New bus and bike lanes coming to Broadway in Somerville

On September 4, 2019, in Latest News, by The Somerville Times

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Somerville’s new bus lanes projected to shorten more than 8,000 bus trips per day, Winter Hill in Motion Project also features separated bike lanes for cyclist safety

As part of the City of Somerville’s Winter Hill in Motion project, new dedicated bus lanes, separated bike lanes, and more mobility upgrades are coming to Broadway. Work has already begun to install bright red “Bus Only” lanes along both sides of Broadway between McGrath Highway and Main Street, one of the city’s most congested commuting corridors. These dedicated travel lanes will enable the MBTA to provide more efficient, reliable bus service on routes 89 and 101, which support approximately 8,000 boardings per day. Passengers could save up to 5 minutes per ride and see more buses coming on schedule.

Somerville already has one dedicated bus lane running northbound on Prospect Street, but the lanes on Broadway will be the first in the city to serve both directions of traffic on the same road.

In addition to bus lanes, the Winter Hill in Motion plan will install dedicated bike facilities, including a parking-protected lane, retimed traffic signals to better meet the needs of motorists and pedestrians, transit signal priority technology to move buses through intersections more efficiently, and new signage and pavement markings.

Broadway figures prominently in the daily lives of many in Somerville: In the heart of the Winter Hill neighborhood, it’s the second-most traveled street in the city and home to many local businesses and civic spaces. With the diverse needs of all users in mind, this project will improve safety and ease travel along the corridor between Magoun Square and McGrath Highway. These changes to Broadway will also expand and improve equitable low-carbon transit options for Somerville residents, advancing the city’s SomerVisionClimate Forward, and Vision Zero goals.

“If we’re serious about shifting mobility away from car trips, it’s our responsibility to make taking transit, biking, or walking the convenient and safe choice,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. “Improvements like dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian-friendly signal timing will help make Broadway – which is a very car-centric corridor – more welcoming to other modes of transportation.”

The new pavement markings, additional signage, and retimed traffic signals will be installed over the course of the coming weeks. The red bus lanes in particular involve a time-consuming application process to create a durable surface, and installation will proceed over three to four weeks along the corridor.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is expected to be held later this year. For more information about the project, please visit SomervilleMA.gov/WinterHillMotion.

— City of Somerville

 

35 Responses to “New bus and bike lanes coming to Broadway in Somerville”

  1. Old Taxpayer says:

    An absolute joke. Take something that has never been a problem and turn it into a disaster. Waste of money, man hours and no sense of an common sense used in this design. I have watched a similar design by the Star in Cambridge go from cars all over the place trying to figure out this mess to now where it is just totally ignored. More traffic and pollution to ensue now that we have added many more cars on the road in this city and many more to come with all the new apartments being added. Is anyone doing drug testing here any more??? Obviously not.

  2. Curtis says:

    Kudos to the improved double parking lanes! Much wider and better marked than the skinny ones on east Broadway.

  3. Vanta Black says:

    Bus Nazis.

  4. Evelyn says:

    I drive my young adult to BHCC every day and cannot understand why would you play with the roadway. It is now a mess and you have added more time to my travel. Route 93 is usually a mess when we come done at 7:00 am for the classes at 8:00 am and it was totally blocked at the intersection of Broadway at School St. at that time yesterday and again today. What are you thinking at City Hall just another way to drive people crazy and then that is how accidents do happen! They almost had one today as a car from School St., decided to cut off a bus!!! No accident as the Bus driver was stopped. I was in the correct lane and saw it and could not believe this!!!

  5. Ritepride says:

    Also new Bus/Bike lanes opened on Powder House Blvd. The more ideas of the Central (new generation “Winter”) Hill gang makes one wonder when the city will have an area called Red Square. Seeing the tall walls being built by the GLE, it will be Somerville’s version of the Great Wall. Monday watched traffic on PHB. Which formerly was a 2 lane road w/2 parking lanes, now being operated as a 1 lane road w/1 parking lane created for the Bus/Bike lanes.
    Ah….! But the Bike Brigade were operatng their bikes not in the lanes that they had city waste tens of thousands+++ to create. They were driving on
    The sidewalks that the children use to go to & from the W. Somerville Community School. The elected officials are responsible for these problems. Make sure toremember this on election day.

  6. Old Taxpayer says:

    That has been a disaster spot for a while now. All of Broadway gets cut off because of School street and Temple Street. Plus as we have been adding more cars to this city it is getting so much worse now. And aggressive driving is getting way worse also. Add this to the mix in that area and don’t expect a miracle that things all of a sudden are going to be nice. The normal thing in my 70 plus years here is every time this city helps the traffic situation it just gets worse. So if you think it is bad now just wait.

  7. Villenous says:

    I remember when a handful of people yowled like wet cats over Broadway in East Somerville going down to one lane in each direction. Turned out to be no big deal. This will too. Unless you’re riding the bus and you’re getting through more quickly or riding a bike and you’re a whole lot safer.

  8. Jim G. says:

    It seems to me that this should work out pretty well. I say let’s give it a chance, not that we could actually stop it, but you know what I mean.

  9. Andrew Fitzgerald says:

    This is insanity! Since when was there a problem with Broadway? NEVER..Buses come by every half hour and cars are on Broadway every minute of every day… I will not be abiding by this sheer lunacy. Come find me Mayor.

  10. DatGruntled says:

    Turning left off the side streets coming up from Medford street is going to be fun.

    You can stop and look for pedestrians and bikes, but since you cannot see the cars that far back you will be blocking the bike lane while you wait for it to be safe to pull out into traffic. How many reports of bicyclists striking cars in anger would you bet on?

  11. Ralph Kramden says:

    This administration continues it’s blatant unmitigated assault on the working-class taxpayer. Nothing like creating a solution for a problem that didn’t exist in the first place. Fed up? Remember to head to the polls at election time and let your votes do the talking.

  12. Jim G. says:

    Heh-heh. Not happy with the administration? Be sure to check out who’s running against Joe this time. Another Our Revolution cookie cutter super-duper progressive tax-bot. Be careful what you wish for.

  13. Biff says:

    You know, I’ll hold my liberal credentials up to anybody’s. I support single payer health care, any form of immigrant, anybody sleeping with anybody, taxes for all sorts of things, etc. – I bike when I can and drive when I must, and I’ve gotta ask: who the hell comes up with this shit? It’s stuff like this that gets people like Trump elected. If this is the “new” face of city government then maybe we need to give a fresh look at some stale politicians – at least they had a modicum of common sense.

    I get it, folks: biking is good, and so is mass transit. But there’s also reality at play with this stretch of road (and others). Greenwashing Broadway may help relieve pent up angst about global issues, but at the end of the day it’s screwing a whole lot of people, creating even more backed up traffic (carbon emissions anyone?) to solve a problem that really wasn’t that bad to begin with (getting up Broadway by bike).

    Powderhouse Blvd makes little sense either. Wasn’t such a tough road to bike, on my list. The new lane markings are insane as a driver: if you actually abide with them (which I’d suggest nobody do, unless you’re passing a bike), it places cars about 2′ from anyone exiting the driver’s side of a parked car (kids, for example), and head-on crash risk with the slightest error. At the very least reduce the width of the bike lane.

    I think everyone is so afraid to be branded “anti-bike”, and in this binary climate, “pro-trump” by extension that nobody within local government dares second guess these decisions.

  14. Yet another poster says:

    Yeah Jim, the non-Joe options this time are either the Our Revolution plant (seen her video? Yikes!) or the whacko right winger nutjob guy (platform= get tufts to magically make our taxes go down, and kick out the illegals). I look forward to more Joe.

  15. Villenous says:

    I just watched that Walles candidate video. It’s stunning. Just a hard no to that. What were they thinking?

  16. Driver says:

    What perhaps defies the most logic is that the vast majority of vehicles and people that travel through this area are cars and not buses, and that the capacity for car travel is being cut in half! By the city’s own data which was collected (but must not have analyzed), “Broadway Morning Rush Hour Counts by Travel Mode” – 1,488 cars transport 1,548 people, while 25 buses transport 544 people. Link to study: https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/Winter%20Hill%20in%20Motion%20Bus%20Data.pdf

    The study goes on to find that bus riders can have their travel times reduced by 1-5 minutes….. but no mention of how much increased travel time most people (drivers) would see or even further net number of minutes/hours/days/eons the cumulative travel time would actually be increased accounting for # of people transported by bus vs # of people transported by cars. This is completely unbelievable, is it too late to go back and undo all of this?

  17. Old Taxpayer says:

    They won’t driver. The School Street, Temple Street is now worse causing more delays. Many are now just ignoring the whole thing. Others are trying to cut over once they figure out where they should be. More people are cutting through the side streets which have sign on them that they can’t do that at rush hour traffic. I would expect air quality to go down. Also at the time of year once we get into snow and salt no one will even know the lines are. Do these designers get random drug tests?

  18. MacGyvers says:

    Broadyway/Temple St/McGrath Highway has become a total nightmare. Traffic in the morning is backed up due to one lane from Magoun Square all the way up to the intersection of Broadway/McGrath highway. Drivers are totally confused. We are all stuck behind drivers that want to turn left and can’t go around anymore. They took a non-problem and made it a nightmare x 1000. For what? For a bus commute to shave off one or two minutes? There are so many cars idling that it is just adding to the pollution, not helping it. Living in this city has become the worst thing to happen in my life.

  19. Old Taxpayer says:

    Yes, a really dumb idea gone bad. I think we as the taxpayers of this city should set a date and have a blackout party and each of us bring a 5 gallon bucket of black paint and fix the problem ourselves. We need to fix this problem now.

  20. The battle of car vs bus vs bike says:

    Here’s the problem. The city is so anxious to please the few at the expense of the many. I drive that stretch of Broadway at least once a day, and have yet to see a bus in that lane, or a bike for that matter. Maybe that’s because there are 2 bus routes that use that portion of Broadway, and one of them is mostly a Medford route. So many of those benefiting live in Medford, not Somerville. I noticed they haven’t eliminated the pull-in for bus stop pick ups. Why is that? Surely they’re no longer needed, let’s replace some of the parking that’s been lost in those spaces. How angry do you think drivers will be in the winter, when the bus and bike lanes are filled with snow and they are also in the car lane? Or when they sit in traffic looking at the empty bike lanes all winter, although it’s hard to see how they could be any emptier than they are now. Then they tell you not to take shortcuts through ‘residential’ streets. Last I looked Cedar Street is all residential and no one seems to care about the huge influx of traffic affecting those residents. This city has no one in City Hall with any common sense, well maybe the Custodians, but that would be it.

  21. Bob Ross says:

    Right, so not every Somerville resident who needs to be to work on time is lucky enough to have a job within walking/biking distance. The “T” is so unreliable, especially in the winter time, it’s a joke. So some of us have no other option but to drive or take Uber/Lyft. This is affecting quality of life for so many. Enough is enough.

  22. Broadway says:

    More left turn lanes would help eliminate the long back ups of people driving straight. Poor planning (again).

  23. Old Taxpayer says:

    Public transportation on Broadway is for the young at heart. I tried to use it for some doc appointments. Got to Sullivan. Got down the stairs using my cane to push away pieces of the steps. Took 4 trains to come by before I could get on as I was pushed aside each time. Coming back was worse. Steps going down to the buses were even worse. I am back to taking my suv in. BTW, I bought a small car but gave it up as it was unbearable to drive in on these streets here. The can paint idiotic paint patterns on the streets while so many are in need of repair. Is someone related to somebody in the city to get the job of painting the streets? Only reason I can think of for doing this. Like many I have seen I am driving on Broadway as I did before the painting. Once I get in the bus lane others behind my also do. Who is the IDIOT who thought this up anyway?

  24. MacGyvers says:

    So today I noticed Marshall St. was backed all the way up because drivers are trying to take the left on Pearl st. as a way to avoid having to go down all the way Broadway to turn right onto McGrath Highway. This is a total disaster. I live off Marshall. St. and I couldn’t even pull out of my freaking driveway. I have to drive to work. Took me 20 minutes to go down Marshall St., just take a left onto Pearl which was even backed up worse. What has the City done??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  25. MacGyvers says:

    Also I want to add, please send all complaints to 311updates@somervillema.gov and be sure to copy the City council at boardofaldermen@somerville.gov to voice your concerns. This is unacceptable to all drivers. We pay an excise tax. For what? To triple our commute time to work? No. Please vote them out as their re-election is coming up. Let’s take back our streets and our sanity.

  26. BMac says:

    Looks like traffic is backing up onto Temple even worse than usual now. Which I am sure will send more cars down Jaques St.

    So, expect the residents there and the connecting side streets to be screaming for traffic calming.

  27. Other resident says:

    I don’t live on winter hill, but you guys have loads of sympathy from me. Those streets were so screwed as it was – can’t imagine how the temple / broadway / school jog is now, or approaching McGrath. Unfortunately the city is more interested in greenwashing your neighborhood to make a statement than actually considering the consequences. You and your neighborhood are their pawns. I’ll at least slow way the heck down when / if I need to cut through your side streets…

  28. Old Taxpayer says:

    The expected fender benders have already started on Broadway. Expect more of this insanity. We need to file a class action suit against whoever considered this mess. It’s like April 1st early.

  29. Driver says:

    Driving to work on 9/20 there was a bad car crash on Broadway at McGrath near the Fire Station, 2 cars had somehow landed in the median. Driving home in the afternoon on Broadway near the top of the hill, 2 more cars had ran off the road and were in someone’s yard!!! I haven’t seen any reporting of these and other incidents, where is the accountability?

  30. Old Taxpayer says:

    Saw this. Great idea!

    “I think we should take the first Sunday in October and stand out in Broadway in Winter Hill at 10AM and make our voices heard.”

  31. eric says:

    This has to be the worst idea I have ever seen. Most here have touched on how stupid the bus lanes are but I wanted to touch on the disaster towards Magoun Square where I live. They have eliminated tons of parking spaces that were already hard to come by near Magoun. The parking spaces that are there are so far in the middle of the street (a street that people speed up, especially at night) that you take your life in your hands when you get out of the car. My girlfriend was trying to unpack groceries out of her car on Broadway and she was nearly hit by a speeding truck because she was so far in the middle of the street.

    All so you can protect bikers with a large bike lane and an even bigger space in between the bike lane and where the cars are parked. I have lived here for several years and have seen someone bike up this street less times than I can count on one hand. It might have something to do with the bike path that is literally right next to Broadway.

    If a pedestrian gets hit by a car because of this new setup that is the responsibility of the buffoons who thought of this idea and they should be sued accordingly.

  32. A Moore says:

    eric, notice how we don’t see any of our elected officials out saying anything about this and offering some help. All of a sudden they are quiet. Now where to be found when we need them. I am out many times a day driving around and from Trum Field to McGrath highway it definitely needs help now. I don’t know how we will find of the number of accidents so far. Those big ones yes but small ones I don’t know if that info is available. I can’t wait to see the Winter plans for this. I would expect them to be a bigger joke than this. Maybe as council people now they can hide out more. I don’t get this whole business either.

  33. Old Taxpayer says:

    Do we have any way of knowing how much time difference is now for the bus schedule compared to before? Not sure how well that may matter as I see on Cedar Street they are being delayed a lot as they can’t get by the cars in the way some people park and also those waiting for the light stopped way over the double yellow line. So the timing we would need is from Cedar and Broadway to Sullivan.

  34. MacGyvers says:

    I will be the first person to protest this nightmare the first Sunday in October at 10AM. I will be in front of the Winter hill brewery wearing a white cap. I hope there will be some other people to support this. Is this supposed to reduce CO2 emissions? I see more cars inching along spewing more CO2 in the air than ever.. Tufts performed a CO2 test in 2009 and I think this test should be repeated again in 2019. I bet the air is even worse now, not better. The council says they had nothing to do with the bus/bike lanes. They only take credit when something goes right, not horribly wrong such as Broadway now. See some of you at 10am on Oct. 6th.

  35. A Moore says:

    I have to guess as a non expert that all this NEW traffic congestion has to add to air pollution. I had to go to city hall yesterday and waited until traffic hour was over. Went from Winter Hill to city hall in a little over 30 minutes. Seriously? School and Medford Street was back up coming from both sides. School Street was also back up. I think some people are coming in from other directions to avoid the Temple Street to School Street fiasco. Just my guess. I hate to see it at traffic hour. If any city can turn a non problem into a problem this one can. I have yet to see one of our elected officials comment on this problem. See everyone Sunday October 6th