Set your calendars for May 6, because the Department of Transportation is coming to Manhattan Community Board 6 with a doozy: a cement-protected bike lane in the First Avenue tunnel between 40th and 48th streets!
Hey, Manhattan cyclists! Join us to discuss a proposal to install a jersey barrier protected bike lane in the 1st Ave Tunnel between E 40th St to E 48th St.
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) April 26, 2024
When: 5/6, 7PM
Where: @cbsix Transportation Committee Virtual Meeting. Register in advance: https://t.co/mOaN59TDZc pic.twitter.com/Y8BAZIcCgU
Details are super sketchy, but this is the same stretch where the DOT has set up a temporary protected bike lane during the United Nations General Assembly — a bike lane that is truly beloved by the #bikenyc crowd (even before it was protected):
Obligatory 1st Ave tunnel/#UNGA clip pic.twitter.com/qOm7bbtS39
— Bike New York (@bikenewyork) September 22, 2021
DOT isn't talking much, but if you parse the words in Anna Correa's statement, you'll be psyched:
“We're excited to present our proposal for a protected bike lane, shielded by jersey barriers, along the First Avenue tunnel from E 40th Street to E 48th Street at Community Board 6 on May 6. We're eager to collaborate with the community to ensure the creation of a secure bike lane.”
If you've never attended a community board meeting, and you love to bike safely in the city, this is a meeting you shouldn't miss (especially since Andrew Fine of the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which says it just wants to keep e-bikes away from pedestrians, already has a problem with a bike lane in a tunnel that will keep e-bikes away from pedestrians!).
In other news:
- Upstate District Attorney Sandra Doorley, whom you read about in our headlines yesterday, wants to apologize for her atrocious behavior after speeding. We'll let Monroe County voters decide to accept it or not (NY Post). Meanwhile, the Times finally cottoned onto the story.
- We wish city officials would make up their minds: Are we supposed to be terrified of crime in the subways so we'll be OK with them sending in more cops or are we supposed to be impressed by how safe the subway is so they can say that sending in the cops was a good idea? (amNY, NYDN)
- Intra-city riders of the LIRR and Metro-North just got a nifty little discount (NYDN) and there will be more express buses (amNY), but we took a different angle in Streetsblog.
- The MTA is apparently learning that artists are usually the first step in the inexorable march from empty storefronts to $8 lattes. (NY Post)
- Like Streetsblog, Crain's covered the formal start of the public review process for the mayor's City of Yes for Housing Opportunities zoning plan.
- Road rage in Brooklyn leads to car carnage in Brooklyn. (NYDN)
- Those damn e-bikes are so dangerous! Look at how they ripped apart Manhattan Beach! (Brooklyn Paper)
- And, finally, there is something about this gas-powered Citi Bike that just makes us sick.
