DCR crews last night began two weeks of overnight road restriping to add what is supposed to be a temporary second car lane between Murray Circle - the big rotary at one end of the Arboretum - and the main entrance to the Arnold Arboretum, about 500 feet south, as work continues to map out more permanent fixes to the Arborway that include permanent bicycle paths and safer pedestrian crossings. Read more.
The family of Michael Wojdag of Hanson, who died on I-93 in Braintree on Feb. 19 after his SUV rolled over and he was ejected last week sued Hedweens Quetant of Roslindale, whom they caused the crash while racing another driver. Read more.
We're the state that once led the nation in driving around in circles, but now NBC News reports years of removing rotaries have left us trailing other states - which see the pi-based intersections as ways to speed traffic and even make it safer, if you can believe it. Why, Oxford, MS alone has added 21 rotaries in the last six years.
Joe Kidston looked out his window overlooking Soldiers Field Road this morning to see somebody in an SUV zooming along the Paul Dudley White path, which, last we checked, was just meant for pedestrians and bicyclists. Read more.
How do you charge a Volvo XC-90? Very slowly with an extension cord.
An upset citizen files a 311 complaint about the way one Jamaica Plain resident has taken to recharging a Volvo by way of an extension cord out from the house and across the sidewalk: Read more.
Some 20 to 30 feet of a retaining wall behind 121 Tremont St. in Oak Square in Brighton gave way around 8:45 p.m. after a tree fell on it, leading to a mudslide that partially buried two or three cars in the building's parking lot. Nobody inside the cars, at least.
RadRebe was among those jammed on Storrow Drive when an 18-wheeler driver somehow missed those "CARS ONLY" signs and got on Storrow Drive outbound around 6:30 a.m. - and then had to make a long, slow backup of shame after stopping just before shearing off the top of his cab at a pedestrian bridge. Read more.
Proposed bollards on Boylston Street.
The Apple Store, 815 Boylston St. goes before the Back Bay Architectural Commission tomorrow for a review of its plans for bollards in the sidewalk out front to ward off the sort of crash that killed one and injured nearly two dozen at the Apple Store in Hingham last year. Read more.
Flooded Newbury Street, photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department reported at 9:35 p.m. that a water main burst at 337 Newbury St, between Mass. Ave. and Hereford Street and was sending water all the way down to Gloucester Street. Read more.
A South Hadley man last week filed what he hopes will be a class action against Mapfre USA over the way hackers obtained personal information for Massachusetts drivers from its get-a-quote Web site. Read more.
Incipient Lake Maverick.
A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the sinkole of unusual size forming at Maverick and Orleans streets in East Boston: Read more.
NBC Boston shows us a good solid storrowing on Soldiers Field Road at the Western Avenue bridge this morning: 18 wheeler? Check. Trailer completely destroyed? Check. Driver about to be in a spot of trouble back at the warehouse? Oh, you know it. Only thing separating it from perfection: No cargo spewed all over the road.
Remains of the vehicle. Photo by TPD.
Transit Police report that a woman in an MBTA Ride had to be hospitalized after a harrowing ride from Woburn to downtown Boston behind a guy who had jumped into the vehicle and sped off, around 3:30 p.m. Read more.
Cornelia Vrel shows us the flaming car on Cambridge Street in Allston, on the bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike ramps, around 2:15 p.m., moments before the first Boston firetruck arrived.
The Globe yesterday ran this headline: Self-driving cars are booming in San Francisco. Is it really a loss for Boston?
Betteridge's Law holds: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word No." Read more.
Smoke-belching manhole. Photo by Matty Wags.
Cambridge Police report a manhole exploded on Brattle Street in Harvard Square around 8:34 a.m. No injuries, but "Harvard Square is closed to vehicle traffic, and pedestrian traffic is restricted" and, really, police would prefer if you avoided the square altogether, even if you are parents moving your kid into a Harvard dorm. Read more.
Photo of new signs going up by DCR.
DCR announced yesterday it's replacing the dark CARS ONLY signs at ramps to Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive with glaring yellow in-your-face CARS ONLY signs. Read more.
Officials report a 57-year-old man on a bicycle died after he was hit by a UPS truck whose driver was coming the other way and making a left turn from Watertown Street onto Bridge Street in Nonantum around 5:20 p.m. on Monday. Read more.
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