Bike lanes to nowhere on rebuilt West Roxbury bridge could one day lead to bike lanes on West Roxbury Parkway

studies show are a complete waste of money. We might as well start installing wheelchair lanes.

Future proofing infrastructure is something we should do more of here. Rather that repairing a road then shutting it down again to make bike and pedestrian improvements, which we have seen several times in the region, it makes a lot more sense to do it all as a single project, by integrating pedestrian and bicycle improvements into repairs.

This is how the Dutch built out such an impressive bike network, by making continual improvements to their bicycle infrastructure an integral part of standard roadwork. It also saves money in the long run as it reduces redundant work, saves labor time (particularly in redundant start up and shit down time), and results in fewer disruptions. This is also nominally the standard in MA since the publication of the “Separated Bike Lane Planning & Design Guide” in 2015, although unfortunately it seems to often not be practiced. Good that at least this part of it seems likely to be actually implemented here.

The “bike lanes to nowhere” framing is misleading though, even given the existing infrastructure. There are (unprotected) bike lanes on Belgrade ave leading right up to the bridge. There are also (unprotected) bike lanes on Centre street on north eastern side of the rotary. This bridge would provide connections between these two existing lanes. Likewise the paths along the west Roxbury parkway north of the rotary aren’t explicitly for bikes but they are fairly regularly used by people on bikes and people in that direction would also benefit from improved connections to roslindale square that this bridge would enable.

The only issue I see here is that from the diagram it looks like they are “buffering” the lanes with some striped paint rather than a curb or other physical barriers, which is against both global best practice and the nominal the standard in MA. In the context of rebuilding a bridge from scratch there is really no excuse for the minimal cost cutting that would entail. What is the point of implementing high standards if they aren’t going to be actually practiced?

The proposed bike lanes actually connect the existing lanes on Centre St east of the rotary with those on Belgrade Ave. Current industry practice for bike facilities at rotaries (and roundabouts) is to end the lanes at a crosswalk or ramp at the circle periphery and bring cyclists onto the sidewalk to circulate. This project would 'bridge' the bike network gap that exists today, though as I think many will point out, the practice of sending people on bikes onto a regular sidewalk is not much of a bike "facility". The roundabout at UMass Boston is a newer example of this, though here in W Roxbury we're just talking about one approach roadway.

Drivers in West Roxbury are insane. Trust me. Stand at any major intersection for two light cycles between 5 and 7 pm and you'll see more cars run red lights than anywhere else in the city. Fix that before encouraging cyclists into the area.

Centre Street road diet and bike lanes need to be in the Wu administration's budget this year. No more kowtowing to an aggressively vocal minority screaming about bike lanes and communism.