Having the striping down will be a nice closure on the battle to accommodate bikes on this bridge, which started many years ago, and has really reshaped the way that people think about the bridges and what kind of facilities should be expected on them. The battle isn't over as we wait for the reconstruction of Longfellow, River, Western and Larz Anderson, but this is the place it all started, and it's nice to think it's finally coming to fruition.
If the weather holds warm, and dry we'll get the markings before the new year, and Livable Streets is going to celebrate with goodie giveaways on the approaches to the bridge, as well as postcards to thank the head of DOT for this safer new crossing.
In other good news, I hear from the project manager of the Longfellow bridge work that the jersey barriers on the Cambridge side of the Longfellow will be gone, and the bike lane re-opened in a couple of weeks as well. I don't ride the BU very often, but the Longfellow is my daily route, and I will be very very relieved not to have to negotiate this closure in the dark any more:
Narrowed bridges like in your photo seem to cause drivers to be very unpredictable, which is the main reason I don't like them. Oh, and sometimes the vertigo of looking right over the edge, depending on how they set them up.
ReplyDeleteThat's great news indeed, thanks for posting about it!
ReplyDeleteI go over the BU bridge about once every couple of weeks for the last 10 years. It's the easiest way to get home from Brookline/Fenway area; and one of the regular bars for my group of friends is near the Fenway. It's been interesting to watch it evolve over the years, but perhaps one unfortunate consequence of having such a long 'relationship' with that bridge is that I never, ever expect it to be totally finished. Still, yay, for progress!
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