Protected Bike Lanes

UPDATE: This meeting has been postponed to next Tuesday.

Today is the last day you can fill out the Prospect Park West bike lane survey. City Council members Brad Lander and Steve Levin set up the survey a few weeks ago to see what their constituents think of the redesigned PPW.

Last week's rally to defend the Prospect Park West bike lane, organized in response to a concurrent anti-bike lane protest, was a clear-cut demonstration of the public support enjoyed by a project that's calmed speeding traffic and made cycling more attainable for people of all ages. By most estimates, supporters of the new PPW outnumbered opponents about 5 to 1.

Upper West Side residents can ride with a new sense of safety and comfort on the recently installed Columbus Avenue protected bike lane, but between 81st and 82nd Streets, the bike lane has been consistently blocked by a minivan owned by Quality Florist, a local business located on that block.

At yesterday's day of action on Prospect Park West, one contention from the opposition especially didn't sit well with everyone who turned out to support the redesigned, traffic-calmed street. With hundreds of bike lane supporters gathered on the sidewalk a few feet away, Borough President Marty Markowitz's chief of staff, Carlo Scissura, told the assembled crowd that the new PPW is the vision of just "one person," referring to transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Kate Hinds at Transportation Nation got her hands on an advance copy of DOT's Prospect Park West radar gun study and cyclist counts [PDF]. The data on traffic speeds confirm the results that Park Slope Neighbors observed this summer: The new configuration -- two traffic lanes and a two-way protected bike path instead of three traffic lanes and no bike path -- has drastically reduced speeding on PPW. Drivers now travel at average speeds that give them more time to react to pedestrians crossing the street, which will avert injuries and lessen the severity of any crashes that do occur.

I'm with Naparstek. This was the sign of the day.

Hundreds of Brooklynites gathered this morning at Grand Army Plaza to show their support for the redesigned Prospect Park West. They made a statement that should be hard for elected officials and the press to miss: Most people who live in the neighborhoods near PPW like biking and walking on the new, traffic-calmed street and don't want to see those changes taken away.