Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

Wider Sidewalks & a Bicycle Park-and-Ride for Williamsburg

1:58 PM EST on December 18, 2006

Streetsblog has gotten a hold of a draft of DOT's plan to widen the sidewalk and install new bike racks at the Bedford Avenue L subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As diagrammed above, the plan calls for the elimination of five motor vehicle parking spaces on N. 7th Street at Bedford Avenue, alongside the subway station stairwell on the southeast corner (see the corner at the bottom of the diagram).

bike_stealing.jpgThe Bedford Avenue L is a popular park-and-ride spot for area bicycle commuters. With the bike racks on N. 7th between Bedford and Driggs often overloaded, it is common to see clumps of bicycles locked to street signs, subway railings and just about anything else.

Unfortunately, prior to this development, every so often park-and-ride cyclists would return home from work to find that their bikes were gone. As the New York Times reported last November, the bicycle thief was not who you'd think:

On Wednesday, 28-year-old graphic designer Miao Wang rode herbicycle 12 blocks from her apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to theBedford Avenue L subway station. She locked up, boarded her train andwent to work. That evening, she emerged from subway to find that herblack Diamondback bicycle was gone. Ms. Wang'sbicycle was one of nine confiscated in the latest police sweep of bikeslocked to railings, street signs and parking meters around the subwaystation.

DOT will be issuing a press release shortly and we'll have more information on this promising and, I believe, unprecedented development. Does anyone know of any other cases in New York City in which on-street car parking was removed and replaced with bicycle parking? 

Photo: Untitledname on Flickr

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Ossé: Bedford Ave. Bike Lane is Stuck in DOT’s ‘Community Engagement’ Purgatory

"Over the past couple weeks [the DOT] has been saying that they need to do more community engagement on the issue," the Council member said of the much-discussed project.

March 19, 2024

Cycle of Rage: Council Members Slam DOT for Successful Safety Projects

What do three street safety projects across the city have in common? Hypocrisy by some Council members, that's what.

March 19, 2024

Tuesday’s Headlines: Make America Grate Again Edition

A Sanitation worker made a larger political statement than merely parking illegally. Plus other news.

March 19, 2024
See all posts