The LivableStreets website says it "has worked non-stop for the past three years to ensure that the Charles River bridges are designed to better accommodate biking, walking, and transit." But in the case of the BU bridge, this is incorrect. I predict that public transit over the BU bridge will be worsened both by the creation of the now permanent single lane entries and the reduction of vehicle lanes from 4 to 3 lanes. Traffic will often be gridlocked at both entries to the BU bridge due to the single lane bottlenecks and will flow more slowly across the bridge via 3 lanes than via 4, both of which will be disincentives to use public transit (i.e. MBTA buses) instead of private auto. In particular, on the Boston/Brookline side of the river, vehicles on Carlton St, which feeds directly to the single lane bridge entry, will backup on the T tracks (as they have been doing since the reconstruction and the single lane entries began), further harming public transit not only across the bridge but also along Commonwealth Avenue. Further, on the Cambridge side, the planned redesign of the Cambridge rotary which was alluded to in the 3 public hearings held re the BU bridge reconstruction (hearings which ended in June 2009) now appears to be a single stripe of paint extending a few feet west of the the traffic island by the Cambridge entry to the BU bridge, along with a painted arrow indicating that traffic going around the rotary or continuing east on Memorial Drive should bear left at that point. It will be surprising if that clears up the congestion at the northern end of the bridge, congestion partially inherent in the rotary design (with its multiple entries, merges, and exits) but which will be made worse not better by the single lane entry to the bridge. Finally, special traffic details directing traffic at rush hour at both ends of the BU bridge have recently ended now that construction has ended. These traffic details partially reduced the gridlock at the entries. I am pleased to see the BU bridge made safer via repairs and hope the new bike lanes provide increased safety for cyclists (though yesterday's death of a Cambridge cyclist traveling in a bike lane on Mass Ave belies the safety of painted bike lanes; both experienced and newbie cyclists have said they considered the wide sidewalks across the BU bridge fine for bike travel and safer than riding in the street, even in a painted bike lane). I hope the redesign of the BU bridge does not cause the traffic jams I anticipate. Prior to the start of reconstruction about 2 1/2 years ago, the BU bridge carried 41,000 vehicles per day. If the redesign in fact succeeds, it will likely be due in no small part to a reduction of vehicle traffic resulting largely from drivers having been trained over the last few years to choose alternate routes across the river which are longer, less direct, and have a larger carbon footprint than driving across the BU bridge. But if so, I doubt we will hear much

My earlier comment was truncated. Final paragraph should have read: I hope the redesign of the BU bridge does not cause the traffic jams I anticipate. Prior to the start of reconstruction about 2 1/2 years ago, the BU bridge carried 41,000 vehicles per day. If the redesign in fact succeeds, it will likely be due in no small part to a reduction of vehicle traffic resulting largely from drivers having been trained over the last few years to choose alternate routes across the river which are longer, less direct, and have a larger carbon footprint, than driving across the BU bridge. But if so, I doubt we will hear much in the media about the increased traffic jams on those other bridges. The beginning of my comment said: The LivableStreets website says it "has worked non-stop for the past three years to ensure that the Charles River bridges are designed to better accommodate biking, walking, and transit." But in the case of the BU bridge, this is incorrect. I predict that public transit over the BU bridge will be worsened both by the creation of the now permanent single lane entries and the reduction of vehicle lanes from 4 to 3 lanes. Traffic will often be gridlocked at both entries to the BU bridge due to the single lane bottlenecks and will flow more slowly across the bridge via 3 lanes than via 4, both of which will be disincentives to use public transit (i.e. MBTA buses) instead of private auto. In particular, on the Boston/Brookline side of the river, vehicles on Carlton St, which feeds directly to the single lane bridge entry, will backup on the T tracks (as they have been doing since the reconstruction and the single lane entries began), further harming public transit not only across the bridge but also along Commonwealth Avenue. Further, on the Cambridge side, the planned redesign of the Cambridge rotary which was alluded to in the 3 public hearings held re the BU bridge reconstruction (hearings which ended in June 2009) now appears to be a single stripe of paint extending a few feet west of the the traffic island by the Cambridge entry to the BU bridge, along with a painted arrow indicating that traffic going around the rotary or continuing east on Memorial Drive should bear left at that point. It will be surprising if that clears up the congestion at the northern end of the bridge, congestion partially inherent in the rotary design (with its multiple entries, merges, and exits) but which will be made worse not better by the single lane entry to the bridge. Finally, special traffic details directing traffic at rush hour at both ends of the BU bridge have recently ended now that construction has ended. These traffic details partially reduced the gridlock at the entries. I am pleased to see the BU bridge made safer via repairs and hope the new bike lanes provide increased safety for cyclists (though yesterday's tragic death of a Cambridge cyclist traveling in a bike lane on Mass Ave belies the safety of painted bike lanes; both experi

Please, if anyone knows how to separate paragraphs, let me know. works on boston.com but apparently NOT on bostonglobe.com :(