traffic flows in any direction seconds after a pedestrian starts crossing.
So, submit your idea to the idiots at the Cambridge Planning department. They don't comprehend deadlock conditions.
Have you ever tried to cross
Have you ever tried to cross the street there?? That signal is absolutely necessary. I don't care if you have to wait a minute so that I don't die.
Mister Mayor !! A lot more snow needs to be removed
Even with no school, the traffic clusterfxxx today is really simple to understand. The City of Boston is not even close to being finished with snow removal. In Dorchester/South Boston, 2 lanes are down to 1, 2 way streets like Parkman are down to 1 way, whoever is more aggressive. Old Colony, Columbia, Morrissey, all have reduced lanes and everywhere you go, its a freaking disaster. In about 30 minutes of driving I saw only 2 front loaders moving snow, and only 1 intersection marked with no parking signs in the snow banks for snow removal. Wherever there is a normally a turning lane next to a travel lane, there is only one lane, so twice the traffic backing up.
It took me 4 friggin light cycles to get from the traffic lights at Park and Geneva through the intersection of Park and Dot Ave. That never happens.
Mayor Marty, we're not even close to normal, not to mention the unusable sidewalks, and the snow mountains blocking the view.
I purposely did an 11-7 shift
I purposely did an 11-7 shift today. Still took me 45 minutes to go the 3.5 miles from home to work.
That's the spirit!
What's your line of work? Thank you for trying to stagger your work hours. That's good for society, and tenable in a city of this size.
Charles circle
There was a state cop there when I walked through around 10 this morning.
Still only one lane where there is normally two.
https://twitter.com/MassStatePolice/status/560922385378185217
Doesn't hurt too much that there is only one lane as Cambridge St is effectively only one lane through Garden St. Or a least this morning.
My favorite part of tonight
My favorite part of tonight was the fact the train gate on Cambridge Street in Cambridge, near Cardinal Mederos, is stuck down with police routing traffic single file between the gates.
Good Gravy!!!
At 5:30pm I waited in DTX for the #7 outbound, normally during rush hour they come about every 3-4 minutes. After waiting for 1/2 hr I gave up, and took the Redline to So. Station. Then I walked 20 min down Summer St, without a single #7 to be seen.
Biking through this at 6:30 pm wasn't much fun
My trip was from Davis Square to the Paramount theatre in downtown Boston, something I usually would budget about 25 minutes for. I'm glad I gave myself 45 minutes thsis time around. Once I got past Lechmere, a lot of the time I was having to ride cautiously between lanes of traffic, or just over the center line, or briefly onto and off sidewalks.
It was a real clusterf**k all around yesterday!
The traffic in Boston is bad enough on normal days, particularly at rush hour, but yesterday took the cake. I left home at exactly 11 a. m., getting to my noontime dentist appointment in Coolidge Corner not a moment too soon...just in the nick of time. I did some shopping on the way home...didn't get home til nearly 4 o'clock, thanks to unusually slowed and stalled traffic.
I took the MBTA to my evening class last night, and was glad I did, for the streets looked like parking lots, plus Cambridge, as usual, had lousy plowing (snow removal). I was a little late for my class, due to slowness of the MBTA, but none the worse for wear.