Last night, Manhattan Community Board 3's transportation committee unanimously approved DOT's plan to install a two-way protected bike lane on Chrystie Street [PDF]. The bike lane would run on the east side of Chrystie between Canal and Houston.
Chrystie is an essential connector for the thousands of people who bike over the Manhattan Bridge every day. It's also completely overrun by double-parked vehicles and gets a lot of truck and bus traffic that makes it stressful to bike on. Last year, 16 cyclists were injured in crashes within the project area.
Last night's unanimous vote and accompanying DOT presentation took all of 20 minutes, Transportation Alternatives volunteer Brandon Chamberlin told Streetsblog. The committee gave the proposal a conditional thumbs up in March, asking that DOT hold a public forum on the project in coordination with the Sara D Roosevelt Park Coalition. The forum happened on April 12.
Chamberlin said he and one other attendee spoke in favor of the plan. No one spoke against it. "It seems to have been much ado about nothing," he said of the two-month delay.
The full board will take up the project at its monthly meeting on May 24. DOT has previously indicated the the project would be implemented in the fall.
