Greenways

The current concept for the Flushing Avenue segment of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway footprint calls for converting the street to one-way westbound traffic flow. Two-way vehicle traffic, say DOT planners, will create conflicts that endanger cyclists and pedestrians as trucks and cars turn left into the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At Wednesday night's public meeting on the project, the one-way conversion didn't sit well with most people who showed up, prompting the DOT team to say they'll take a second look at how the street can be configured.

A full crowd of about 60 people turned out for NYCDOT's Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway workshop in Sunset Park last night. The meeting was the second of four sessions the city is putting on with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and the Regional Plan Association, as the years-in-the-making project of a continuous pedestrian and bicycle path tracing the Brooklyn waterfront moves from the concept phase to more detailed planning and engineering.

Is the city finally taking action on a citizen proposal to connect Manhattan's east- and west-side Greenways with a safer Dyckman Street?

From the DOT cycling newsletter:

After almost two years of waiting for DOT analysis of a proposed cycle track for Dyckman Street in Upper Manhattan, advocates this week were promised ... more waiting.

We've got a few more details about another local ped-bike project getting a lift from stimulus cash. The street improvements announced for Hunts Point and Port Morris in the Bronx will fund the first three sections of the South Bronx Greenway. This project has been years in the works. When complete, it will bring 11 miles of pedestrian and bicycle paths to neighborhoods where places to play and bike are scarce, and where childhood asthma and obesity rates run high.

About 40 Brooklynites turned out last night for a CB7-sponsored meeting to discuss the future of Park Circle, the asphalt expanse where Prospect Park meets traffic headed to and from the Prospect Expressway, Ocean Parkway, and the Fort Hamilton Parkway. There are two projects in the works here: the Department of City Planning is studying how to improve bicycle connections between the Ocean Parkway Greenway and Prospect Park [PDF], and DOT is looking to make some quick, low-cost safety improvements to Park Circle that can be implemented this year [PDF].

New bike facilities on Kent Avenue are expected to be the subject of protest tonight from motorists angry about the removal of on-street parking.