I sent the following letter to my state rep. You may want to send along something similar should you commute on Storrow on a regular basis:
As you may be aware, some changes were recently made to the lanes on Storrow Drive west at the Fenway/Kenmore exits. Where previously two lanes went unimpeded from one end of Storrow to the other, now these two lanes are forced to merge into one lane at the Kenmore/Fenway exits, becoming two lanes again after the Kenmore on-ramp heading west.
I believe that this change was made to attempt to ease merging from the on-ramp onto Storrow. However, the cost of doing that has been to turn Storrow Drive West into a veritable parking lot during rush hours. As someone who takes Storrow home to Belmont from work every day, I can attest that my commute has increased by about 30 minutes as a result of this change. Yesterday, the traffic was literally backed up all the way into the big dig by the Government Center exit. Today, I came to work late after a doctor’s appointment and can report that traffic was backed up to the Fiedler Bridge at 10:30 am. That cannot continue.
I have little choice but to use Storrow Drive to get home. My wife works at North Station, and I need to pick her up there on days when she works. I could take the Mass Pike to Storrow to avoid some of this mess on days when she does not work, but that is suboptimal at best, paying tolls and getting caught in the gnarled traffic at the Mass Pike off-ramp.
The problem that they appear to be attempting to resolve, namely that it is difficult to get onto Storrow from the Kenmore on-ramp, would be better taken care of by moving the on-ramp up a few yards beyond the curve in the road, so that people can better see traffic coming. Or alternatively, getting rid of the on-ramp altogether or maybe shutting it down except during Red Sox games. But the current “solution”, narrowing Storrow Drive into one lane (and it appears they actually took the curb in a foot or so to physically stop people from driving in two lanes) is a horrible solution that directly impacts people living in Belmont in an extremely adverse way. At a minimum, the road ought to be returned to its former state.
Thank you,
-Rob Sama
Tags: Storrow Drive
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18 Responses to “Please Fix Storrow Drive”
August 20th, 2009 at 9:55 am
this is why you need a jet pack, man!
August 20th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Is this a permanent change, or a temporary one because of road and bridge construction? The bike path is detoured onto a temporary wooden structure in the same area.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
North Station to Belmont? Why not take the Fitchburg line? Fast, easy, convenient, stress free, not held hostage to the vagaries of traffic engineering.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Is taking the CR from North Station to Belmont not an option?
August 20th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Personally I find the closure of Storrow’s left lane during rush hour to accommodate parking for Hatch Shell events far worse than this lane change. It backs traffic up into Medford on 93 south some nights. Shouldn’t we be promoting public transportation to these events. It is a ridiculous policy to allow these closures during heavy traffic hours.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Chris, I agree with you, except that the lane closings during Hatch Shell events is only occasional, whereas the lane closing for Fenway is permanent.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
also left at u-hub, though it doesn’t seem to show up there:
My personal situation and ability or inability to take the commuter rail in to work does not affect how boneheaded this lane change on Storrow is. The change either makes sense or fails to independent of my personal situation.
And for the record, when Storrow was built, the park was extended by landfill into the river to make up for the lost parkland. There’s no reason why that couldn’t be done again to fix the Kenmore on-ramp.
And while it’s not relevant to whether or not the Storrow lane change should be fixed, I should tell you I used to take the red line in to Boston, but it’s become too unreliable, so when I got a parking space from work, I took it. Moreover, I don’t work at North Station, I work at South Station, and my wife and I commute together. My alternative is to take the pike in to South Boston while my wife takes the commuter rail into Boston, which seems silly. Also, we’ll need the flexibility to drive when my expected son starts going to daycare. So for a number of reasons, none of which are relevant to to the argument at hand, I drive in to work.
Also, FWIW, I find that people with long commutes to places like Franklin tend to take the commuter rail, while people who live inside the 128 belt tend to drive.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Wow, that’s messed up. Not a place you want to put a bottleneck.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I totally agree with you. Its increased my commute by 30 minutes. Is there a way that we can ask the city to revert back to the original lane setup. this is horrendous. Doesn’t the city do some research before making lane changes. This is the height of stupidity. Brainless folk!
September 1st, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I agree, the lane change makes the commute home in the evenings significantly worse. I wonder about the rationale for the lane change and am curious to know if you’ve had any responses to your blog post from the authorities.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I agree- the commute has increased by 20 minutes! This happened because DCR (department of recreation and conservation) is doing a study of monitoring safety of Fenway/Kenmore off ramp. DCR will do a study for 6 month and after this lane configuration might become a permanent solution… DCR said they did do a research before they made lanes merge. DCR tracks public feedback. Please call them at 617-626-1413 to voice your opinion.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
awful, just awful. not sure it adds 20 or 30 min to my commute but it does create a nice parking lot for those going towards newton/arlington and has already caused multiple accidents. just plain old stupidity by the state of MA making that merge into one lane. The trick is to be a masshole and stay in the left lane all the way down and then cut over last minute! I hope this blog post gets more done then my complaining on facebook, twitter, etc.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Just stay to the left an get over at the last minute. Whoever designed that needs to be punished.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am
Yes – this change to Storrow Drive is totally INSANE!! You used to be able to move once you got onto Storrow WB during the evening commute, but now it’s backed up all the way to 93. I commute from Danvers to Brighton and have no other, better way to go. I could take the Mass Pike, but why do I have to be forced to pay a toll?? This should NOT be a permanent change, it’s adding on to my commute stress, just put it back to how it was, at least that’s better. I am extremely unhappy about this dumb move – now my commute is at least 20 minutes longer, too. YUCK and screw you DCR!!!!
November 19th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
haS anyone written to the idiots at DCR and mentioned the fact that cars are getting rear-ended on a regular basis and that storrow has become a parking lot during the rush hour commute?
Change to Storrow=FAIL
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:23 am
just called the DCR to voice my opinion. Please do the same. I really think we need to get something put into the Globe about this situation in order to generate more complaints.
April 12th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
traffic has been seemingly worse than ever in the hrs between 6-7pm. I left work 2 nights last week after 6:30 and storrow as well as memorial were the worst I have ever seen. Did the the DCR factor in the backup from the red sox traffic coming out of kenmore and copley that now makes the right lane going to newton even worse b/c it is only one lane???!!!! wtf
April 13th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Yakov,
I have seen two accidents and was nearly in one myself under the MAss Ave bridge. Every day, it’s cars trying to cut in while those already in line trying to prevent it. Invariably, it means that fender benders occur. Saw one with three cars with locked bumpers, which had to be pulled up onto a flat bad. It’s a disgrace.
I’ve been considering flooding the DCR with FOIA requests. I also noticed you were signing into my blog with the name fixstorrow.org. I was thinking restorestorrow.org but fix works fine too. I figured maybe making a website and hanging a banner over one of the crosswalks saying, “Had enough of this? RestoreStorrow.org” and when they go to the site we could collect names and start start taking some further action. I told my rep about this idea and he said he would rather I wait and see what he can find out from DCR, but it’s been taking too long. This thing needs to be fixed. My rep basically said that DCR said it was a 6 month trial but that they had no intention of reversing their obviously bad decision. Furthermore he thought they made this change at the behest of the hospitals in Longwood.
What gets me most about it is that the change was never put up for public review. They pulled a bait and switch. In the DCR presentations requesting funds to spruce up Storrow Drive, they talk about guard rails and the like, but never mention the lane change they intended to make.
In any event, what do you think? Taking this fight public would take a fair amount of work, but if it’s going to be worth it, it will be worth it in an election year. Please send me a real email address so we can discuss.
-Rob
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