Bicycle Safety

Eyes on the Street: Bronx River Greenway Access Streets Get Upgrades

The Bronx River Greenway has given many South Bronx residents a place to feel comfortable biking, but the streets nearby are often filled with speeding drivers navigating sometimes-confusing intersections. A project adding bike lanes, curb extensions, and lane striping aimed to fix that -- and since the end of the summer residents have seen some of the results. An anonymous reader who lives in Soundview and commutes by bike through the area sent in some photos showing the changes.

By Stephen Miller

2:16 PM EDT on November 1, 2013

The Bronx River Greenway has given many South Bronx residents a place to feel comfortable biking, but the streets nearby are often filled with speeding drivers navigating sometimes-confusing intersections. A project adding bike lanes, curb extensions, and lane striping aimed to fix that — and since the end of the summer residents have seen some of the results. An anonymous reader who lives in Soundview and commutes by bike through the area sent in some photos showing the changes.

Some of the biggest changes have come to the intersection of Whitlock and Westchester Avenues, busy with pedestrians accessing Concrete Plant Park and the 6 train. Among those changes are painted curb extensions, which do not have flex-post bollards and “are almost always completely ignored by drivers,” our reader said in an e-mail. Streetsblog has asked DOT if the agency will be installing barriers to keep cars out of the pedestrian space.

Beneath the elevated train on Westchester Avenue, drivers and cyclists had previously maneuvered with few lane markings. Now, the lanes are striped, including bike lanes and shared lane icons.

The plan also included shared lane markings on Edgewater Road and expanded pedestrian space at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Bronx River Avenue.

On Bruckner Boulevard, a two-way barrier-protected bikeway has been installed for the block between Bryant and Longfellow Avenues, connecting the southern end of Concrete Plant Park to north-south bike lanes on Bryant and Longfellow Avenues. The one-block protected bike lane does not extend west to Monsignor Del Valle Square and the bike route on Southern Boulevard.

Stephen Miller

In spring 2017, Stephen wrote for Streetsblog USA, covering the livable streets movement and transportation policy developments around the nation. From August 2012 to October 2015, he was a reporter for Streetsblog NYC, covering livable streets and transportation issues in the city and the region. After joining Streetsblog, he covered the tail end of the Bloomberg administration and the launch of Citi Bike. Since then, he covered mayoral elections, the de Blasio administration's ongoing Vision Zero campaign, and New York City's ever-evolving street safety and livable streets movements.