Bicycle Infrastructure

Not that it didn't deserve the attention, but last month's car-free Times Square debut overshadowed other major Broadway safety improvements like these to the north -- including pedestrian islands and separated bike lanes -- which are now well on their way to being implemented. These pics were taken last weekend just south of Columbus Circle between 57th and 55th Streets.

If you live in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, you can't miss this community board action. DOT will present its revised plan for Kent Avenue tonight to Brooklyn CB1. Public support for the proposed two-way protected bike path will be critical, and if you sign up by 6:15 p.m., you can speak in favor of an improvement that will make cyclists safer and establish the footprint of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

Here's a look at the revised and extended route proposed for the Kent Avenue bike path. Currently the bike lane runs from Quay Street to Clymer Street. As you can see in this map from DOT's project presentation [PDF], the new route would continue several blocks further south, to Flushing Avenue.

On Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 10 voted not to approve a buffered bike lane along Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard but left the door open for a second vote and a different outcome. The decision followed a unanimous vote by the board's transportation committee in favor of the new lane. For the time being, at least, a major addition to Harlem's bike network is on hold.

The reconstruction of East Houston Street will include wider medians, bigger sidewalks, fewer traffic lanes, and a new bike lane. But instead of installing a physically protected path for cyclists, the city plans to paint a buffered, Class 2 lane. The project, which received funds freed up by stimulus spending, will go out to bid this summer.

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the list of city transportation projects set to receive an injection of federal stimulus cash. Budget-wise, the big ticket items are mostly bridge repair projects, but channeling those stim bucks toward necessary maintenance also frees up a lot of money for other things, including a sizable slate of pedestrian and bicycle improvements. In New York, at least, there are plenty of "shovel-ready" projects to get excited about.

Biking the Triborough. Photo: E-BAD/Flickr.

Apologies for the last-minute heads up, but livable streets supporters in Chinatown and the Lower East Side won't want to miss this action at Community Board 3 tonight. A DOT project to expand pedestrian space and add center median protected bike paths to the Allen and Pike Street malls will be on the table at a meeting of the transportation committee. The plan also calls for new pedestrian plazas connecting the malls at six intersections, per DOT: