Getting Around an overly congested city
Traffic and Parking Impacts All of Us.
More About This:
People drive cars. Not necessarily everyone, every day, but many Cambridge residents have cars, even if they often walk or bike. Living near convenient transit may lower the average, but not much. The simple fact is that most trips – to shopping, recreation, social events, medical appointments, schools, religious services, almost everything we do outside the house - involves trip-making and most of it is by car.
More people Means More Cars:
When we add greater density to the city, more people means more cars and car trips. This also means more need for parking. Having necessary businesses near residential areas and transit lowers the number of car trips, but not much. Businesses “attract” resident and non resident cars. More commerce to meet local and area needs means more traffic and a need for more parking. When we replace critically needed on-street parking with bicycle lanes, cars must circle longer to find parking, adding more to traffic.
Infrastructure:
More car trips and a need for more parking might be okay if there were adequate infrastructure to meet the extra demand, but in Cambridge the street network cannot be significantly expanded. Where streets are already congested and available parking is already heavily used, any added traffic makes things worse for everyone. Travel times increase. Some drivers use residential streets to avoid congestion points, but this creates safety problems for pedestrians, cyclists and others. Uber and Lyft use also factors in. All these extra cars add to air and noise pollution in the immediate area.
Core Needs:
For many seniors, people facing mobility challenges, youth, families with young children, and blue-collar workers who need cars to get to work at night or off hours, biking and public transit are not realistic or safe options all or some of the time. For many people a car is their safest or only option. The number of cars and car trips can be reduced, but they clearly cannot be eliminated, so adding even more density to Cambridge will lead to more car trips, more traffic and more parking demand.
What You Can Do:
SIGN-UP to receive email updates from the Cambridge Neighbors United. Pay attention to how your city councilors are voting on development issues that have traffic impacts. Write, email and call the City Council, the City Manager, and the City Clerk to express your views. Ask questions. Do not accept vague assurances about unspecified impacts re. traffic mitigation. Ask the elected officials advocating for Greater Density or Street Planning and Renovations about what the traffic impacts are and who is going to be impacted. Voice your concerns about the costs and diminished quality of life for the many who live in the neighborhood now and how this compares to the benefits. Join other groups like Cambridge Streets for All that are focused in part on these concerns.
People drive cars. Not necessarily everyone, every day, but many Cambridge residents have cars, even if they often walk or bike. Living near convenient transit may lower the average, but not much. The simple fact is that most trips – to shopping, recreation, social events, medical appointments, schools, religious services, almost everything we do outside the house - involves trip-making and most of it is by car.
More people Means More Cars:
When we add greater density to the city, more people means more cars and car trips. This also means more need for parking. Having necessary businesses near residential areas and transit lowers the number of car trips, but not much. Businesses “attract” resident and non resident cars. More commerce to meet local and area needs means more traffic and a need for more parking. When we replace critically needed on-street parking with bicycle lanes, cars must circle longer to find parking, adding more to traffic.
Infrastructure:
More car trips and a need for more parking might be okay if there were adequate infrastructure to meet the extra demand, but in Cambridge the street network cannot be significantly expanded. Where streets are already congested and available parking is already heavily used, any added traffic makes things worse for everyone. Travel times increase. Some drivers use residential streets to avoid congestion points, but this creates safety problems for pedestrians, cyclists and others. Uber and Lyft use also factors in. All these extra cars add to air and noise pollution in the immediate area.
Core Needs:
For many seniors, people facing mobility challenges, youth, families with young children, and blue-collar workers who need cars to get to work at night or off hours, biking and public transit are not realistic or safe options all or some of the time. For many people a car is their safest or only option. The number of cars and car trips can be reduced, but they clearly cannot be eliminated, so adding even more density to Cambridge will lead to more car trips, more traffic and more parking demand.
What You Can Do:
SIGN-UP to receive email updates from the Cambridge Neighbors United. Pay attention to how your city councilors are voting on development issues that have traffic impacts. Write, email and call the City Council, the City Manager, and the City Clerk to express your views. Ask questions. Do not accept vague assurances about unspecified impacts re. traffic mitigation. Ask the elected officials advocating for Greater Density or Street Planning and Renovations about what the traffic impacts are and who is going to be impacted. Voice your concerns about the costs and diminished quality of life for the many who live in the neighborhood now and how this compares to the benefits. Join other groups like Cambridge Streets for All that are focused in part on these concerns.
