A cyclist was badly hurt along a portion of McGuinness Boulevard that was supposed to be made safer for biking — until the Adams administration watered down a plan to do just that.
Activists were quick to decry the lack of safety on the portion of McGuinness north of Calyer Street after the latest crash, which occurred on Thursday night. According to cops, a 32-year-old male cyclist was biking southbound in the painted, curbside bike lane at around 8:25 p.m. when he was knocked down by a 40-year-old driver who was turning into a Sunoco gas station just south of Green Street.
The Department of Transportation had originally hoped to remove one lane for cars along that portion of the roadway as part of a "road diet" redesign, but Mayor Adams intervened on behalf of wealthy campaign donors and ordered the agency to shelve the diet, leaving that stretch of McGuinness with two lanes for speeding traffic for most of the day and an unprotected bike lane.
The video below shows exactly what the problem is: The lane next to the painted bike lane is supposed to be a parking lane after 7 p.m. — but locals say no one ever parks there because there's little to indicate to drivers that it is not a moving lane.
"The fact is that this wouldn’t be a problem if Mayor Adams had just done what he had promised to do, which was, make all of McGuinness safe," said Kevin LaCherra, a longtime Greenpoint resident and safe streets activist. "The road diet works where it’s been installed and it’s needed for the entire corridor before this happens again.”
The cyclist, whose name was not released by police, was taken to NYU Langone with pain in his right arm, police said. The driver, who failed to yield to the cyclist, was not charged.
City Hall spokesperson Sophia Askari declined to comment on the specifics of the crash and the design deficiencies that are allegedly implicated, saying, “We’re thinking of the cyclist and wish them a swift recovery. We will review the details of the crash.”
