Truly, madly, finally.
The much-reviled Grand Street bike lane will get long-overdue upgrades starting on Monday, when the Department of Transportation will begin installing new barriers that will not only physically separate cyclists from moving traffic but also help deter drivers from unsafely parking on the green paint.
DOT confirmed it would install thick delineators, which provide a sturdier barrier to drivers, along the south side of Grand Street between Morgan Avenue and Rodney Street. The bike lane on the north side of Grand Street is protected by a row of stored cars.
On Monday, the NYC Department of Transportation will begin installing a new style of delineators on the south side of Grand Street, further separating the bike lane from the traffic lane.https://t.co/PEmSaJXiHJ pic.twitter.com/6TsW4QjiBE
— Grand Street BID (@grandstreetbid) January 3, 2020
The news comes after months of nearly daily complaints from cyclists who ride the crucial North Brooklyn corridor. In August, Streetsblog reported that cyclists were forced to stop nearly every few feet to maneuver around trucks, cars, and Dumpsters because drivers had simply maneuvered around the existing floppy delineators.
It will take about a month for DOT to install the more robust protection, but cyclists were already hailing the good news for the busy two-way thoroughfare, where three cyclists have been killed since 2016.
"Seven and a half months after DOT promised to protect the Grand Street bike lane, it looks like they are coming through," said Philip Leff, a member of Transportation Alternatives.
For the inevitability of a cyclist getting seriously injured or killed on Grand Street due to @NYPD90Pct and @NYC_DOT negligence, I've decided to track the number of automobiles parked in the bike lane on my morning and evening commutes in 2020.
— Eric Helms (@EricPHelms) January 3, 2020
Of course, plenty of cyclists have questioned why the city didn't just beef up protection earlier, especially since bikers warned about drivers parking in the bike lane since it was first installed in 2018 — and after DOT finished it this summer after manyz delays.
“This is great! But why didn't @NYC_DOT do this the first time, when every single cyclist knew the bike lanes would be abused as double-parking lanes?” asked Chris O'Leary.
The new flexible delineators will resemble the ones DOT recently installed on Eighth Avenue between 38th and 45th streets in Manhattan, and will be placed 11-feet from the curb at the edge of the buffer zone.
