MBTA Rolls Out Mt. Auburn Street Bus Priority Pilot

CAMBRIDGE, MA – If you've noticed some changes on Mount Auburn Street you're not imagining things. As part of a pilot program Cambridge, Watertown the MBTA and a whole host of others are testing a way to help ease traffic along the 71 and 73 bus route.

The City of Cambridge, the Town of Watertown, the MBTA, the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy rolled out a bus priority pilot funded by a grant from the Barr Foundation to bring elements of Bus Rapid Transit to the Mount Auburn Street Corridor, serving MBTA routes 71 & 73, and employee shuttles.

The project features painted bus and bicycle only lanes – mainly on Mount Auburn Street between Cottage Street and Coolidge Avenue – as well as signage and signal changes in an effort to create faster, more reliable service and improved traffic flow.

“Encouraging and improving public transit options improves mobility for everyone. The Mount Auburn Bus Priority Pilot aligns with Cambridge’s Vision Zero efforts to make our streets safer for people of all ages and abilities, whether they choose to walk, bicycle, drive, or take transit,” said Cambridge City Manager Louis DePasquale in a release.

Who will the project will impact? According to Cambridge officials:

MBTA 71 & 73 Buses, Mount Auburn Hospital and athenahealth Shuttles
All-day dedicated bus priority lanes on segments of Mount Auburn Street between Cottage Street in Watertown and Fresh Pond Parkway in Cambridge will allow MBTA 71 & 73 buses and shuttles to travel unimpeded by vehicular traffic. The bus priority lanes will be painted red and shared with cyclists and other shuttles and emergency vehicles. Shorter sections of bus lanes, or “queue jumps” at Belmont Street, School Street, and Walnut Street allow buses to move more quickly through intersections by jumping to the front of the line of cars stopped at a light.

Re-timed traffic signals and transit signal priority will give buses more green light time when needed. The bus priority lanes and signal improvements will cut minutes off the bus travel time in the times of the worst congestion, and more importantly, will make travel times more predictable.

Bicycling
The dedicated bus priority lane will be shared with cyclists along Mount Auburn Street. Bus drivers will be instructed to not pass bicyclists in the bus priority lane to ensure that there are no conflicts or issues. In addition, a new bicycle lane has been added on Mt. Auburn Street between Brattle Street and Belmont Street.

Driving
The right lane on segments of Mount Auburn Street going inbound or eastbound, between Cottage Street and Fresh Pond Parkway, will be off limits to cars (but available to ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles). Cars may only be in the red lanes when a driver is making a right turn, and briefly to parallel park where parking is allowed at the curb. The boundary line and red paint becomes dashed to show drivers where to enter for a right turn. Drivers are expected to yield to buses and bikes when entering the red lane. Other cities that have tested dedicated bus priority lanes have found that they result in overall improved traffic flow for people in cars because buses no longer pull in and out of traffic.

For the “queue jump” lanes at School and Walnut Streets in Watertown to be effective, right turning drivers are now allowed to take a right turn on red to enable buses to move to the front of the traffic line and through the intersection with less delay. Parking restrictions at these intersections are in effect from 7am to 9am on the inbound side of Mount Auburn Street.

Walking
As part of implementing the new “queue jump” lanes in Watertown, drivers are allowed to turn right on red after stopping at Walnut Street and School Street. Drivers should yield to pedestrians, but pedestrians walking inbound along Mount Auburn Street should look for turning traffic before crossing School and Walnut Streets. In addition, the number of lanes pedestrians have to cross on Mount Auburn Street at Brattle Street has been reduced from four lanes to three, with a hatched-out area in the middle. Triangular yield markings (sometimes called “shark’s teeth”) have been added at this crosswalk and at the unsignalized crosswalk on Brattle Street.

The BRT features and improvements described above were recommended in a study of the Mount Auburn Street corridor completed by the DCR. This pilot, which will be done using paint and signage, will be implemented in October. It will remain in place while staff work with community members and local businesses to evaluate the pilot over the fall and winter and determine whether further adjustments are appropriate. Lessons learned from the experience will inform continued long-term planning, according to a press release.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff