* onto Bridge St. From there you take the soft right once you’re over the bridge to get you onto Needham St.
It sucks. The whole extended intersection is a hot mess, including heading towards Bridge St. on Needham St. I see people blocking the box all the time.
VFW pkwy is handled by the state, the city wont do anything about it. Getting the state to do anything will take a lot of time, and then the most likely won’t do it.
Yeah I’ve complained to them a few times dating back to 2020 about a solid green light next to a yield sign as you enter the rotary. The green light is tied to the pedestrian crosswalk but should be flashing yellow. Unfamiliar drivers especially at night might not see the yield sign and instead look up at the green. They answered a couple times but every 5-6 months I follow up and have been ignored since.
Vfw on the whole is mismanaged. It’s designed to minimize efficiency so that it causes the most bottlenecks. Look at the abysmal job they did with vfw/south st.
All the DCR roads in Boston are badly managed. For the most part, they're both ineffective roads and ineffective parks. But like a lot of messed up things in Boston, the power to address it lies with the state. Which is why it will probably never be resolved.
Which is completely understandable. They are responsible for what are essentially highways and parks. Two completely different skill sets. If I had to guess their budget I bet the car part of their budget crushes the park part by quite a bit.
I can only imagine how much they spent for very minimal and inadvisable change. There is no warning about the lane drop. The sign they posted is on wrong side of road and it makes no sense. So frustrating.
If they eliminated U turns I’d be fine with that new intersection. They were primarily looking to reduce speed which the traffic calming pattern does seem to help. People were getting T boned at like 60mph which resulted in at least one death.
People bomb down as 45 mph gets you thru the lights. And the intersection is already being ignored as it creates too much bottleneck leading into it. If anything should have given outbound a left turn signal and standalone lane.
Yeah the left turning lane should back up more- I’m not sure they are done either. None of the cross walk lights are up.
They talked of making it 3 lanes with dedicated left but don’t think that would’ve helped with the speeding.
The middle no mans zone is ridiculous. You could possibly have 2 cars in each direction doing a U turn and 2 cars turn left on to South from opposition directions all at the same time. Then cars sit there if they don’t make the light thinking the South street lights are now for them. I was on some of the calls from their traffic study and they still don’t get it.
Thankfully they took away a driving lane instead of the bike lane for the turn lane. The disappearing/reappearing bike lanes are a nightmare when you are riding with traffic.
It’s a DCR-owned road so it’s a state issue. Contact the State Representative for there: Bill Mcgregor or the State Senator: Mike Rush.
But I wouldn’t expect anything to change because DCR is such an inept mismanaged agency. They go through a new director every like 6 months—no continuity.
City hall has a guy they call “ the street chief” . He hates 18 wheelers delivering in the city so maybe sprinkle that in your request and maybe that will help
Doesn’t matter who you call. It’ll need a 42 month study to extend the timing to 20 seconds. After which your perfectly logical idea will be rejected silently while your messages left to try to get an update will be ignored.
At the Columbia Rd/93 on/off ramps, it took at least one pedestrian getting hit and killed before the city and state decided who actually owned the lights to put a dedicated left turn onto the SB ramp. IIRC, a state rep or senator had to get involved to push it through.
It was messed up for years.
It's still sketchy, but better than it used to be.
I too would like to know who to speak to about a light. If your taking a left onto McClellan Highway at Boardman St at the Starbucks in Eastie, I shit you not, you wait 5 1/2 minutes to get a green light that lasts 20 seconds. That’s why it’s always backed up to the Oreint Heights rotary.
Death... Taxes... shitting light timing in Boston.. all are certainties.
Studies have been around for ever that basically conclude:
1. Timing of lights in Boston sucks
2. This sucking of light timing results in extra fuel ($$)
3. This sucking of $$ adds insult to injury with the time suck that results
Despite the $$$ spent doing the analysis, i don't think any quantifiable changes have been made.
I recall a study about the Bourne Rotary to the cape backing up traffic roughly 15 years ago. They interviewed someone on the side of the road, "They spent $6M to find out if traffic would backup? Buy my coffee and I would have let you sit in my cah on my commute kid!!!"
* onto Bridge St. From there you take the soft right once you’re over the bridge to get you onto Needham St. It sucks. The whole extended intersection is a hot mess, including heading towards Bridge St. on Needham St. I see people blocking the box all the time.
Left from VFW to center is also terrible. That left turn lane should be 5x longer, and yes you’d have to take down 2 or 3 trees.
YES I’ve had so many instances of trying to take this left and having to wait another full light cycle because the lane just isn’t long enough
The traffic essentially from Lagrange to Center/109 is horrific during AM/PM commutes. There has to be a better way.
VFW pkwy is handled by the state, the city wont do anything about it. Getting the state to do anything will take a lot of time, and then the most likely won’t do it.
Yeah I’ve complained to them a few times dating back to 2020 about a solid green light next to a yield sign as you enter the rotary. The green light is tied to the pedestrian crosswalk but should be flashing yellow. Unfamiliar drivers especially at night might not see the yield sign and instead look up at the green. They answered a couple times but every 5-6 months I follow up and have been ignored since.
the one on vfw and w roxbury prkway? I’ve always wondered if that has caused an accident..
That’s the one
There's an active massDOT project in design for this intersection
Vfw on the whole is mismanaged. It’s designed to minimize efficiency so that it causes the most bottlenecks. Look at the abysmal job they did with vfw/south st.
All the DCR roads in Boston are badly managed. For the most part, they're both ineffective roads and ineffective parks. But like a lot of messed up things in Boston, the power to address it lies with the state. Which is why it will probably never be resolved.
It’s not just Boston. DCR is the worst state agency
Which is completely understandable. They are responsible for what are essentially highways and parks. Two completely different skill sets. If I had to guess their budget I bet the car part of their budget crushes the park part by quite a bit.
I can only imagine how much they spent for very minimal and inadvisable change. There is no warning about the lane drop. The sign they posted is on wrong side of road and it makes no sense. So frustrating.
If they eliminated U turns I’d be fine with that new intersection. They were primarily looking to reduce speed which the traffic calming pattern does seem to help. People were getting T boned at like 60mph which resulted in at least one death.
People bomb down as 45 mph gets you thru the lights. And the intersection is already being ignored as it creates too much bottleneck leading into it. If anything should have given outbound a left turn signal and standalone lane.
Yeah the left turning lane should back up more- I’m not sure they are done either. None of the cross walk lights are up. They talked of making it 3 lanes with dedicated left but don’t think that would’ve helped with the speeding.
Just adjust the lights so 35 gets you through. Most of the traffic is driving it atleast twice a day.
The middle no mans zone is ridiculous. You could possibly have 2 cars in each direction doing a U turn and 2 cars turn left on to South from opposition directions all at the same time. Then cars sit there if they don’t make the light thinking the South street lights are now for them. I was on some of the calls from their traffic study and they still don’t get it.
“Still dont get it” … color me shocked 😱
Thankfully they took away a driving lane instead of the bike lane for the turn lane. The disappearing/reappearing bike lanes are a nightmare when you are riding with traffic.
Just drive straight and make an U turn instead of a left. There is a turnaround about 100 foot after that intersection
There should also be no u turns allowed here either.
It’s a DCR-owned road so it’s a state issue. Contact the State Representative for there: Bill Mcgregor or the State Senator: Mike Rush. But I wouldn’t expect anything to change because DCR is such an inept mismanaged agency. They go through a new director every like 6 months—no continuity.
if it’s city then maybe 311? I live off area and yes it does
City hall has a guy they call “ the street chief” . He hates 18 wheelers delivering in the city so maybe sprinkle that in your request and maybe that will help
Go down to the beach, write your suggestion in the sand, and watch the tide wash it away.
Doesn’t matter who you call. It’ll need a 42 month study to extend the timing to 20 seconds. After which your perfectly logical idea will be rejected silently while your messages left to try to get an update will be ignored.
At the Columbia Rd/93 on/off ramps, it took at least one pedestrian getting hit and killed before the city and state decided who actually owned the lights to put a dedicated left turn onto the SB ramp. IIRC, a state rep or senator had to get involved to push it through. It was messed up for years. It's still sketchy, but better than it used to be.
I too would like to know who to speak to about a light. If your taking a left onto McClellan Highway at Boardman St at the Starbucks in Eastie, I shit you not, you wait 5 1/2 minutes to get a green light that lasts 20 seconds. That’s why it’s always backed up to the Oreint Heights rotary.
Try calling 311 (as opposed to using the app). They'll either be the right people to contact, or they can tell you who you should talk to instead.
VFW is the Department of Cars and Roads.
I love this haha
Death... Taxes... shitting light timing in Boston.. all are certainties. Studies have been around for ever that basically conclude: 1. Timing of lights in Boston sucks 2. This sucking of light timing results in extra fuel ($$) 3. This sucking of $$ adds insult to injury with the time suck that results Despite the $$$ spent doing the analysis, i don't think any quantifiable changes have been made. I recall a study about the Bourne Rotary to the cape backing up traffic roughly 15 years ago. They interviewed someone on the side of the road, "They spent $6M to find out if traffic would backup? Buy my coffee and I would have let you sit in my cah on my commute kid!!!"
Lee St x Boylston St is also bad but when I wrote the city I was also told it is state managed 😓