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Friday Video: DOT Makes Two Bike Lanes Even Safer

Take a ride with the great Clarence Eckerson Jr. (did we mention that he has an award from the UN?) as he surveys a major improvement in Queens.
Friday Video: DOT Makes Two Bike Lanes Even Safer
An updated concrete island at the intersection of 43rd Avenue and 34th Street where a truck driver killed a cyclist in 2024. Photo: Clarence Eckerson Jr.

It’s a concrete fact.

The Department of Transportation has made its popular parallel bike lanes on 43rd and Skillman avenues in Queens even better by pouring concrete at key intersections to slow down turning vehicles and improve daylighting.

Mixing zones are now a thing of the past, thanks to the new traffic islands.

It’s the first major changes since the lanes were installed in 2018 following the death of 32-year-old delivery worker Gelacio Reyes a year earlier. And it’s exactly the kind of improvement that advocates say could have prevented a fatal crash in 2024, when a turning truck driver killed a cyclist on 43rd Avenue.

Indeed, one of the new concrete islands has been installed at that very intersection.

Clarence Eckerson Jr. of Streetfilms has been documenting DOT’s updates to 43rd and Skillman avenues for almost a decade. You can see his enthusiasm for the changes for yourself in his latest video:

And if you can’t get enough of the United Nations-award-winning Eckerson, he also posted two updates on other bike lanes in Queens:

Borden Avenue gets its long overdue protected bike lane!

The 31st Avenue bike boulevard gets its “teardrop”! (More info from DOT’s presentation if you’re bold.)

Photo of Sam Brule
Sam Brule is a senior at The New School. He’s previously worked at the New School Free Press, the Sopris Sun in Colorado, and most recently amNY. When he’s not writing, he works as a bike messenger.

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