I have to say I disagree with this comment. The lack of stop sign is a benefit to traffic flow. If you sit and watch drivers at the stop signs throughout all of East Cambridge, they roll right through them anyway. A better solution (only in my opinion) is to make the streets in this entire grid (1st St through Fulkerson St, and Bent St through Cambridge St) all one-way streets. This would allow for safer intersections due to a lessened amount of crossing traffic, and better visibility at the intersections.

I certainly respect our difference of opinion but I don't think that having one additional stop sign changes much traffic flow down fifth when the very next block (and every subsequent block) there is a stop. Even if people roll through stop signs, at least they slow down which is enough to prevent an accident. If you try turning onto fifth from Otis st, you'll see why I'm concerned. There is no way to see if a car is coming from either side until you are half-way into the intersection.

The proposal to make all the streets one way is interesting and worth considering, but it will only make turning onto fifth street half as dangerous as you'll only worry about traffic coming from one side.

If you want to move quickly through East Cambridge, I think you should be driving on 3rd street, not 5th street or other "internal" streets in the neighborhood.

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. We have reviewed the information you provided our staff and will be investigating this issue further.

I routinely drive down Thorndike toward the Galleria and the same scenario is true at Thorndike and Sciarappa (4-way intersection with only a 2-way stop). It is definitely difficult to see around the curb to make sure no traffic is on-coming from the direction without a stop sign. This is only another example of the potentially hazardous situation you describe, Alex. There are quite a few more around East Cambridge for sure. It would be nice to know how the city decided which intersections were worthy of a 4-way stop sign, and which intersections were left with only 2-way stops.

Hi David, I totally agree that it would be worth knowing how the city decides what intersections get 4-way stops and which are two. Some standardization of the intersections makes a lot of sense. Whether that's converting into one-ways or adding stops.

Thank you for contacting the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department. To analyze your request for an all way stop, we conducted volume observations during the morning and evening peak hours. The data that was recorded showed that a vast majority of the vehicles traveling through the intersection were on 5th St, with very few on Otis St. In the morning, approx. 200 vehicles were on 5th St while there were only 26 on Otis St. For an all way stop sign to be installed, the volume of vehicles on both streets should be in the same ball park. Stop signs are used to assign the right of way at intersections. Since so few vehicles arrive at the intersection on Otis St, those on 5th St are assigned the right of way. Data for both peak hours is on file at the office and is available upon request.

I believe the traffic statistics you cite, but this does not take away from the fact that this is a dangerous intersection because there is no way to see the traffic coming on 5th st. Can you please consider removing the parking spaces on either side of the street near the intersection? I hate to do this because there are already so few, but there is no way to know if someone is coming down 5th from Otis st because you can't see around the parked cars. I thought a stop sign was the best solution especially given that there are stop signs on most intersections on 5th. By your logic you should remove the stop signs elsewhere on 5th.

There is clearly a need to balance safety and traffic flow. It is true that nearly every intersection in this neighborhood of East Cambridge has restricted visibility at the four-way intersections. I still believe that if there were more one-way streets, the restricted visibility would be less of an issue as the stopped traffic would only expect traffic from one direction. What kind of analysis would need to be done in order for the city to consider changing the streets to one-ways? Back in the winter of 2015 after the record breaking snowfall, I thought the temporary change to one way streets worked quite well with the restricted visibility.

I would agree that making them one-way would be better for safety than making no change.

One-way streets can have a counter intuitive effect on safety, as they typically result in increased speeds for through traffic due to the lack of oncoming vehicles. This would result in increased issues with higher speed conflicts at four way intersections in the neighborhood.

I'd like to know the traffic patterns for the next intersections down on 5th street that do have stop signs? Why not just make 5th street no stops at all in this case?