Eyes on the Street: Fresh Stripes in the South Slope

Over the weekend, crews finished striping new bike routes on 14th Street and 15th Street in Brooklyn, creating a safer east-west connection between Prospect Park West and Third Avenue on the southern end of Park Slope. These are painted, unprotected lanes, except for the westbound stretch between PPW and Eighth Avenue, which is sharrows. Reader Brian Wilson sent in this photo of the new stripes on 14th Street by the Park Slope Armory.

DNAinfo reports that this project also includes…

…painted crosswalk extensions on 15th Street at both Eighth Avenue and Fourth Avenue to make crossing distances shorter for pedestrians. On-street bike parking, benches and planters will be installed on 15th Street outside the Armory entrance, according to the DOT.

Here’s a look at the preliminary markings on 15th Street. It looks like this lane will help guide cyclists to ride outside of the door zone:

It’s not as exciting as calming a big, wide road with a protected bike lane, but it’s nice to see some of the less-heralded recent additions to NYC DOT’s bikeway designs, like the chevrons guiding cyclists across intersections. Below are the preliminary markings where 14th Street hits the PPW bike lane, and the quadrant of the Bartel Pritchard Square traffic circle between PPW and 15th Street.