Not Just Incompetence or Apathy

 

A few weeks ago there was an article in the Boston Globe about terrible signage in a complicated—some would say byzantine—intersection near Storrow Drive and Charles St. In part, the confusing signs are a result of distribution of responsibility and jurisdiction among several government agencies who do not get along well. As a devotee of cognitive engineering, the poor signage (in addition to a lack of urban planning) in the Boston area has always hit a raw nerve. Right at the point that I’ve gotten myself turned around, I begin to think of all of the ways that things could be improved for locals and visitors alike. That is, understanding the needs of drivers of various types and modifying signs and  traffic patterns accordingly. Maybe even being more consistent with highway references in signs (128 versus 95, for example). The realization that some of the problems are due to territorialism—rather than simple incompetence or apathy—is doubly maddening.

 

Better signage is needed to overcome several aspects of Boston urban design that pre-dates the widespread use of cars.

1. In most municipalities, streets are not straight.  Instead, they typically resemble mammalian intestines. You can’t just think “I need to head north” and then choose a street that looks like it goes north.  You’ll wind up going to Rhode Island every time.
2. Street names change as you leave one town and enter another.  However, there will be no indication that the street name has changed or that you’ve entered a new town.
3. Adjacent towns use the same street names to refer to non-contiguous streets. So “Oak Street” may be a main street in Town A, and Town B right next door may also have an “Oak Street,” but they will not meet at the boundary.  Instead, Town B’s “Oak Street” will be slightly north of Town A’s and will invariably lead to Rhode Island.
4. Whenever you’ve missed a turn because they’ve placed street signs behind large trees there will be 8 blocks of “No U-Turn” signs. You have to ask, if they placed those “No u-turn” signs because so many people were making u-turns, why didn’t they try to fix the underlying problem (i.e., people were getting lost) rather than the effect of that problem.
5. There are many one-way streets, especially downtown. I once spent 30 minutes trying to go 2 blocks near Devonshire St. It was like a black hole.  The same street was one-way in one direction for a few blocks and then, inexplicably, was one-way in the other direction. Sure, I understand why—to keep traffic down by discouraging through traffic—but they could have put up signs to help people get to major highways.  And to Rhode Island.

 

Effective signage would help all of these things.  It is unlikely to happen, though. So I just have to learn my way around and make the occasional illegal u-turn.