List of Transportation Studies

Sharrow

Transportation Studies

The City of Cambridge looks to internal and external studies to evaluate transportation projects and inform decisions on best practices in facility design.  Below are some transportation studies with which the City has been involved. 

New Mobility Blueprint

The New Mobility Blueprint will develop actionable recommendations for policies, programs, and regulations that will help the City ensure that new mobility options, such as scooters and automated vehicles, are implemented in a way that aligns with and advances existing goals and policies. The Blueprint is a methodical, data-driven effort to position the City to better plan for these new mobility options. It will result in concrete actions, and is not a visioning or goal-setting exercise. The New Mobility Blueprint will be adapted over time as the mobility landscape changes. 

Click here read about this study.

Alewife Transportation Planning

On June 19, 2014 the Cambridge City Council Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Utilities asked the Community Development Department to “address the traffic, transportation and access to transit issues in the Fresh Pond/Concord Avenue/Alewife area with a view toward understanding the impact of recent development trends in the area.” Staff created and delivered a presentation at the Tobin School meant to give the Council and public an understanding of how the transportation elements of the Concord-Alewife Plan were being implemented, an understanding of current development taking place and its impact on area transportation, an explanation of the nature of Alewife transportation and vehicle trips, as well an update on recent trends and projects that the City and others have completed, are in progress and hope to pursue in the future.

Click here to view the Alewife Transportation Update (2014) presentation given on June 19, 2014 to City Council Subcommittee on Transportation and Utilities at the Tobin School.

CTPS Alewife Bus and Traffic Operations Study

In 2007-2009, the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) at the request of the City of Cambridge, completed a study aimed at optimizing bus access to Alewife Station.  This study was completed in two phases.  The results of this study can be found below:

Executive Summary

CTPS Bus Access Memo

Kendall Square Mobility Task Force

The Kendall Square Mobility Task Force process was established in 2015 to take a comprehensive look at mobility issues in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, with the goal of developing a set of policy and project recommendations.

Click here to learn more about the Kendall Square Mobility Task Force.

Bicycle Facility Studies in Cambridge

Hampshire Bicycle Lane Study

In 2003, the City of Cambridge undertook a study to evaluate the influence of bike lanes and other pavement markings on how motorists and bicyclists travel on the road (using Hampshire Street as the study site). The study was particularly focused on how far away bicyclists travel from parked cars, since the threat of being hit by a car door opening suddenly is a serious one. The study found that bike lanes are beneficial, and a survey of cyclists showed that cyclists overwhelmingly favored the bicycle lanes.

Click here to read the Hampshire Bicycle Lane Study.

National Cooperative Highway Research Program Study

The National Cooperative Highway Research Program is conducting a study in Cambridge evaluating various ways of marking bicycle lanes. As part of the study, researchers will be surveying motorists and bicyclists.

Click here to read about this study.

Shared Lane Marking Study

Cambridge was one site for a study undertaken by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) evaluating the efficacy of Shared Lane Markings (also known as "sharrows").

Click here to read the FHWA report.

Other studies

Check back soon for additional references.

For More Information

For more information about the studies described, please contact Cara Seiderman at cseiderman@cambridgema.gov,  617/349-4629.