Eyes On The Street: Bedford Avenue Remains Mayor Mamdani’s Mess
On Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, on a bicycle, time travel is possible.
Where the protected bike lane abruptly ends at Willoughby Avenue, northbound cyclists are pushed back to the unsafe past: an unprotected “bike lane” that does little but serve as overflow parking for the many scofflaws of the neighborhood.
This barrier between the present and the unsafe past is a symbol of how New York City’s streetscape has been shaped by political power and moneyed interests instead of by the principals of safe design. The protected bike lane, which was installed under Mayor Eric Adams, once reached all the way to Flushing Avenue. Adams had his DOT un-protect the final three blocks after the local Hasidic community complained that the cyclists were endangering children getting on and off school buses.
Here’s one clip showing a cyclist endangered:
When then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani was vying for the office, he told Streetsblog that “the major obstacles” to making streets safer have been a “lack of political will and an administration that leverages streets usage and design to broker political deals rather than advancing the wellbeing of New Yorkers.”
As mayor, Mamdani has made it a point to re-start the projects Adams stymied … except for Bedford Avenue, a notable exception.
“The mayor, he made a lot of promises, but then he realizes once you’re in office, you have to make some compromises. So there’s one of the compromises he seems to have made is that it’s not that important for him to continue this bike lane, he’d rather continue his relationship with his community,” said Baruch Herzfeld, a cycling advocate and Brooklyn resident who, along with his son, Rafe Herzfeld, sued the Adams administration for removing the lane.
The community in question, the Satmar Hasidim of South Williamsburg, has been publicly supportive of Mamdani, even as the larger Jewish establishment leans into Islamophobic tropes.
It has now been over three months since Streetsblog reset out Mamdani-o-meter because of Hizzoner’s failure to commit to fixing the mess on Bedford. So, on Thursday morning, Streetsblog camped out where the bike lane ends and spoke to cyclists about to cross the threshold.
“People park more in the bike lane there,” Matjaz Vidnar said pointing to the next block where the design reverts back to the unprotected style. “It’s very not safe because I always have to ride with the cars because there are cars parked in that part.”
Vidnar, who is from Slovenia and has been living in New York for two years, said he takes Bedford Avenue to commute from Flatbush to Williamsburg for school.
“I generally like Bedford, especially this part here, because its the safest part,” he said of the green protected lane. “I’m from Europe and I’m used to biking all the time and I am very frustrated in New York because of cars parking in the bike lane all the time. In my country, if a car parks on the bike lane, they get a ticket in a minute, the police are there in a minute.”
Every cyclist to whom Streetsblog spoke could feel the difference when they crossed Willoughby Avenue. It doesn’t take a traffic engineer to understand that when cyclists are forced to merge with car traffic, it’s dangerous. But still, the DOT’s own traffic engineers agree!
DOT provided evidence during the Herzfeld suit that removing the bike lane would “reduce overall safety along the corridor.” And the department observed a 47-percent reduction in injuries on Bedford between Dekalb and Flushing when the protected infrastructure was in place.
“It’s dangerous and it sucks,” CJ Kent said of the intersection and subsequent primitive street. “It’s my morning bike ride. A lot of these cars are coming this way and they don’t see you merge. Especially at night, I know a lot of people get hurt.”
Kent was unsatisfied with the bike lane’s current state, but added that he thinks Mamdani will eventually get it done.
“I trust him that he’ll do it,” he said before pausing. “I hope so.”
The three blocks after Willoughby, where the DOT removed the protected bike lane in favor of the dated painted lane, are almost always blocked with illegally parked cars. There is no way to keep a continuous line while biking on this part of Bedford unless you ride in the middle of the traffic lane, which many cyclists opt for.
Until Mayor Mamdani fulfills his campaign promise and restores the original Bedford Avenue design, or even better, comes up with something that satisfies everyone, Streetsblog’s Mamdani-O-Meter remains at zero.
We reached out to the Department of Transportation and will update this story if we hear back.
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