Near Porter Square, a rough crossing

At Somerville Avenue's junction with Beacon Street in Somerville , a reader writes, cars making illegal left turns frequently block traffic going right. (Christina Pazzanese for the Globe)

It's a heavily traveled crossroads that connects drivers moving between Union Square in Somerville and Porter Square and Inman Square in Cambridge. But tipster Janice Zazinski of Somerville says a couple of relatively simple upgrades to this one key intersection could vastly improve safety for cyclists and speed up the traffic flow.

"I am wondering if you can investigate Beacon Street in Cambridge/ Somerville, where it intersects/dead-ends with Somerville Avenue," wrote Zazinski in an e-mail to GlobeWatch. "At this traffic light it becomes a de facto (i.e., no lane dividers) two-lane road, and many is the time that I have seen cars in the right 'lane' waiting to turn left onto Somerville Avenue, thus preventing cars and bicycles behind them from making a right on red onto Somerville Avenue. Would it be possible for the city . . . to paint a 'right turn only arrow' to prevent these bottlenecks?"

During a recent mid-afternoon visit to the intersection by a Globe reporter, traffic was relatively light. Most drivers waiting to turn left onto Somerville Avenue toward Porter Square waited patiently in the appropriate lane on Beacon Street, even if that meant queuing up 8 or 10 cars back. But a few drivers saw the open right-hand lane and figured they would jump the line by using it. Those cars ended up blocking vehicles attempting to turn right onto Somerville Avenue.

"And speaking of right-turn-only arrows," Zazinski added, "the newly repaved Somerville Avenue, heading east out of Porter Square, does have a right-turn-only lane onto Beacon Street. It would be much more helpful, however, if the arrow indicating the right-turn-only lane was presented to drivers earlier, as people often find out too late and begin jockeying for position in the very short stretch of road between Mossland Street and Beacon Street. As someone who bicycles this daily (and who goes straight down Somerville Avenue, not turning right on Beacon), this can be terrifying."

A Globe reporter saw that from Mossland Street, the right-hand lane of Somerville Avenue does have large arrows and instructions painted on the roadway indicating that the lane is for right turns only onto Beacon Street, but that stretch is indeed quite short, making last-minute lane changes difficult and probably a bit harrowing during busy travel times.

The city responds
Somerville's director of communications, Thomas Champion, said he spoke with officials in the city's Traffic and Parking Department about Zazinski's requests. Of her complaint about cars blocking the right-hand lane on Beacon Street in order to turn left onto Somerville Avenue, Champion said it's already against the law to turn left from right-hand lanes unless specifically allowed. He added he's "not sure" what good adding a sign there would do and thinks it may cause further confusion since the city doesn't typically put up signs when something is already illegal. He said he will ask that traffic enforcement be stepped up to catch offenders.

As for giving drivers on Somerville Avenue more warning that the right-hand lane is for turns onto Beacon Street, Champion said "this is a good time" to consider possible sign changes since the road is in the middle of a massive overhaul by the Mass. Highway Department. "If it makes sense to our traffic engineers, we'll increase visibility" of the lane restriction by having street signs added and/or extending painted arrows in the road back toward Porter Square, said Champion. Additionally, the city was planning to meet with MassHighway and the project contractor Friday to make sure all temporary lane markers, line stripes, and turn indicators are in place before the project is mothballed until spring, he said.