A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-121 and 18-135, regarding safety improvements on Museum Way and the Craigie Bridge

City of Cambridge Community Development Department – Iram Farooq, Assistant City Manager Traffic, Parking, and Transportation – Joseph E. Barr, Director MEMORANDUM To: Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager From: Joseph E. Barr, Director of Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Iram Farooq, Assistant City Manager for Community Development Date: December 5, 2018 Re: Awaiting Report 18-121 – Safety Improvements on Museum Way and the Craigie Bridge This memo is in response to Order 2 from the November 19, 2018 City Council Meeting (Awaiting Report 18-121) and Order 14 from the December 3, 2018 City Council Meeting, requesting that we consult with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on potential safety improvements at the intersection of Museum Way and the Craigie Bridge, particularly in light of the recent fatality that occurred at this location. Craigie Bridge Because the Craigie Bridge is controlled jointly by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), Cambridge does not have the ability to directly install improved bicycle facilities on this segment of road. However, City staff have been advocating for the installation of improved bicycle facilities on the bridge over the course of many years, dating back into the 1990s during the design and construction of the Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) project. More recently, we have advocated for improvements to this segment of roadway as part of the MassDOT Accelerated Bridge Program, which included the reconstruction of the Craigie Bridge. While these advocacy efforts led to a commitment to install bicycle lanes on this important connection, these planned improvements have been deferred by the state for multiple years due to the potential impacts of nearby construction projects, specifically the reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge and the replacement of the North Washington Street Bridge. The timeline below provides greater detail on the history of past efforts to improve the bicycle facilities on Craigie Bridge: • 1994: City of Cambridge staff, advocacy organizations, community members, and members of the New Charles River Basin (NCRB) Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC), which was appointed as part of the CA/T mitigation requirements, began advocating for improvements to bicycle

Page 2 of 4 accommodation on the Craigie Bridge. City staff on the CAC continued to advocate for bicycle facility improvements throughout the CAC process. • 1994-2008: City staff continued to advocate for improved bicycle facilities on the bridge as part of the ongoing NCRB CAC process and other discussions. The state did perform an evaluation of the design and the traffic impacts of adding bicycle lanes but continued to prioritize right-of-way for motor vehicle traffic, which precluded major changes to the design of the bridge to better accommodate cyclists. • 2008: The state initiated the reconstruction of the Craigie Bridge as part of the Accelerated Bridge Program, and initially included an option of widening the south sidewalk to create a substandard multi-use path. This was not considered acceptable by the public or by the City, and the advocacy community developed a conceptual plan for bicycle lanes, which the City supported. Based on this, a design was developed with bicycle lanes, which was accepted by the City, advocates, and the community. • 2010-2011: MassDOT committed to installation of bicycle lanes on the bridge, but the decision was made by the state to defer implementation of these lanes due to the detour route for the planned Longfellow Bridge construction. City staff objected to this decision, but no change was made. • 2016: MassDOT restated its commitment to install bicycle lanes on the Craigie Bridge once Longfellow Bridge construction was complete, and publicly shared plans that included bicycle lanes. • 2018: As the Longfellow Bridge reached substantial completion, MassDOT indicated that installation of bicycle lanes would occur during the summer of 2018. However, DCR and MassDOT again decided to defer implementation of bicycle lanes due to concerns about the detour route for the North Washington Street Bridge construction. Over the past several months, we have been in ongoing discussions with both DCR and MassDOT, advocating that they follow through on these past commitments and finally install bicycle lanes on the Craigie Bridge. The most recent meetings took place this past summer, once construction on the Longfellow Bridge was complete. These discussions focused on the feasibility of adding bicycle lanes this fall, given the recently started replacement of the North Washington Street Bridge, which was predicted to lead to increased traffic on Craigie Bridge. Because of this uncertainty, these discussions were ongoing when the recent fatality occurred on November 8. Since that time, we have been in frequent contact with Commissioner Leo Roy from DCR, who has indicated a strong willingness to move forward with the installation of bicycle lanes, subject to discussions about the details of the design and the potential impacts. Specifically, installing bicycle lanes that meet current best practices will require removing one travel lane from the bridge, which will potentially have impacts on vehicle capacity and access to the Museum of Science (the previously proposed bicycle lanes did not require these changes to vehicular traffic, but that design is no longer considered acceptable). Both DCR and MassDOT appear to be strongly committed to installing bicycle lanes in the near future, but believe that there is a need for additional public and

Page 3 of 4 stakeholder discussions prior to implementation (particularly given that installation of roadway striping changes won’t be possible until the spring of 2019 due to weather constraints). In addition, while DCR and MassDOT have developed designs for adding bicycle lanes to the bridge, there are a number of design details that need to be worked out, including changes to signal timing and potential turn restrictions into the Museum of Science’s garage (which was not contemplated in the prior designs that had been developed). Throughout these discussions, City staff have continued to advocate strongly for improving bicycle facilities, and for the need to accept certain impacts on motorized vehicles in return for safety improvements for vulnerable users. Museum Way At the same time that these regarding the Craigie Bridge discussions have been ongoing with DCR and MassDOT, City staff have been considering potential changes to Museum Way, to improve safety for cyclists and attempt to reduce travel speeds. Based on this review, we have developed two specific and related potential improvements: • Narrow the travel lanes on Museum Way to the standard width of 10.5 feet, which should help to limit vehicle speeds. • Using the extra street width created by narrowing the travel lanes on Museum Way, widen the existing bicycle lanes on Museum Way and add buffers to the bicycle lanes to create additional separation between motor vehicles and bicycles in this street segment. As with the bicycle lanes being proposed by DCR and MassDOT, these changes to roadway striping can’t be implemented until the weather improves in the spring of 2019. In addition, we plan to work with DCR to implement changes to the signal timing of the Museum Way/Craigie Bridge intersection, with the goal of creating a fully protected phase when pedestrians and cyclists can cross from the south side of the bridge to the north side of the bridge without any conflicts with motor vehicles. Moving forward, the next steps towards improving safety in this area include the following: • DCR and MassDOT plan to hold a public meeting on bicycle safety improvements on the Craigie Bridge on December 18th at 6:30pm, at the Museum of Science. This meeting is expected to include a discussion of multiple options for improving bicycle facilities on the Craigie Bridge, including the opportunity for the public to provide comments and suggest improvements. • City staff will further develop a design for narrowing the vehicle travel lanes and widening the bicycle lanes on Museum Way, with the goal of discussing these changes with the community over the winter and implementing roadway striping changes when the weather warms in the spring. • City staff will work with DCR to investigate changes to signal timing at the Museum Way/Craigie Bridge intersection to create a protected crossing phase for pedestrians and cyclists. If these improvements can be made prior to the roadway striping changes, we will work to implement the changes during the winter months.

Page 4 of 4 We will continue to advocate to DCR and MassDOT to make bicycle safety improvements on this key link between Boston and Cambridge, while also developing designs that will help to reduce speeds and improve safety on Museum Way. As these safety projects move forward, we will keep the City Council, residents, and other stakeholders updated on progress in planning, design, and implementation.