Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Quick Fix

There has been a giant and persistent "puddle" along my route- on Main just past Kendall, and just before the Longfellow.   It didn't seem like it was natural- it was huge, even days after a rain.   It was in an area that didn't slope towards the drain,  but the puddle was so big, that I suspected it was a water leak.

And now that the days are getting cold, it had turned into a giant ice slick, which filled the entire bike lane and spread halfway across the car lane.

I filed a pothole request for the city of Cambridge last Thursday  and within 24 hours they had salted the bejeezus out of it- solving the ice slick problem at least.

Today when I rode it, the puddle was gone,  there was a patch in the pothole at its heart,  dig safe had marked up all over the sidewalks, and there was a dirt filled hole where I bet they repaired the water line.


They still have to get the dirt filled hole fixed,  but it's really nice that they take things like this seriously and fix them quickly when they endanger cyclists.

Yeah Cambridge!


We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on everything.   I biked really slowly in- didn't have any problems with slickness, but everything had a sheen on it- was hard to tell if it was water or ice.

I kind of hoped it was urban legend, but this woman was actually applying foundation to her face sitting in her car.  She was at a stoplight, and I fervently hope that she desisted once she started moving.


Finally, a reminder that the meeting about improvements to the minuteman crossing of Mass Ave and Rt 60 is tonight.   The East Arlington anti- bicycle folks will almost certainly be out in force to oppose the city spending the grant they already have to make this complicated connection safer and more comfortable for people on bikes,  so it's important to have as many supporters of the project as possible.   They've got the money, and something will get done, the question is how ambitious and safe will it be? 
 7pm, Arlington Town Hall.

5 comments:

  1. I had to be up early for a doctor's appointment and there was definitely a bit of slickness and iciness around before the sun rose. I could feel my rear wheel losing traction on most of my starts, and saw one poor fellow wipe out while making a left but he got up and kept going before I could arrive to see if he was ok. Most of it was fine by 9 though. Just needed some sun to thaw it out.

    Still, at least now it feels like a proper winter.

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  2. I would love to be there at the Arlington Town meeting but I feel sick and have to stay home. Please let us know how the meeting was and which option was chosen. I hope it will be 3B:
    http://bostonbybike.blogspot.com/2012/01/filling-gap.html

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  3. Urban legend, you should take a ride on the NYS Thruway sometime, people reading the newspaper, brushing their teeth, putting on lipstick, etc...
    All of this at 65+ mph

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  4. @luke, I know it happens, but I actually don't see much of that on downtown Boston streets. There's just too much going on for most people to be that oblivious. Don't actually see much texting either- I'm totally sure that's because of the law against it ;)
    Presumably the thruway is a limited access highway? no bikes or peds?

    I'd rather have someone brushing their teeth or putting on lipstick (I do this all the time without looking, so I'm not sure how distracting it is) than texting or talking on the phone.

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  5. Is that Gilbert the steel stallion I see in your frosty morning image?

    OKB

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