![sands_street01.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/2009/07_16/sands_street01.jpg)
The long-awaited Sands Street bike path, a protected approach to the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge which took a few years longer than expected to go through New York City's construction bureaucracy, looks tantalizingly close to completion these days. It's not there yet, but you can start to picture how this critical addition to the city's bike network will appear when finished. The Department of Design and Construction tells us the whole thing should be paved by the end of the week, weather permitting, and the path should officially open to cyclists next week, after some fencing is added.
Above is the view looking toward the bridge entrance from the north side. Here's how it looked last September:
![sands_st_now.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/2008/09_29/sands_st_now.jpg)
More pics after the jump.
![sands_street02.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/2009/07_16/sands_street02.jpg)
![sands_street3.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/2009/07_16/sands_street3.jpg)
![sands_street5.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/2009/07_16/sands_street5.jpg)