DOT Rolls Out Fort Greene Bike Lanes & Traffic-Calming

Via Brownstoner, the Department of Transportation is building out a nice street redesign project in Brooklyn right now as a part of its Ft. Greene Bike Lane & Traffic Calming Project (download a project description here). Formerly a 70-foot-wide one-way street, Carlton Avenue, above, has been converted to two-way operation with five-foot bike lanes on either side. DOT is now building a 20-foot wide planted median in the middle. The Carlton Ave. improvements are similar to recent projects on Park Slope’s 9th Street and Vanderbilt Ave. in Prospect Heights.

The Myrtle Avenue BID reports:

Construction has begun on Carlton Avenue (Myrtle/Park) to build a
raised median with trees. This bike lane and traffic calming project
aims to connect bike lanes from Northwest Brooklyn to Prospect Park and
is a collaboration between the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)
and NYC Parks Department (Parks).

The DOT is constructing the median
and Parks will maintain it.
The project has moved very quickly. Planning began in 2006. By early
2007, the DOT made adjustments to the street configuration with painted
lines. Now that construction has begun, the raised median should be
completely installed by the end of the year. The planted median will
have a mid-block break to allow cars to make a U-turn.

In a memorable meeting last June, Brooklyn’s Community Board 2 rejected DOT’s “complete street” plan in a 16-15 vote. CB2 member Anthony Ibelli said the neighborhood didn’t need any bike lanes because cyclists are “thugs on two wheels.” Other Community Board members argued that narrowing the 70-foot-wide one-way street would create traffic back-ups and bottlenecks.