[SBC] FW: [BULK] Ramifications of the new bike lane on Beacon St, Somerville

[Stephen Winslow]

Here's the original e-mail.. 



-----Original Message-----
From: James Kotzuba 
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 8:32 AM
To: Stephen Winslow; Terence Smith
Subject: FW: [BULK] Ramifications of the new bike lane on Beacon St,
Somerville
Importance: Low


Per Terry's message.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Leonard [mailto:jim at xuth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 1:06 AM
To: sbc at bostoncoop.net; Robert Trane; Walter Pero; William Roche; James
Kotzuba; Council at CambridgeMA.GOV; cseiderman at CambridgeMA.GOV
Cc: bikeinfo at massbike.org
Subject: [BULK] Ramifications of the new bike lane on Beacon St,
Somerville
Importance: Low


This message is in regards to the new bike lane being added to Beacon St in Somerville joining the existing bike lane on Hampshire St in Cambridge.

This email was sent to a fairly wide audience since it deals with the differing laws and implementations of bike lanes in Somerville and Cambridge.  If you think it should go to anyone else please let me know or forward it on.


The reason for this message is that the laws in Somerville and Cambridge are significantly different in how both cyclists and motor vehicle operators interact with bike lanes in the two cities.  So the purpose of this message is twofold.  First to ask that the two cities work together to harmonize the relevant city ordinances or at least acknowledge them and make the differences clear.  And second, to ask for clarifications and specifics of how Somerville will handle certain things that are peculiar to Somerville's laws as this is the first bike lane in Somerville with significant complications that don't exist on the Washington St bike lane.

First off, some of the differences that I'm aware of between the ordinances of the two cities:
	In Somerville a cyclist must ride in the bike lane except in certain explicit circumstances while Cambridge has no such requirement.
	Somerville law explicitly says a motorist should merge into the bike lane to make a right turn while Cambridge does not allow this.
	Cambridge has stated that it interprets it's traffic ordinances such that mopeds and motor scooters are not allowed in the bike lanes in Cambridge.  To my knowledge Somerville is mum on the issue thus defaulting to MGL which allows mopeds and motor scooters to travel in bike lanes.

Of the above differences I think the second is the most likely to cause consternation for all involved but depending on the interpretation of the rules, the first might be uglier (to me anyway).

This second section is primarily aimed at the Somerville people that I emailed this to.

The bike lane on Beacon St sits between on street parking and travel lanes on a relatively narrow street.  For much of the length of Beacon St only the left most edge of the bike lane is not within the "door zone" and narrower sections where the entire lane is within the door zone for larger, legally parked cars.  Is this considered a "hazard" for the purposes of Section 13-7 of the Somerville Traffic Regulations (requiring cyclists to use designated bike lanes)?  Can/will I be harassed by Somerville police for following this interpretation?  (for those not aware of the term "door zone", it is the area that an opened door from a parked car will obstruct.  People opening car doors in front of or into cyclists is one of the biggest dangers to legally traveling urban cyclists.  Not only can a cyclist be severely hurt by running into the edge of a car door (broken collar bones are not uncommon) but it is easy for the cyclist to be pushed or knocked down into motor vehicle traffic.   For this reason most urban cycling classes and instructions stress the need for cyclists to "stay out of the door zone".  For larger vehicles this is significantly further into the lane than most people realize especially when coupled with that fact that the wider vehicle is already sitting further into the lane.  This morning I noted a legally parked SUV with an open door beyond the (premarked) left lane marking of the bike lane on Beacon St.)

Has there been any attempt to educate people about how motorists are supposed to make right turns in conjunction with the bike lanes?  It appears that the lane will be dashed at the intersection but is that adequate especially considering Cambridge's different stance on how right turns should be made?  In simpler terms:  a) Do the police officers know the laws?  b) Will cyclists harass motorists for following the laws? and c) Do motorists know what they're supposed to do?

Will there be changes made to the enforcement of vehicles parked too far from the curb?  The couple of times that I've explicitly asked parking enforcement officers why they didn't ticket people for parking over three feet from the curb (really!) they told me that they were told not to enforce that.

Thank you for you time,
As a cyclist who rides down the Beacon/Hampshire Corridor every day to and from work this directly affects me.

-- Jim Leonard
617-304-3376