[*BCM*] How is Boston Completing its Streets? Jan 12 StreetTalk

[jb fentner]

I doubt many lengths of urban planning possible within this town will make it such that the majority of drivers will think outside of their metal boxes and be OK with sharing space with anyone other than themselves. Have y'all noticed how moody drivers have been lately? Here's an example: last week I was riding along Charles River Rd in Watertown on the way home from Belmont. For those of you who don't know this road it's pretty wide.. plenty or room for traffic, a bike lane, and basically a full lane for cars to park between the bike lane and the curb. Roughly 100 yards ahead of me there was another cyclist doing his thing. Suddenly this silver car flies past me.. then slams on the horn while passing the cyclist ahead of me. So.. more than plenty of room for, well, a g-damn elephant to dance around while traffic continued to flow freely.. and the cyclist still managed to be berated by someone with a horn. The night before the same fucking thing happened to me on Arsenal St. A giant white SUV slammed on it's horn whilst screaming past me. Was there tons of traffic? Nope. Was I as close to the side of the road as possible at that point? Yep. 

So, is anything really going to make drivers less obnoxious or pedestrians do things such as look both ways prior to crossing streets? I dunno. Probably not anytime soon.

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:16:19 -0500
From: kara at livablestreets.info
To: aaron at greenroundtable.org; lee at ace-ej.org; meira at actionma.org; chart at adaptiveenvironments.org; andrew at urbanadventours.com; arik at bikesnotbombs.org; bobterrell42 at hotmail.com; stidman at gmail.com; cdptrans at gmail.com; peerprint at yahoo.com; list at bostoncriticalmass.org; david at massbike.org; eweyant at masspirg.org; margieklein1 at gmail.com; massbike at googlegroup.com; wlandman at walkboston.org
Subject: [*BCM*] How is Boston Completing its Streets? Jan 12 StreetTalk


How is Boston Completing its Streets?
LivableStreets Alliance StreetTalkWednesday, January 12, 7-9 pm


@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge [map…]Open to the public. $5-$10 suggested donation. invite friends on Facebook here



Mayor Menino has told us, “The car is no longer king in Boston.” Is a new wave of urban planning upon us? Boston is ready to put pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users on equal footing with drivers and promote a vision of streets which are safe, attractive and conducive to healthy, active transportation. What would you do to make Boston’s streets more livable, safe and accessible? 

 In 2003, a coalition of national advocates coined the phrase "Complete Streets" as a way to better communicate the inclusion of bicycles in everyday transportation planning to government officials and the general public. Today, the movement has grown more powerful than just the accommodation of bicycles and has been adopted in more than 200 Complete Streets policies across the U.S, including Boston!

 Under leadership of Vineet Gupta, Transportation Planning Director, Boston recently embarked on the development of “Complete Streets” guidelines to equitably plan for all modes of travel including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, transit riders and persons with disabilities in the redesign and retrofit of city streets. The initiative is organized around three themes: Multimodal, Green, and Smart. Toole Design Group and Utile Inc. are on the consulting team for the city, providing national best practices to the initiative. The guidelines are expected to be completed by spring 2011.

 Would you like to participate in the public review of this new initiative? Please join us in learning about this exciting new initiative from Mr. Gupta and engaging in the discussion of what “Complete Streets” means for Boston.

 Further reading on the subject:Boston Globe, "The Future of Crossing the Street"
Vineet Gupta has led the City in the publication of Access Boston, a city-modal plan that includes Boston’s first bicycle plan, was active in the street designs along the Greenway, formalized pollution-reducing parking polices, installed bus-priority lanes and designed the streets and sidewalks along the Greenway. His work is driven by a commitment to public process involving environmental advocates, neighborhood residents and businesses, and public agencies.
Questions regarding the StreetTalk? E-mail kara at livablestreets.info or call 860-877-3748
-- 

Kara ObergI Event Coordinator Intern
LivableStreets Alliance I Rethinking Urban Transportation
860.877.3748
kara at livablestreets.info
www.livablestreets.info



_______________________________________________
Boston Critical Mass mailing list
list at bostoncriticalmass.org
http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list
To unsubscribe email list-unsubscribe at bostoncriticalmass.org 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bostoncoop.net/pipermail/bostoncriticalmass/attachments/20101228/449ed16c/attachment.htm