Recently installed street furniture in downtown Jamaica gives new meaning to the words "bike infrastructure."
Despite several new bus lanes, dense, transit-heavy Jamaica is a black hole for safe bike infrastructure, as St. Albans local and Streetsblog contributor Samuel Santaella has repeatedly inveighed in these pages.
Bike advocates have accordingly asked for more bike lanes, bike parking and more. The local Downtown Jamaica Partnership BID has responded ... with several stationary bikes that the Department of Transportation called part of a "temporary public art installation."
This is a temporary public art installation by the Downtown Jamaica Partnership BID. Completion is expected soon.
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) January 25, 2024
If any actual bike lanes are in the pipeline for the neighborhood, DOT hasn't said. Santaella has offered plenty of places to start — beginning with an eastward extension of the Queens Boulevard bike lane from Kew Gardens, which DOT does intend to make happen. Unfortunately, that bike lane will end at Hillside Avenue, forcing cyclists to navigate dangerous, unprotected streets through the busiest parts of Jamaica.
Beyond that, Santaella suggests "north/south bike lanes on Sutphin, Parsons, Merrick boulevards, and 168th Street — as well as east/west access on Archer Avenue to be able to ride to/from Queens Boulevard and the subway."
Until then, Jamaica Avenue cyclists can bike in place.
Editor's note: We've excluded any links to the Daily News from the list below out of respect for and solidarity with that newsroom's one-day walkout on Thursday. For that reason today's headlines may miss essential coverage of traffic violence in the five boroughs — but much worse will happen if the tabloid's hedge fund overlords don't give its hard-working reporters a fair contract.
In other news:
- From the Assignment Desk: The NYPD's Chief of Transportation "will present commands with Vision Zero Award for outstanding contributions toward improving traffic safety with Zero fatalities for 2023" at 1 p.m. in the press room on Friday. The event is open to credentialed press — who would be wise to ask police brass about their officers' notorious disrespect for the rules of the road.
- Two separate safety systems failed to activate to prevent Upper West Side train collision, NTSB finds. (NY Post, Patch)
- NBC New York's Andrew Siff previewed the MTA's new "open gangway" subway cars.
- Queens pols express "deep concern" over proposed changes to Q11 bus route. (Queens Chronicle)
- A Cuomo-appointed State Board of Elections head with longtime Albany ties seeks to bankrupt DSA over a paperwork snafu. (NY Times, Ross Barkan via Twitter)
- Extending the G train back to Forest Hills is a lot harder than Greenpoint pols may hope. (vanshnookenraggen)
- NY1 spotlights MTA CEO Janno Lieber's choice words for New Jersey's anti-transit, pro-climate change governor.
- "Climate innovation hub" coming to Brooklyn Army Terminal. (Brooklyn Paper)
