Protected Bike Lanes

Is there any neighborhood in New York City that has asked for more and received less, in terms of safe street improvements, than East Harlem?

For decades, dueling camps of cycling advocates have feuded about how to best accommodate riders. Some have pushed for the construction of Dutch-style cycle tracks, arguing that separated lanes make bicycling safer and less intimidating, while others have insisted such infrastructure isolates riders and makes cycling more dangerous than simply remaining within the flow of traffic.

With Brooklyn Community Board 6 unanimously approving DOT's modifications to the Prospect Park West bike lane, the public process surrounding this project has passed another milestone. Including committee votes, last night marked the fourth CB vote in the last two years in favor of the PPW redesign or the city's proposed changes to it. The process that led to those votes goes back even further, and it's worth a reminder of just how long the idea of calming traffic and improving bike access on PPW has been bubbling up from local residents.

In a unanimous voice vote last night, Brooklyn Community Board 6 passed a resolution supporting NYC DOT's proposed modifications to the Prospect Park West bike lane. The changes include building raised pedestrian islands, adding bike "rumble strips" at crosswalks, and narrowing the buffer between the bike lane and parked cars at the northernmost end of the street. The resolution includes several other requests, asking DOT to search for ways to add on-street parking spots on PPW and side streets, and to monitor safety stats on the redesigned street for the next three years.

Clarence posted these clips from yesterday's family ride on Prospect Park West, asking us to imagine the street as bike lane opponents would have it -- with only a striped, un-protected lane to separate cyclists from traffic. I can't really picture families biking on such a street. Can you?

On a grey, chilly Sunday, an estimated 750 people, many of them on training wheels and balance bikes, turned out to ride the Prospect Park West bike lane and show their support for the traffic-calming redesign. Since the two-way, separated bike path debuted last summer, it's become indispensable for many parents who use it to take their children to school and get around the neighborhood. On weekends, the lane is full of families heading to the green market at Grand Army Plaza and kids riding to Prospect Park.

If you read the Streetsblog headlines every morning, you already know there's a family ride happening this Sunday on the Prospect Park West bike lane. Here are the details straight from the organizers if you'd like to participate:

After Assembly Member James Brennan released the results of his telephone survey on the Prospect Park West bike lane last Friday, the assessment in the press was unanimous. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein headlined her post on the poll results "They Like It. They Really Like It." Gersh Kuntzman at The Brooklyn Paper began his story: "The survey says — again! — that Park Slopers like their controversial bike lane."