I’ve been riding in the construction zone’s lane since they paved it. (Outside of work-hours, not gettin’ in the way of the work). It’s already safer than the outside bike lanes – with caveats.

Last time I was riding up it a car jumped out in front of me (no signal, high accel, Jersey plate, black SUV, stereotypes reinforced etc) and used the striped zone as an acceleration lane. I’ve seen the same thing happen twice (a black or white Jersey SUV each time) while driving Allen in my car.

Physical separation is going to be required. I know planters are going in at the plaza’d former cross-streets, maybe that’ll be enough.

Still: Awesome work, enormous fan, DOT firing on all cylinders, I can’t say enough good things.

Kaja,

The plans appear to call for vertical plastic bollard to be placed in the hatched area, similar to those on 9th Ave shown here. Those should help out a lot, although I’d certainly prefer something a bit stronger.

nationwide in the more bike friendly cities, why dont we see more physically separated bike lanes like in montreal and in most european cities? i’d rather have a fewer number of these quality separated lanes than lots of cheap poorly thoughtout painted lanes. to me the standard painted bike lanes really just provide the motorists in the adjacent “auto lane” a free extra 5 feet to sprawl into and its common knowledge that wider lanes encourage speeding.

I really like the pedestrian improvements in this plan but how are the cyclists supposed to get to the businesses on the right side of the road?

I understand the need to widen the pedestrian plaza in the middle of the road to make it more amenable to pedestrians by buffering them from vehicles. Putting the bike lane in the center helps to achieve this and gets them away from vehicle doors. Still, the lane should get people to destinations on the street and not just shoot them through it (Yes, I know they can take the lane or walk on the sidewalk, but…).

Also, is this design legal?

I’m no expert on NY State or NY City law, however I do know that NYC had to change its vehicle code to allow cyclists to ride to the left on a one-way street so to then construct bike lanes on the left of one-way streets. Despite the pedestrian mall in the middle, Pike Street doesn’t really classify as two, one-way streets to me. Does the law allow for such a bike lane placement on a two-way boulevard? I hope that NYCDoT has covered their bases on this issue.

As a professional, I would really like to know the answer to this. Across the river in Hoboken, I’m worried that their new (a la NYC) left side bike lanes may be illegal because nothing in New Jersey’s vehicle code permits a cyclist to ride to the left-hand side on a one-way street (See NJ 39:4-14.2.).

There ultimately will be a physically separated buffer with three feet of plants between the bike lanes and the vehicular lanes. This is a joint DOT and Parks department project. DOT is laying the groundwork with these temporary improvements and making sure the configuration works. Then Parks will begin constructing permanent improvements next year. This will double the “park” space that currently exists on the pedestrian malls. It’s a huge boon for a community that has a very low amount of open space per resident, and for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists on what has been a very dangerous street.