Why Are Boston Streets So Confusing? 

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Storrowing is a storied tradition!

😆😆😆

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.

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.

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 😂

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.

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

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.

The Big Dig... If you are interested, GBH News is currently doing a 9 part podcast about the Big Dig here on RU-vid. I think they are on episode 3...

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.

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

I was wondering if anyone would bring up the corruption issue. None of the politicians want to address it.

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...

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.

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

Park and ride, it's the norm in a lot of European cities.

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.

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!

Boston is a great city but it also way crowded than I expected when I moved recently

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.

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!

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.

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 😂

Building side streets with continuous sidewalks makes them look like driveways, so people only enter them, when they really are the destination.

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 🥔

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

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?