Safe cycling rant: the Wellington Circle area
I can't help myself. The spring weather brings on my desire for change. I want to ride to work. And I don't have a death wish.
I'm posting this in case there are others in the community interested in commuting safely to Simmons. If your commute is anywhere near mine: let's talk!
Dear Mass Highway Dept. Rep. Leavenworth, Dept. of Conservation & Recreation, City of Medford Dept. of Public Works, City of Somerville Dept. of Public Works, Orange Line MTBA officer, Bier Brier Development, Assembly Square Mall folk, City Councillor DiPietro, and City of Malden,
I'm writing to you all because I do not know where to turn. It doesn't look as though there is one clear entity that could take responsibility for making improvements for cyclists and pedestrians in the Wellington Circle area, and thus some good will and cooperative interest is required.
I am about to start commuting to Simmons College from Malden again soon. The safest route I've come up with, upon which Mass Bike has not been able to improve, goes through Wellington Circle. In the morning, I travel south on Middlesex Ave., and turn left on Riverside, and then left on the Fellsway so that I can go straight through Wellington Circle with the light.
I am very happy to report that traveling on the Fellsway (Rt. 28) south over the river in the street (which is where, as a cyclist, I belong and have the right to be) is pretty safe. There is a wide shoulder, and whatever entity is responsible for street sweeping often does a fantastic job sweeping the shoulder on the bridge. Thank you so very much!!
I'm able to get all the way to Broadway, where I turn left so that I can turn right on the relatively safer Cross Street and get to Union Square.
The way home, however, is just about impossible. I commute to work 3-4 times a week in good weather, and every ride home I spend time thinking about who might be able to improve this dismal situation, for both bicyclists and pedestrians. And so, I am writing to all of you in hopes of some advice and assistance.
I have one of two choices for navigating Rt. 93 on the way home, since as a cyclist I absolutely will not go under the underpass on Rt. 28.
1. I can go behind the Stop and Shop, cross under the overpass (very sketchy in terms of personal safety), and pick my bike up over the biggest-curb-you-ever-wanted-to-see-after-you've-narrowly-escaped-speeding-cars on Mystic Ave. I often meet pedestrians carrying shopping bags negotiating this same terrible "intersection" and curb. Heaven forbid there be a fiscally challenged person in a wheelchair down there. There may even be a bus stop--I'm not sure. Bleck.
2. Or, what I usually do is go west on Broadway, turn right on Grant, left on Sydney, right on Temple, cross under 93, and ride on Bailey Road.
Once I'm past 93, I have three more choices, none of which are good:
A. I can ride on Fellsway West/28 North over the bridge (which for some reason is not as well swept as the other side), and risk life and limb as cars go about 45-50 mph, from 3 lanes, to 4 lanes, to 5 lanes. Right after the bridge, the shoulder disappears as it is taken over by one of these lanes.
B. I can ride on the pedestrian walk way on the east side of the bridge, negotiate the terrible sidewalk turns and crumbling bumps right after the bridge, and then make my way through the ridiculous curb cuts that new development has put in, which requires quick cuts and turns, and going from sidewalk into parking lot and back out, making it all that much easier for cars not to see me. This puts me in the way of pedestrians, slows me down, and makes it difficult for me to get back into traffic. I need to end up going north on Middlesex Ave.
C. Or, what I usually do, is take option #2 above, get on the sidewalk across from Putnam Road, get onto that Shore Drive island, cross Shore Drive against oncoming traffic, go across the bridge on the pedestrian walk way (apologizing to walkers and joggers all-the-while), stay on the sidewalk until the State Highway Police building (where there aren't any curb cuts, which strikes me as apropo: it's the highway police: you shouldn't be walking or riding, you should be driving!), cross over to the little island where Rt. 16 comes in, wait for the light to cross Rt. 28 south (still on the sidewalk), sprint across the Rt. 28 north traffic so that I can turn my bike north with the traffic and head across by the Kappy's onto Middlesex Ave.
D. There is a 4th choice, which is heading through the new development's parking lot (e.g. by the Starbucks), and then on the (crumbling sidewalk) up and over Rt. 16, down by the T, under Rt. 16, and north on Corporation Way. While I'm at it, by the way, exactly once I tried to ride my bike from Corporation Way along the sidewalk (knowing better than to take my life in my own hands on Rt. 16 where the bridge surface is variegated), to the Target. That sidewalk is crumbling to the point where a wrong turn could take you diving down the side of the road, has huge holes, and places where there are 6" changes in elevation.
I applaud recent efforts to increase population density in the Wellington Circle area near the T. The formerly-known-as-Telecomm-City Corporation Road bike lane is great. Wouldn't it be great to make it so that once a cyclist has gotten to the Wellington Circle area, whether on Middlesex Ave., or Corporation Road, s/he can get home again? Wouldn't it be great for people living near the Somerville Stop & Shop to be able to safely get back and forth to the Assembly Square Mall? Wouldn't it be great to dissuade more drivers along those already busy roadways by making it possible for bicyclists and pedestrians to pass through?
Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to hearing from you,
Kim
cc: Mass Bike, Bike to the Sea
Posted: April 3, 2008 5:11 pm | 0 comments
Tags: bicycle safety, bicycling, Malden, massachusetts, Medford, pedestrians, roads, safe routes, sidewalks, Somerville
