Bicycle Safety

Eyes on the Street: The Evolution of the Bergen Street Protected Bike Lane

What began as an ad hoc fix for a bike lane chronically clogged by cars has become permanent after DOT installed a block-long barrier on the Bergen Street bike lane in front of the 78th Precinct in Prospect Heights.

By Stephen Miller

12:02 PM EDT on October 1, 2014

It started more than two years ago when Ian Dutton moved some leftover ConEd cones a few feet into Bergen Street to cordon off the bike lane for cyclists:

The bike lane had become a parking spot for vehicles from the 78th Precinct, pushing cyclists out into traffic angling to get to Flatbush Avenue. The cones were removed, before returning again when construction resumed.

The breakthrough came when the precinct and commanding officer Michael Ameri, who has since been promoted to lead NYPD’s Highway Patrol, upgraded the barrier by installing a metal barricade months after the cones first appeared:

The bike lane has since become a symbol of shared goals between street safety advocates and the precinct, which has gone on to target drivers who fail to yield and hosted monthly traffic safety meetings. Officers have even shoveled snow out of the bike lane.

Now the project has the imprimatur of the city’s transportation department, which installed a strip of plastic posts to keep drivers out of the bike lane. Perhaps this success story could be a model for other locations in the city. Where else should DOT install low-cost barriers to keep drivers out of curbside bike lanes?

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.