Bike Lanes

Foot-dragging from Community Board 7 meant it was split into two phases, but a protected bike lane, with pedestrian islands, is close to the finish line for Columbus Avenue between 110th and 70th Streets. The initial paint went down a couple weeks ago. This afternoon, DOT crews were installing the pedestrian islands and striping the bike lane with green paint.

It may be news to the national audience of BuzzFeed, but Anthony Weiner once said he would hold ribbon cuttings on his first day in Gracie Mansion to rip out the city's bike lanes. He now insists the expletive-laced promise was a joke, but he's firm in his opinion that at least two of the city's bike lanes should be removed. He reiterated that position in an interview with BuzzFeed's Ben Smith yesterday, adding that he's "not going to be bullied" on the issue by "policy jihadists."

On Sunday, a group of about 30 cyclists, organized by the Bronx Activist Committee of Transportation Alternatives, rode on the Bronx's newest bicycle lanes in Co-Op City. The lanes, which run on 222nd Street, Co-Op City Boulevard, and soon Bartow Avenue, provide connections within Co-Op City and to the Bronx River Greenway.

They may be just paint, but bike lanes and sharrows on New Lots Avenue, Pitkin Avenue, Mother Gaston Boulevard, Hendrix Street, and Schenck Avenue are the first step toward implementing a community-based plan for better bicycling in Brownsville. This morning, about 35 people took part in a celebratory ride of the neighborhood's first bike lanes organized by the Brownsville Partnership.

With the exception of the Hudson River Greenway, routes between Tribeca and Greenwich Village can hardly be described as bike-friendly. Cyclists must compete with gridlock near Canal Street and the Holland Tunnel, while wide north-south arteries like Varick Street and Sixth Avenue are daunting roads. DOT is proposing a mix of upgrades between Warren Street and Washington Square, including buffered bike lanes and shared lanes -- but nothing that would physically protect cyclists from the often-heavy traffic in this area. The plan received a 6-5 supportive vote from Community Board 1's Tribeca committee Wednesday night.

Western Queens is set to receive a slate of street safety and bicycle network improvements. The projects will add shared lane markings and bike lanes to neighborhood streets, improve connections to the Astoria waterfront and Greenpoint, and address pedestrian safety at the site of a fatal curb-jumping crash. The progress comes after more than a year of work between DOT and Community Board 2, and coincides with Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer's push for bike-share expansion to Long Island City and Sunnyside.

Elevated from the headline stack: CBS radio reporter Steve Scott elicited the following response from mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio on the subject of bike lanes. It's got a touch more specificity than the norm:

After clearing Manhattan Community Board 6's transportation committee, 13-1, CB 6's full board voted on Wednesday to support a DOT proposal to improve bicycle safety near the Queensboro Bridge. CB 6, which covers the area south of 59th Street, joins Community Board 8, which voted to support the plan last month. With community board resolutions in hand, DOT could implement the project by the end of the year.

Whenever street space is allocated for bicycling, someone will inevitably level the accusation that the city is waging a “war on cars.” But it turns out the people in those cars want separate space for bicycles too, according to surveys conducted in two major California metropolitan areas. Bike lanes make everyone feel safer -- even drivers.