Eyes on the Street: WillyB @ Delancey — Bring on the Stencils

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Fresh markings are going down on the revamped approach to the Williamsburg Bridge at Delancey Street. Courtesy of Adopt-a-Bike Lane volunteer leader Marin Tockman, here’s what the site looked like as of yesterday afternoon. Seems like a marked, one-block connection to the median at Suffolk Street is imminent.

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Another reader informs us that Suffolk, which runs one-way north to south, is set to receive a bike box at the point before it crosses Delancey. So riding to the bridge from the north should feel a lot more convenient, safe, and "normal" than before.

I’m also digging those continuous zebra stripes across Delancey.

  • Eliot

    Finally! Now you won’t have to swerve into traffic to get on the bike path. A simple curb cut is all it took. Kudos to Marin and T.A.

  • Looks great! One question: When will the heretofore notional express bike lane straight down the middle of Delancey St to Lafayette Street be striped and blocked off, a la Allen St?

  • Glenn

    I always knew Crossing Delancy would have a happy ending.

  • What is being done to reduce cyclist speeds coming down the WillyB on the Manhattan side? This is a problem. I know and have heard of many cyclists who’ve crashed or where hit by other cyclists who were barreling out of the bridge, one helmet wearing cyclist was hit so hard by another speeding cyclist and was hospitalized with a concussion for over a day.

    The DOT needs to make some sort of neckdown near that end of the bridge’s bike lane to reduce speed as cyclists enter a very congested ped/bike/car area. I know the DOT measures counts with automated detectors, like they are on the Brooklyn Bridge right now, do these tools also measure speed?

    In all it’s a good thing to know that biking has increased so much that we now may have a need for *bicycle* traffic calming!

  • Or, instead of a neckdown, bicyclists can learn to do what drivers do, and look both ways & wait their turns before merging with moving traffic.

    As the flyway off the bridge is shaved down and the stencils are added, conflicts should be further reduced. Let’s not put infant padding on every aspect of the infrastructure.

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