Why Are Boston Streets So Confusing?
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2023
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Boston is notorious for its confusing street network. Why did it end up with one, when cities like New York and Philadelphia didn't?
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Written by Dave Amos
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Could you specifically cover the deleterious effects of colonization? It feels like we're talking about these cities without respect to the genocide that coincided with them.
2:47 - Turn the grid about 30 degrees clockwise. You're have a long mainstreet that spans from the top right to the bottom left of the island, with most of the cross streets giving every part of the island direct access to it. Man, now I wish this was a Cities:Skylines map.
@@spydula1 Are you kidding? That seems to be all some people want to talk about. This is a channel about city planning. If you want more detail about how Boston was colonized, I'm sure there is a history channel where you can check it out. I'm quite sure that if it had an impact on how the city evolved, then it would've been mentioned, but otherwise, its off topic.
There is another problem aside from not having the names of the streets they also can have 2 different names based on the direction. For example to get to the airport you needed to take the Callahan Tunnel but to get back to Boston downtown you had to take the Sumner Tunnel. Technically they are 2 seperate tubes but it is the same routes. In NY for example in midtown there are 3 parallel tunnels crossing into NJ. All 3 are called the Lincoln Tunnel. They give each tunnel a separate name. Boston does this with some bridges. If you want to drive to the north shore from Boston there is a Bridge where I think going north it is the Mystic Bridge but the lanes going south is called the Tobin Bridge. On traffic report they will combine the names and call them Callahan-Sumner tunnels and the Mystic-Tobin Bridge. This double name is common for major roads outside of the the city. The main road that connects Lexington and Concord has 2 different names too but the names reflect where you are going. If you are in Lexington and get on this road it is the Road to Concord while the other direction is the Road to Lexington.
When I lived in Boston back in the 1970s and 80s it was horribly confusing compounded with the fact that there were no street signs anywhere. Maybe about a doze state wide at best. As the Bicentennial neared street signs went up everywhere. They started putting them up at in January so every street corner had the names of the streets by the 4th of July. Then within a month all the signs disappeared. I don't know if people took them for souvenirs or if the state took then down for the tricentennial in 2076.
The Department of transportation was screwup and would do things that made no sense. The first time I drove up to Boston I was driving in Cambridge in a residential area. I was lost going down this road which was a one way and as I approached an intersection I saw sign to not enter because it was a one way in the opposite direction. I looked to turn left it too said do not enter so I looked right and the same thing. There was a guy sitting on his porch laughing. I asked it this was for real. He said they changed the direction on one of the streets that morning which was the only one that lead out.
Another example of the brilliance of how they manage traffic in the Back Bay the major road is Commonwealth Avenue. Beautify road with very wide mall separating the E/W lanes It is more like a part the runs the several blocks. Back Bay is also a residential area. There was on area that the people living there were complaining on weekends hooker would hang out because it was easy for people to drive in to Boston and circle around the block until they hookup I guess. So in the department that deals with traffic control the reverse the one way sign just for that 1 block and they did it over the weekend. So when Monday morning rush hour came people who have been driving into downtown on Commonwealth going east notice that on one block there were sign saying Do No Enter. Needless to say this cause havoc to the morning rush hour. Brilliant!!! I don't think they did a much planning on stuff like that. I eventually moved back to NY and later hear they did do a lot better planning when the submerged I-95 which was elevated when I lived there. It was ugly and it has exits to nowhere.
By the way. the road outside of Boston in the rest of the state don't make any sense and no excuse like land fill that Boston dealt with. The road wind and meander for no apparent reason. The just do. You can be on a road that says it is going north while you watch the sun set on your right.
i live just south of Worcester, hard agree
As someone who lives in Central Mass, I refuse to drive into Boston and always take the train. So frankly I think the city's design is doing something right: simply make driving unpalatable enough and people will be forced to abandon it.
Sadly the slowdowns have been deterring people from using the MBTA, making traffic even worse.
I live in the south bay in California (northern california south bay...yes, there's a so-cal south bay) and unless I'm going into the city with somebody else, I'm on public transit. In fact, even with somebody else, there's a good chance I'll just drive to the easiest Bart parking lot (usually Milbrea) and taking bart from there. It greatly simplifies the choice to say "I will not park in that city" (a choice I made but you're making a similar choice....In fact, I used to live in New Jersey and the only thing I knew for a fact about our excursions to NYC is that we would not be driving into the city). In other words, I'm with you, neighbor.
Agreed. Though driving in Worcester is creeping up on Boston's level of unpalatability, but without the transit infrastructure to provide a viable alternatives* (yes, i know the MBTA has problems; yes I know the WRTA exists; and no, the free fares do not make up for the lack of bus shelters poor scheduling and meandering routes)
Imagine if the MTBA got their T up to modern standards, full CBTC, expanded out to underserved communities, made new lines, made the commuter rail viable with more frequent headways and full system integration, and made the trains something other than a shuttle to the city center. With only a few decades of good leadership... :/
@@luhs6839one time I was supposed to get a bus in Worcester and once the bus was 10 minutes late I just started walking along the bus line. I walked for over an hour before the bus caught up to me.
As a European I found Boston relatively easy to navigate on foot because to some extent you orientate yourself by instinct in an organic street grid. I tend to get a little lost in chessboard cities where everything looks the same.
This. I went to Glasgow and was hopelessly confused with its grid city centre. Then I moved to Tokyo and started using the sun and/or a compass to orientate myself.
i also think that boston has a lot of distinguishable buildings/landmarks that make it easier to create an internal map
Up down left right is hard for you? Lmao
@@1017vstheworldI'm afraid you misunderstand me. It is not about directions but about the experience of navigating the city in a wider sense where the different neighbourhoods are clearly distinguishable in their ambience and where you have a clear sense of your placement in the city organism. Good luck with your posterior.
@@1017vstheworld It's difficult to navigate when everything looks the same, is what he's saying
There is no reason to drive in downtown Boston: it is a compact, walking city, and it has public transportation system consisting of subways, LRV’s, buses and ferry’s. It also possesses an impressive demographic density unknown to most major American cities.
The main reason to drive in Boston is usually work related, if you are visiting the city and have a tight schedule, the safest and sometimes only option is to just suck it up and drive while planning around the traffic.
But as a resident, or a longer term visitor in a hotel or rental then you probably have the ability to actually get away without using a car.
Sadly amtrak still sucks in the northeast, just because its better than in alot of places doesn't mean it doesn't have a long way to go.
The public transportation is underfunded and barely functional despite looking good on paper.
Public transport is a miserable hell.
There's lots of reasons one could be forced to drive into Boston, hence the abundance of cars. If you work in the city but live outside of it, as I have in the past and as many must do due to the exorbitant expense of living in the city, you may occasionally have to drive in just based on the limitations of train schedules or the unavailability of a particular rail route. Also if you're going into the city for entertainment (Fenway, House of Blues area, etc.) on a weekend, the trains often aren't an option because they stop at 11PM during the week. Also, having myself driven and taken public transport in and out of the city many times, the cons of both methods are substantial time-wise and even cost-wise and often add up to being roughly equivalent, both being time consuming, frustrating, expensive pains in the ass. Public transportation evangelists such as yourself must either have tons of money and live in a city, or else have little experience with cities at all.
Yeah but downtown Boston is also very expensive to live it. No one is very gonna bring up how areas with amazing public transportation tend to unaffordable for most city residents
I lived in Boston for ten years and never needed a car to get anywhere in the city. If you're driving in Boston, something has already gone wrong.
The T has gotten significantly worse in the last 5 years.
@@MP-dn4bs no it hasnt lmao
@@ElemixZero I agree it sucks,but it hasn’t gotten worse. They started using new trains on the green line and orange line in the last 5 years.
Trains are newer yes but it’s definitely slower thanks to huge areas with speed restrictions
As long as the T works, everything is OK. But we know it is not reliable.
Here in Boston we've always just been told "Boston is more European than other parts of the US, that's why"
i'm a brit and Boston imo is very like Bristol, Cardiff and parts of London - small, narrow streets and a lot of dead ends that we over here tend to cal mews and alleys. not surprising, it was basically built by the same peoples.
@@raverdeath100 … or Berlin 😁
The first thing I thought when I saw the street layout is. Well Boston was one of the first cities in the colonies so the settlers probably just brought over what they were used to because that layout looks very European.
European, meaning old and unplanned. Crazy people like that.
European cities are of superior design.
I’ve always much preferred irregular streets over gridded streets, they make for a much more aesthetically pleasing street level experience.
Me too! They’re so much more interesting and even walkable.
agreed
I also think they make cities unique. I’m from Massachusetts and it’s really common for most cities to not have grids or to be oddly shaped because of vernacular design. My home town center has a grid because of its flatness, but the neighboring city has roads that just end because of swamplands that can’t be easily developed
Manhattan punching the air rn
Before the age of indutrialization, topography ruled city development. most European cities are hundreds if not thousands of years old and therefore followed the hills, flood plains and rivers. not surprising that Boston, a city built by Europeans (British mainly) follows the same pattern.
interestingly, this also helps with road safety. when streets are narrower and aren't straight cars don't drive as fast and pedestrians are more cautious when they can't see cars coming as easily
one thing I also like about messy streets, is they allow for nicer views down them, since there's always something to be looking at ahead of you(if that makes sense)
Yes, before industrialization people in cities threw their feces out of the window and into rivers. Boston is close to becoming that way once again. You should see the homeless encampments and the subway stations.
It isn't really an european thing. You need to follow natural features whatever continent you live.
@@Critical_Hit i agree but Boston was built by Europeans.
American cities:
following a grid plan --> UA-cam: why are US cities streets so bad?
not following a grid plan --> UA-cam: why are US cities streets so bad?
It's not the straightness of roads or angles they meet at that are the problems in the US, it's lack of distinction between streets connecting individual buildings, and roads connecting areas. You get too much traffic through residential areas or downtown areas, and tons of traffic problems because the people who want to go fast between places are on the same streets as the people turning into and out of driveways.
The US has the interstate highway system, which is great for getting between states or major cities without winding paths and intersections, but on a more local scale of getting around cities, we often lack a separation between different use types.
Guy's complainer
cars, thats why us streets are bad
if you eliminate nuance from the argument then it's very easy to make it seem dumb....
"confusing" not "bad".
..and it's only confusing to people that aren't used to visiting an old city.
I think this video should go live right around the start of Boston's rush hour...
Boston traffic so slow during rush hour--I’m watching it in my car
Can confirm. Just got on the commuter rail at Boston's South Station. Nice video.
Yup on storrow from the Tobin…..
Funny joke, rush hour starts at 7 am and ends at 7 pm here
*looks out my window* can confirm, total gridlock, I just outwalked a bus
I do think it makes sense for Boston to emphasize alternatives to driving instead of trying to make the city much easier to drive in.
Boston has the basis for a great public transit system but it's been underfunded and neglected for many years, and has physically deteriorated as a result. We're paying back that engineering debt now. It's not easy. There need to be big improvements, and everyone knows what they are: better circumferential transit, more and better links between subway lines, some kind of Amtrak/commuter rail link between North Station and South Station. Most of them aren't even being seriously planned now while the city and the region deal with the deficiencies in what's already there.
Some of the needed links were foreseen as necessary about 100 years ago!
The T never worked and will never work. The tax money, the government funding when given never goes to where it should go. It's called political corruption.
the fact we still don't have a north south rail link is criminal to be honest.
Decades. It was underfunded for decades. I moved to Boston 25+ years ago vs any other US city and the fact that it was one of the only walkable cities with a decent transit system. And it breaks my heart that we have squandered the opportunity to grow and improve the T for almost that entire time!
I refuse to use the T anymore what a mess now. I'll walk or take an Uber. It was never great but now is pretty awful.
Boston owes no apologies or needs to make any concession to car drivers. As you mentioned towards the end of the video, the city is 400 yo, and its organic street pattern is part of its charm. Drivers can park and ride and take the T. A Chicagoan writing here.
100% agree
Agreed. Though it's time to improve the T system by replacing old cars and adding new lines so it's easier and safer to get around.
@@legok6037 Of course, improving public transportation should be higher priority. Unfortunately, state DOT's still prioritize roads. So, it's not always up to the city.
I am a construction worker who works in Boston...so do you suggest I haul my tools onto the T???
@@reesiezanga5232 Dude, there are always exceptions. But all those office workers don't need to drive.
As a planner in Boston, I got way too excited by you featuring Boston Complete Streets in this video 💕
thank you for tackling my city and hope you enjoyed your time visiting!
Tourists - Don’t rent a car to see Boston or get great collision coverage.
Students - Keep the moving vans off Starrow Drive! Our bridges are not can openers.
Everyone else - Good Luck…you’ll need it.
Storrowing is a storied tradition!
😆😆😆
This video has an American perspective that made me chuckle. The video makes it sound like anything that isn't a grid is too hard to drive in, whereas in a city where mixed transports modes are normal I think the absence of a grid will have minimal impact as car drivers have to be more aware of their surroundings anyway. And Boston still feels more grid-based than most european cities I've lived in or visited.
My thoughts exactly. If you wanna confuse the average 'merican, just take a straight road and curve it. Be it roundabouts, city planning, or even racing.
Completely agreed, living in the Boston area I always find these complaints about street networks around here kind of hilarious. This is just the norm in most "Old World" cities that were developed pre-car. The complaining about the lack of a grid in Boston is such a specifically American and Canadian complaint. No one who is visiting Boston from a European nation is confused by Boston's layout because it is just the norm for how most European cities were developed too.
In a city as hard to drive in as Boston, there really needs to be better alternatives unless the goal is to move at a snail’s pace EVERYWHERE. I’ve seen major improvements to bicycle and pedestrian safety while living in Boston, but not as much when it comes to public transit. The MBTA is really falling apart, and shutdowns happen every weekend while very little gets accomplished. I still use it everyday to get to school and back, and it still beats driving, but it’s still frustrating at times. Fund the MBTA!!!
It's an ironic political 3rd rail to reduce on-street parking and also charge parking for residents in Boston. Boston desperately needs a hardnosed mayor to make these tough decisions.
I've always found Boston to be an interesting combination of old European city and big American city. It's neat. As long as you don't have to drive...
This is what makes Boston so charming. If you want soul destroying order and repetition, then you have almost every other North American town that is essentially excel spreadsheet.
Boston is soul destroying in adding streetlights on the interstate, petty vindictive kamikaze drivers and cold rude peoples
That excel spreadsheet comparison is brutal but apt 😂
On my first visit to Boston, I parked my car in the hotel garage and left it there. Walking in Boston was its own experience with its plethora of short streets and odd angles. The tourist orientated Freedom Trail helps with navigation while walking, but even here I found long breaks in the trail's brick ribbon where recent construction had occurred and it appeared there was no requirement to restore the trail. And a bit off topic, but from here in WA I followed the long construction of the Big Dig with its delays, overruns and unexpected issues. Allow me to say it was absolutely worth it. The Rose Kennedy Greenway, which along with the Bunker Hill bridge are the only visible result of the project is absolutely wonderful.
The Big Dig... If you are interested, GBH News is currently doing a 9 part podcast about the Big Dig here on UA-cam. I think they are on episode 3...
I live in York England, built by Romans on the marshy confluence of two rivers, and i felt quite at home walking in Boston! It works my language, on foot anyway.
Boston is such an interesting case study for a city trying to build out its bike lanes, but it struggles from disjointed and uncomfortable bike lanes which the city hall is trying to address. As someone that had friends in Allston and lived in beacon hill, it was faster to bike than take public transit. What made the bike commute especially frustrating was that you’d go from great protected lanes along Comm ave to uncomfortable shared roadways around Kenmore square and non-existent bike infrastructure in beacon hill. It has so much potential, but needs to dedicate funding to its public transit, rather than sinking everything into MassDOT
Agreed whole heartedly! My uncle used to bike in Boston in the 90s and 2000s I cannot believe the guts that must have taken. Everyone I met used to say “bikers shouldn’t use the road and or they should just get hit” unbelievable!
@@timothyjewett625Boston put in Hubway rental bike stations though not a lot of bike lanes. I got doored riding one by a 2-door sedan with extra long doors. They also added a bike lane in front of the museum of science after a cyclist got killed by a truck while crossing Monsignor O’Brien HWY in front of me.
I do that exact ride you’ve described on the regular! It’s always so enjoyable along Comm Ave up until Kenmore when I’m terrified of being doored any second
Regarding signs in Boston: this is frankly more of a Massachusetts problem instead of a specific Boston problem, although when combined with Boston's particular geography it becomes more of an issue. For whatever reason Massachusetts uses signage much more sparingly than other states (cross the border into any of it's neighbors and it is often immediately apparent). In particular, there is the tendency that at intersections they don't always tell you the name of both streets, just the smaller side street, not the larger main one. It has gotten a bit better, and GPS helps a lot, but growing up in the area we would joke with our friends and family from out of state about how in Massachusetts often being lost didn't just mean you didn't know how to get to where you wanted to be, but that you didn't even know what street you were on in the first place.
Growing up in New England I've noticed this a lot. There was one spot where I used to get off the highway regularly and there was no speed limit sign between the off ramp and the Rhode Island border several miles away. I think Massachusetts blew their signage budget on the signs warning plows about every single bridge, so there wasn't enough left over for all the regular signs!
Moved to Boston recently and if I didn't have GPS I'd be screwed. 80% of the time street signs are either non-existent or obscured by a van or tree branch. This is also goes for signs alerting you of turn-only lanes or if a lane is about to end. They mount them right in front of where you would need to merge and leaves you with the option to either merge quickly or roll with it. Makes no sense.
As a european I realised something while watching this. Roundabouts deal with weird intersection angles really well. Back when I was doing my driving test I dont think there was one in my area that had neat right angles but they all function fine. Also we dont have u turn areas because the roundabouts are the uturn areas.
I grew up near Boston and would visit the city a lot. Driving there sucks but there's really no reason to ever take a car into the city. The public transit, while somewhat inefficient, is still quite reliable and robust. Boston isn't a city for cars, and I'd very much like to keep it that way.
The T has crumbled dramatically in the past 2 years. Trains catching fire (even the new ones), derailments, accidents. Max speed on the red line is 5-15mph. It takes over 30 minutes to get from North Quincy Station to JFK, a trip that should take under 10 minutes on bad day. Blue and Green are no better, and Orange is slightly better. You're actually better off driving in in the mornings if you have to work before 8am.
Maybe not for drivers, but I’ve personally found that Boston is my favourite US city. Grid designs maybe more practical, but they make cities look ugly and unpleasant to walk through.
Boston is so beautiful
That six way junction looked like the perfect candidate for a roundabout. Separating pedestrian, cyclist, and driving routes would also help with this.
Don't underestimate how badly Massachusetts can screw up a roundabout
@@counterfit5 Great spot for a trapezoidabout!
you mean a rotary! most people say rotary here for some reason
@@ratedpz9461A rotary is different from a modern roundabout in that a modern roundabout has "yield on entry", no stoplights.
You'd have to demolish the building on each corner to put in a roundabout
My wife then girl friend thought we could drive into Boston for the day. I laughed and told her we'll be taking the train in. She didn't understand until we go closer to the city. Not only is every highway and roads gridlocked, the roads are confusing.
Boston could use a connection between the blue and red subway lines that come within a mile of each other. They aren’t connected now and it takes another train or getting out of the subway and walking over which is faster. The connection could be a short tunnel with a moving walkway. It could also use a link between North and South stations which are major hubs that take multiple trains to go between. This would speed using the subway to get around.
It should be mentioned that the MBTA is currently working on extending the Blue line to the Red Line using an abandoned tunnel just past Bowdoin (there used to be a trolley exit tunnel beyond that point which is why the road above is wide.) Anyway, the current project is in the planning stages...
6:55 Yes, definitely do a video on way finding and signage.
Speaking of signage, one of the things that seriously degrades a city is the cacophony of advertising.
And, really, totally optional! São Paulo banned billboards and most building advertisement. Such a visual improvement! The billboards in Boston are a blemish on an otherwise gorgeous city!
@@siahsargus2013 They're banned in Denmark just in general and it does make for a huge difference.
The DOT stole the MBTA money during the big dig which is a major component as to why the T is struggling. Without the T Boston would grind to a halt. I miss the T so much now that I live in RI. Good public transit even if it isn’t Netherlands level or whatever is still better than none at all. I am excited for RIPTA to step up their game with a relocation of the bus terminal in Providence to the jewelry district in a mixed use building
I was wondering if anyone would bring up the corruption issue. None of the politicians want to address it.
I absolutely loved Boston when I was there. Great city and transit
I found using a hybrid approach works out well. Hybrid meaning park somewhere less congested and take the T to your final destination. The video does highlight there are some exceptions to the terrible driving experience. It's really Downtown that has the bulk of terrible streets. Driving around The Back Bay, Allston, Brookline and Cambridge are not nearly as bad, albeit still challenging. I was surprised you didn't mention the high frequency of box trucks that get ripped open on Storrow Drive, thanks to the all the low bridges! Colloquially dubbed "Storrowed" or the act of "Storrowing" one's truck.
Park and ride, it's the norm in a lot of European cities.
I recently went to Boston and loved the city so much! I tried to study the history of the city before hand but your video sums up the important details. Thanks so much!
Many years ago I was driving in Boston using a rental car. An unexpected snowstorm covered the city, street signs were iced over and couldn't be read. I drove aimlessly for hours trying to find my way, and no one on the streets to ask direction. I finally found my way out and since I was leaving the next day decided to take the car back to the airport and took the hotel shuttle back to the hotel, and I'm glad I did that. The next morning I looked out the window and all the cars in the hotel parking lot were buried under snow. Lesson learned, never drive in Boston, and never drive in Boston during a winter snowstorm.
In short: Boston looks like your average European city, but with more cars.
As a native, Boston is going through a less-car phase, reducing driving lanes, making more roads one way, and adding bike lanes in their place. It all started during pandemic, to allow outdoor dining for restaurants who were prohibited from indoor dining and has gone up from there. Hopefully in a decade, we'll have similar car traffic as an average European city.
Central Boston is the only European-esque part
I’ve lived in and around Boston for most of my life - its somewhat unique as well that it’s so small compared to other cities, which make walking and biking much more attractive than driving
Fantastic video! Really enjoyed seeing the evolution of the city’s topography and street network, would be fascinating to see other cities get the same treatment!
My mouth literally dropped when you showed me what Boston looked like. But than my mind took me to New York City the Borough of The Bronx & Manhattan and how it came to be. Than more recently of how Lagos Nigeria is expanding their city into the ocean.
The Ocean is just as good as the land it is built on. So when you look at it, it is not hard to imagine.
Another confusing aspect to Boston are it's multiple neighborhoods. Your segment on signage made me think of this. You can find the same street name in multiple neighborhoods (i.e. Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica plain may have the same street name within their neighborhoods but they're not contiguous streets). Another factor is the continuous roadwork. I'm 42 and I started driving at 16, and I cannot remember a time that I've ever driven through Boston and not encountered road work. Massachusetts is famous for being able to create traffic 24 hours a day just by doing road work.
The reason for the same street names being in different neighborhoods is because Boston annexed towns throughout the city's history. Places like Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxbury, Brighton, and Hyde Park used to be towns before becoming part of Boston.
As a Rhode Islander, cool to see settler William Blaxton getting some pub, although we call him Blackstone. There's a valley and a river named after him here. He was indeed an odd dude. Legend has it when he moved to what is now R.I., he rode around on a bull instead of a horse and, yes, really liked his solitude.
I lived there in 2002, and can attest to the fact that many street signs were missing, small, hidden or worn out. It’s so much better now
Yesterday I was literally biking all of these streets that you talked about in this video. I’ve lived in Boston a very long time and the streets are all second nature to me but I can totally get why people find them confusing. I gotta say that I bought into the whole “cow path” myth too
I lived in Boston for thirty years. This is the BEST explanation -- the only thing that makes sense-- anyone has given. Thank you.
I drive through Boston almost every day at work. I pride myself on learning as much of the city as I can, as well as being able to drive through it. When I first started my job at 20 years old, I was the delivery driver, and had to navigate the city driving a 25’ box truck. Only ever knocked over a cone!
For tourists visiting and renting a car here in MA: We don't like to use turn signals here. It's like giving information away to the enemy. Also, when merging into heavy traffic, never make eye contact with other drivers... just keep pushing your way in and pretend you don't see anyone. If you make eye contact, you'll never get in. It's over at that point. Every man for himself. 😅
The layout looks ok to me. Winding streets. Nice smaller alleyways. A proper city. Only that major motorway is odd. Confusing is seems not. Quite logical in fact with circular streets
It's the BIG DIG. Kinda legendary in its infamy.
Unfortunatley the federal government ripped up entire neighborhoods in Boston to build highways. There was also an "urban renewal" project where an old neighborhood was completely destroyed and replaced with wide streets and government buildings. All 30k residents were forced to vacate.
@@sachemofboston3649 Yes, once again, Jane Jacobs was right!
A fantastic video! Brilliant! So many questions answered!
As someone who has lived in Boston and absolutely loved it, one of the great charms is its meandering streets and how this discourages car traffic, therefore making it pedestrian friendly. With exception to the winter months, which granted is ~late November to early April, I walked or took the T 90% of the time. It’s part of the charm of the city and what makes a fairly small land mass feel much larger. When I was there they were also expanding the T into new areas of Cambridge which was greatly needed. I concur that better public transportation and biking infrastructure is needed, and I’m glad to see the city working on that.
I would also be in favor of greater larger railway developments such as high speed rail connecting Boston with NYC, as well as further expansion of railway into places like Western Mass, Vermont, NH+Maine, and down to the Cape. Such developments by Massachusetts broadly would greatly reduce the need for cars both for people leaving and entering Boston, which would boost tourism traffic and revenue for the state overall. It may also slow the exponential ballooning of Boston real estate prices.
Overall I love this city, and its unfriendliness to cars and walkability is one of the chief reasons!
What about the essential jobs that make driving in Boston a necessity? I have one of those jobs and it can be hell at times navigating the city
@@reesiezanga5232 give it a year and you will be a pro in no time!
I was born and raised in Massachusetts, and I'm so embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that much of Boston's development was due to land reclamation.
It's part of the reason why Boston has four Washington Streets.
history amirite!
Once you spend a summer in the city, you figure it out real fast. Boston is the hottest, most miserable place I've lived in the summer... and I've lived in South East Asia too. The old marshes and reclamation work make some areas incredibly muggy; some streets turn into wind tunnels any time the temperature shifts; and the whole city is a giant heat sink.
Honestly if you just walk down Commonwealth Ave from east to west, you'll feel it change from standard city heat (Boston Common)--> wind tunnel (Kenmore)---> swamp (BU Campus until the bridge)---> scorching desert (BU campus west of the bridge). It only turns into a normal experience when you hit the end of the green line. That pattern perfectly lines up with the natural geography along the road.
@@komyn27 I lived in San Antonio for 3 years. Believe me when I say that summers in South Texas are worse.
I have personally driven hundreds of thousands of miles in Boston and can tell you from my personal experience, you should be more scared of the other drivers who aren't familiar w/ the road than the bad drivers who are familiar with the roads. You get use to the layout pretty quick and your brain fills in the gaps with the smaller areas itself. After I'd say a week of driving the roads I was confident in myself, and at this point there is nothing easier for me than driving through Boston during rush hour.
This was so fascinating. As someone who grew up visiting Boston somewhat often, its so cool to know why it is so hard to get around!
Boston is a great city but it also way crowded than I expected when I moved recently
It's weird how what is consider an interesting quirk in the US is pretty much what is the norm in Brazil.
Unlike Spanish America, Brazilian cities have nearly always been built as a total mess. Looking at a map of São Paulo it is pretty clear to see the original "spaghetti" of streets being cut through by some bizarre 20th century expressways.
I drove to Boston from NY. I always wanted to visit the Cheers bar among other things in Boston. It is NOT that it is difficult to navigate BUT the difficult thing about Boston streets is that they are very narrow/small. Especially the ones that are two way streets. A clear indication of that is seeing cars parked on the sidewalk. I rented an economy car and STILL I couldn’t turn correctly on the narrow streets unless I reverse and adjust. Someone told me that back in the day, there were a lot of horse carriage riding and that was the major form of transportation so everything adjusted from that. If you going to get around smoothly, get a GTI or a Honda Fit.
I loved walking and biking around Boston when I visited 4 years ago.
Great points made in this video!
Excellent summary why driving in Boston is so challenging. As someone who lived in Boston for a decade, there are two more factors that make driving there so much fun:
1) Lack of navigational signage: In most cities and on most major roads, you'll see signs like "Turn left for highway 1 in a half mile" In Boston, both on highways and on city streets, there's usually no warning - just a sign at the exit saying "Highway 1 North". If you're not in the proper lane, well, good luck with that. Of course, once you've lived in the city for a while, you know where the exits are and you prepare accordingly.
2) The unwritten rules of the road which every Bostonian knows (but you don't). Besides rules of merging ("The one with the most run-down car gets to go where they want"), there's the rule of red lights: "At any intersection, when the light turns red, two more cars get to go through" This works fine as long as everybody knows the rule - the corollary is "When the light turns green, pause a moment for two more cars to go through the intersection".
Add in rotaries (essentially traffic circles from a Mad Max movie) - or in Cambridge at the Fresh Pond Parkway / Alewife Brook Parkway where there are two rotaries back to back nearly forming a figure eight - and you've got beautifully choreographed chaos. If only everyone behind the wheel knew the dance...
its actually not that hard to learn how to drive in boston once you do it regularly and start to learn the area. the tricky part is knowing what areas to avoid during times of bad traffic so you don't get stuck being forced to wait until you finally reach a road that allows you to change direction because you're on a one-way or something like that.
Amazing putting things into perspective
about signs: you should consider a video about why parking signs are so confusing in Montreal, i have no idea why the city places so many specific restrictions but i'd love to know!
For me, the main issue with Boston traffic is the gridlock AROUND Boston on the highways. As Boston got more expensive for commercial renters, companies moved their offices to office parks along the interstate exits just outside of the city. The same thing happened in DC, where traffic really isn't bad in the city itself, but the highways surrounding it in MD and VA are terrible!
Literally just rode over this bridge 0:01 on my Brompton on my way to South Station.
Nothing like going on vacation to Boston/Cape Cod and seeing this video pop up!
Well told. Thanks.
As a european, Boston is not Crazy at all. I would feel home there :)
Very very well done video. Fascinating stuff and I really enjoyed the NOLA and SF tangent. I'd be curious to see how it compares internationally.
I like organic streets for walking. Makes a city much more fun to explore and get lost in the moment.
I live in NH and go out of my way to not be the person that drives to BOS when me and my friends go down there
Great map animations!
I love Calgary Alberta where I live. It's more or less a big grid with numbered roads. All the avenues go east-west and streets go north south. There's Centre Street at the centre-ish and as you go further out in east or west the street numbers get higher. All numbered avenues have Memorial Blvd and is the basis for the numbered avenues. Only thing you have to watch with addresses is making sure you designate which quadrant of the city you're referring to as there's four possible locations with an address of 400 4 Ave. Lastly the last two digits of an address is where it is on the block, and numbers before tell you what the intersecting avenue or street is. If it doesn't conform to the grid at all, it gets a regular name.
So lame!
Montreal 💪
Met a lot of lovely people from Calgary. How's your transit up there?
@@siahsargus2013 I rarely use it as I don't live within the city limits so I drive where I need to be. The odd time I do take the C-Train and it's quick. Also really good for major sporting events as you park your vehicle at the C-Train station and take the train. After the event it wisks you out fast versus sitting in traffic.
@@siahsargus2013 It's pretty good for Canadian standards however Montreal is much better, Calgary is very expensive though, that shouldn't be understated.
I lived there for over 20 years. The streets make perfect sense. The major points of interest are connected by (generally) straight roads, and the side streets follow from that logic. They added a more street signs than in 1900s, so a big improvement. Yes, so much easier to bike or walk.
Hi native Bostonian here (not bostoner!). Pretty good video I must say. I would also note that south boston also has competing grid systems and has for a long time. In addition, the current mayor has done a really good job expanding bike infrastructure and traffic calming measures so that drivers cannot go as fast. While I have figured out how to drive in this this city from years of experience, most people definitely don’t know how and often go down one way streets. If we can just get MBTA to get it together than maybe we can become a model for American planning.
I was thinking the same thing about the one way street. It really isn't hard to navigate on foot (some roads always take you to the center of the city, and if you see water, the Citgo sign, or the Prudential you'll orient yourself quickly). The problem is that you can't take the same roads you'd use to walk somewhere while driving. The first time I had to drive, I got stuck driving in a loop because of all the one way and buried streets I was unfamiliar with 😂
It's kind of funny that you mention the cow paths. The Boston Museum of Science had an exhibit on the Big Dig for years and part of that exhibit explained that the road network in Boston was built on old cow paths.
6:10 as someone who has driven through that intersection, it is a traffic nightmare pretty much all hours of the day especially in rush hour. One coming straight from the Common comes from Storrow Drive and that traffic goes to Westbound Mass Pike and all the way to 93 another interstate known for heavy traffic. Going horizontal it's Stuart St that traffic comes from the Pike off the exit going both ways. The diagonal is Columbus Ave aka Rte 28 which goes all the way to Cape Cod.
Reducing options for turning always makes it more confusing and stressful to drive as it makes it more difficult to find your destination, it is much easier to navigate when some streets are closed to cars entirely than when they are arbitrarily restricted from some directions.
Building side streets with continuous sidewalks makes them look like driveways, so people only enter them, when they really are the destination.
The T is great until a ceiling tile falls onto your head from the inside of a station. Or your train derails for the third time in a week. Oh, or, you get delayed for hours because the maintenance is so bad and some of the trains are from the 60s. Otherwise is great though!
Boston has those trams! I have been there several times and I just used the rail system there.
Being from New Hampshire, driving to Boston is the ABSOLUTE WORST. The traffic, the road layout, the roads themselves, the 7 months of construction. It's damn shame my only other options are the two Amtrak stations completely across the state from any of the important cities. Transit is fun!
This is really interesting, I hope it will become a series. ^__^
I don't know where you got that Philadelphia street plan, but i need it right now. I want to build a city in Cities Skylines 2 using beginning with Philly's grid.
Boston is very walkable and the T has train access to most of the most popular parts of the city but our trains have had a lot of maintenance and funding issues which only exacerbates the issues we have from our crazy street network.
As a European, I find it cute how Americans find non-grid street plans "confusing".
It's not just the lack of a grid, the roads also curve a lot. You can't even guess approximately where a road would take you.
Yeh. We our iq is of a 🥔
It's the same reason why it sucks to drive in certain parts of Queens. Just weird intersections everywhere. Plus roads that are obviously one ways in size being two way streets for some reason
All the old cities have generally confusing streets. I guess it hits home because its hard to plan public transportation and renewable energy infrastructure.
Would it be fair to say that cities with confusing street networks benefit more from subways, elevated metros, and ferries than other similarly sized cities?
I think cities with any kind of restrictions, difficult geography, or other inconveniences tend to necessitate a strong transportation network. Cities like Houston tend to get complacent.
Great video 😀👍💯 To me, it's clear that Boston, especially its downtown, can easily support more car free streets that would help to improve the functionality of Boston 😀👍💯
So.. what if there is a fire emergency? How is the fire dpt going to get down the "car free" streets to tend to your fire?
I would honestly not change much, cars should be the bottom of priority in terms of urban development especially when a large part of North America is struggling to fix car infrastructure already
Boston should add more connections between subway lines like red to blue and north to south stations to make it easier to cross the city without a car.
@@karld1791 agreed, maybe even add some shorter distance surface trams for connectivity as well, it would help to further diversify the means of travel without relying on cars
As a postscript, I find organic street plans more spatially and aesthetically interesting and rewarding.
I always take the train to Boston. And with 3 different Amtrak Stations within the city that are right next to T Stations, why wouldn't I? Boston is a great City to walk around. As long as you have a map (which I mean, come on. Who doesn't now a days?) and a general idea of where you're trying to go, there's no reason you shouldn't walk!
Omg I'm so happy made a video on this! I took a trip to Boston to go to a concert and spent a weekend there so of course I decided to drive, and it is the worst city to drive in. I was so confused to where to go even though I had GPS on. I had to alternate my route 5 times just to get back to my hotel! I would take a left turn assuming it would continue to be a driving lane onto the next street only to find out that lane leads to the highway because there wasn't a sign. I hated driving there. Not to mention I was a new driver then , I only had my license for 3 months at that time. I'm happy I didn't merge into anyone one so i guess it may have been good practice. But I am never driving in Boston again if I go back.
At 1:27 the glass building is Winthrop tower, proud to say I helped build that beautiful building
I learned while doing a bus tour in Boston that the reason they do "tavern" signs is because neon signage actually damages some of the historical buildings around. It might even be illegal to use neon there, but I can't recall if that was a fact or not. It's more cluttered if you're driving, but walking it's not too bad!
Was there a few months ago. I spent years as a pizza delivery guy in a city that was supposed to be crazy to drive in and this place still freaked me out.
I am from Southern NH. Been going to Boston my entire life. Still get lost driving, even though I can T and walk anywhere. Lol. Its is really nice to have a walkable city.
One quick correction! The MFA used to be in Back Bay, but moved to Huntington/Fenway later
Lived in Boston for 9 years and wanted to hit on your signage comment!!
1) A lot of times street signs are hidden by trees during the spring or summer.
2) Boston is DARK. There aren’t a ton of street lights (imo), and that makes small street signs even harder to read. Couple this with early sunsets (as early as 3:50 PM on the solstice) and it’s very hard to see the signs.
3) Boston signs seem “late”. You often see a lane change or a right-turn-only sign right as it’s happening, with no room for error.
It’s not impossible to drive in downtown, and not nearly as hard as a lot of commentators are making it seem. But using Google maps and practice makes all the difference
As a non-American, this looks like a completely normal street network. I'm not very familiar with grids.
You make it seem like having a chaotic road system is a bad thing. Boston has the best street network in the US, not being a grid makes each area feel unique, not an endless mass of concrete, and making driving hard is a good thing in a major city. It's not perfect, the highways ruin the areas they run through, and it could definitely do better with wayfinding, but it has a much better starting point than any other US city. I say this as a European, used to messy street networks, but such networks create more livable and walkable cities, as long as you also provide the public transport and signage necessary to navigate them, London does a great job at wayfinding complicated streets with the posts with maps on that litter the city.
A city doesn't have to be confusing to limit car traffic. That has more to do with the width of the roads. The actual problem in the US is trying to make too many street/road hybrids (stroads) with local and through traffic.
Connecticut here. I love being in between both boston and nyc. I take bus up to boston for the day and redsox game or train to nyc both 2 hours away.
Nowadays, wayfinding while driving is not a problem due to navigation apps. Anyone who has problems using GPS navigation should not be driving a car