Bike Lanes

Last week, Manhattan Community Board 6's transportation committee voted in favor of a plan to make it safer to access the East River Greenway from bike lanes on First and Second Avenue. But implementation isn't guaranteed yet. Supporters of the plan will need to make their voices heard at CB 6's full board meeting tonight, where opposition is expected from residents of a condominium tower upset about a proposed two-way protected bike lane in front of their building.

The fledgling bike lane network in Brownsville and East New York will continue to grow. The second of three rounds of painted on-street bike lanes -- mapped out in a planning process initiated by neighborhood residents -- is set to be installed by the end of the year, pending the support of Community Boards 5 and 16 later this month.

From sudden collapses to botched repairs, the current condition of the East River Greenway is a far cry from the vision of a continuous path on Manhattan's eastern shore. While filling in the greenway's gaps could take at least a decade, there are some small, short-term gains on the table. On Monday, Community Board 6's transportation committee backed a slate of bike improvement that aim to make accessing the greenway from Murray Hill a little bit easier.

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. Second in a series.

When New York City began to rapidly accelerate the expansion of its bike network in 2007 -- adding 366 miles of bike lanes over seven years -- the pent-up demand for cycling became strikingly clear.

Well, that didn't take long.

A proposal to enhance safety on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, which would put the street on a road diet and extend a painted bike lane one mile further south, is stuck in a tale of two community boards. CB 8, which covers the northern half of the project, is set to back the plan after its transportation committee voted 9-1 in support on Tuesday. CB 9, covering the area below Eastern Parkway, narrowly rejected the plan at a general board meeting last week, though the board's district manager says it will likely come up again for another vote next month. The vote was a surprise coming from CB 9, which has a track record of urging the city to retrofit streets with bike lanes.

A project that slims a dangerous section of Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg and straightens out an awkward stretch of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway route is nearing the finish line.