Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Traffic congestion

A view of the Allston I-90 tollbooths and Beacon Yards in 2015. Photo by Nick Allen, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.

A Rough Guide To Boston’s Allston/I-90 Megaproject

By Christian MilNeil | Oct 15, 2019

Since 2014, the state’s leading transportation agencies have been planning a massive reconfiguration of Interstate 90, Soldiers Field Road and the Framingham/Worcester railroad line along the Charles River waterfront in Allston. When the project is finally finished in the early 2030s, Allston will have new and upgraded bike and pedestrian connections to the Charles River, […]

Pioneer Valley Transit Authority buses at the Springfield Union Station in July 2017. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Newflyer504, licensed under Creative Commons.

New Census Data Suggests Growing Transit Use Statewide – but Not in Boston or Cambridge

By Christian MilNeil | Sep 26, 2019

In Boston, an estimated 32.2 of workers used the T to commute in 2018, compared to 34 percent in 2014.

Traffic congestion on I-93 southbound in downtown Boston, pictured around 2 pm on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

Awful Commutes Have Biotech Workers Seeking Greener Pastures

By Christian MilNeil | Sep 25, 2019

Highly-paid life sciences workers have a keen financial interest in not wasting their valuable time stuck in traffic.

Addressing the Climate Emergency Could Deliver A Big Payday to Transit

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 15, 2019 | 1 Comment

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 […]

New MassDOT Congestion Study Offers Few New Solutions

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 8, 2019 | 1 Comment

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.

A double-parked Lyft driver waits outside of the South Station bus terminal on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

Uber/Lyft Have Big Impacts to Boston's Traffic

By Christian MilNeil and Aaron Short | Aug 8, 2019 | 3 Comments

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 […]