Tonight: Support a Safer Lafayette Street at Manhattan CB 2

One of the first new street redesigns of the de Blasio administration calls for upgrading the northbound section of the Lafayette Street bike lane, between Spring and 14th Street, from a buffered lane to a protected lane. Manhattan Community Board 2 will consider the proposal tonight, and if you want a safer Lafayette Street it’s important to turn out and tell CB 2 why this project matters.

Lafayette Street has one of the first buffered bike lanes in the city — maybe the first — implemented at a time when protected bike lane designs weren’t in DOT’s toolkit. It already takes up as much street space as needed for a safe, protected bike lane. Swapping the bike lane and the parking lane would make the street safer for everyone by reducing speeding, and it would keep motorists out of the bike lane without changing how motor vehicle traffic flows. As Doug Gordon says, it’s a no-brainer.

But even this low-hanging fruit may be tough to pluck if people don’t turn out tonight and support the project. Recently, even suggestions as mundane as slowing down the traffic signal progression on Prince Street have had trouble gaining traction at CB 2. Word is that the local BID is change-averse and doesn’t want this redesign to happen.

To speak up for a safer Lafayette Street, head to the meeting at the NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Place, Room 520, a little before 6:30 p.m.