FDNY

DOT has erased a short contraflow protected bikeway that linked the Highbridge neighborhood to the car-free High Bridge in response to FDNY concerns about the movement of emergency vehicles. The project was part of a package of biking and walking improvements in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan implemented last year, timed to coincide with the re-opening of the High Bridge to the public [PDF].

We have a message from FDNY that should once and for all take care of fabricated concerns about bike-share docking stations getting in the way of emergency vehicles.

Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota, on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show yesterday, said that while he didn't "know this for a fact," he views the bike-share program as an example of failed agency coordination in the Bloomberg administration, because he'd read press reports that people were complaining about new bike-share stations potentially impeding emergency response. Despite Lhota's speculation, based off hysterical media reports, the Fire Department says they were consulted by DOT and that the stations have not been a problem.

A go-to NIMBY argument against safe street improvements is that bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and ped refuge islands interfere with emergency responders.