Protected Bike Lanes

Looks like some Manhattan community board types still want to see their local streets keep that highway-in-the-city feel.

The self-hating cyclists at the Brooklyn Paper are at it again. A year after siding with a handful of merchants who wanted to erase the Fifth Avenue bike lane, Gersh Kuntzman and the editors of Brooklyn's flagship media property say they don't want to see a protected, two-way bike path on Prospect Park West:

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.

Brooklyn Community Board 2, NYCDOT, and City Council members Steve Levin and Letitia James are putting on a public meeting tonight to get feedback on the two-way protected bike path with planted pedestrian medians proposed for Brooklyn's Flushing Avenue. The project is part of the footprint of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway and would form an important connection to three East River bridges and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Last night, Streetfilms' Robin Urban Smith and I got to catch the second half of NYCDOT's info session about the Prospect Park West traffic calming/two-way bike path project. The first half of the evening is when the fuss happened -- apparently a few people made it known in no uncertain terms that they think it's crazy to narrow a wide street where more than 70 percent of drivers are speeding. When we showed up, everyone was calmly perusing the DOT posters and talking amongst themselves. The upshot is that we don't have much drama for you in these short interviews -- just clips of people explaining why they like the project.

Today's Andrea Bernstein interview with Marty Markowitz (transcript here) is a must-read if you want to get inside the head of the Brooklyn Beep and see the borough through the tint of his windshield.

The last time we checked in on plans for a two-way protected bike path on Prospect Park West, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz had registered his displeasure with the idea of slowing traffic and improving safety at the expense of a few parking spaces. Next Monday, you can see where things stand at a DOT open house about the project, co-hosted by City Council members Brad Lander and Steve Levin and Community Board 6.

Two months after the MTA and NYCDOT first presented East Side Select Bus Service to Manhattan Community Board 6, officials were back with a modified plan last night, hoping to get a vote from the transportation committee. After a combative couple of hours, they didn't get one. The committee chose to put off a vote until its next meeting rather than come to a decision. The big news to emerge was the announcement of a specific launch date for the first phase of Select Bus Service on the corridor.

Sorry for the late notice folks, but there's one more public meeting on this week's busy schedule with big implications for street safety, and it's happening tonight. The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 6 is expected to draft and vote on a resolution regarding plans for Select Bus Service and protected bike lanes on the East Side. If you want to help support for safer biking and walking, you'll want to turn out for this one.