Christian MilNeil
Recent Posts
CultureHouse in Kendall Square Brings Tactical Urbanism Indoors
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Allie Girouard and Aaron Grenier are the co-founders of CultureHouse, a self-described "urban design test kitchen" that has secured a temporary lease at 500 Kendall Street.
Addressing the Climate Emergency Could Deliver A Big Payday to Transit
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At a public workshop in Chelsea Tuesday evening, Massachusetts officials said that they are committed to improving air quality and funding better transit options, particularly in low-income and racially diverse communities, while they design a new “cap and invest” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. Twelve states and the District of […]
Fresh and Less Squeezed on the Orange Line
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The MBTA’s first new Orange Line train in decades started carrying passengers this morning after months of delays, to positive reviews and some spontaneous applause from riders: I rode the new train for 1 stop at lunch and IT WAS GLORIOUS!! Smiles everywhere! Some people clapped once the shock was over. What hope! So ignore […]
Cambridge Releases Its First Vision Zero Progress Report
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The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition and the City of Cambridge have released their first progress report on the city’s plan to eliminate crashes that result in serious injuries or fatalities. The City of Cambridge adopted its Vision Zero ordinance in 2016 and adopted its first Vision Zero Action Plan in February of 2018. The progress […]
Cambridge, Watertown Declare Success for Mount Auburn Bus Lanes
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The “pilot” phase for the new Mount Auburn bus lanes in Cambridge and Watertown is over, and the two municipalities are making the new bus lanes and transit-priority traffic signals a permanent amenity for riders of the 71 and 73 MBTA’s “trackless trolley” bus routes. “Based on the results of the evaluation and the extensive […]
Eyes on the Street: New Bikeways on Charles River Dam
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One of the first stories that StreetsblogMASS covered was a May public meeting on MassDOT’s plans for a road diet and new flexpost-protected bike lanes on Craigie Bridge (also known as Charles River Dam Road) in front of the Boston Museum of Science. Eyes on the street: the new flexpost-protected bike lanes have been installed […]
New MassDOT Congestion Study Offers Few New Solutions
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An overdue MassDOT study of statewide traffic congestion confirms what many already knew: that crowded roads, buses and trains are pushing the Boston region's transportation system to a "tipping point" where travel times are highly unreliable.
Uber/Lyft Have Big Impacts to Boston's Traffic
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Uber and Lyft have finally come clean: Their drivers are causing a significant share of the congestion in America’s most transit-dense cities, particularly in Boston. A new study jointly commissioned by the two app-based cab companies found that they have a massive footprint in San Francisco, Washington and Boston, but the companies are affecting traffic to a lesser degree […]
Meet Your New Massachusetts Bike and Pedestrian Plans
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Last month, MassDOT released its new statewide Bicycle Transportation Plan and a separate Statewide Pedestrian Transportation Plan, the culmination of a two-year planning effort organized around the vision of making biking and walking “a safe, comfortable, and convenient option” for everyone in Massachusetts. The state is also putting some significant money on the table to make […]
Batteries, Or Overhead Wires? The Debate Over Zero-Emission Bus Technology
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The MBTA this week celebrated the addition of its first purely battery-powered buses to its fleet, with five new Silver Line vehicles. But some transit advocates were less impressed, saying that instead of relying on unproven battery technology, the MBTA should expand its fleet of electric trolleybuses, which draw their power from overhead wires and […]
Parking Trumps Bike Lanes on Powder House... for Now
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In a more conciliatory public meeting Wednesday night, city officials raised the possibility of installing a one-way protected bike lane on Powder House Boulevard in 2020, and emphasized the expected safety benefits of traffic-calming measures that are being installed on the street this summer. While safety advocates and bicyclists in particular have been focused on […]
In Powder House Project, Parking Blurs Somerville’s ‘Vision Zero’
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A community meeting tonight will discuss a recent repaving project on Somerville’s Powder House Boulevard, where a motorist killed a woman in a crosswalk in front of a neighborhood school this February. The project, which improves the boulevard from Alewife Brook Parkway to the southern edge of Tufts University in West Somerville, has pitted safety […]