Protected Bike Lanes

There are two opportunities tonight to get behind livable streets efforts in Manhattan.

The Community Board 8 committee vote this month in support of protected bike lanes for Manhattan's Upper East Side was nothing short of momentous. Wednesday's full board decision presents an even bigger hurdle, though by no means an insurmountable one. The reason, says Caroline Samponaro, director of bicycle advocacy for Transportation Alternatives, is community input.

We didn't want to let the week slip by without following up on some promising news from the Upper East Side. On Wednesday, a day after Community Board 7 deliberated, and ultimately approved, a resolution supporting protected bike lanes, Community Board 8's transportation committee considered a similar reso:

Manhattan Community Board 7 approved a resolution Tuesday in support of protected bike lanes for the Upper West Side. According to Streetsblog readers who attended and the Westside Independent web site, a mostly positive discussion on the merits of such improvements -- in front of a packed house of residents wearing "Protected Bike Lanes Protect Everyone" stickers -- preceded a 28-7 vote. Here's the reso in full:

Tonight Manhattan Community Board 7 will vote on a resolution supporting the installation of protected bike lanes on the Upper West Side. Having cleared the board's transportation committee last week, the reso would align the full board behind the concept of protected bike lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues from 59th to 110th Streets.

At a lengthy meeting Wednesday night, the transportation committee of Community Board 7 passed a resolution in support of the "concept" of protected bike lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues from 59th to 110th Streets. The 6-2 committee vote came after testimony from area residents, business people, and community board members from Hell's Kitchen and midtown, who noted the safety benefits and other improvements separated lanes have brought to their districts.

Chalk up more bikeway innovation to the folks at the NYC Department of Transportation. Nearly complete, the Sands Street approach to the Manhattan Bridge is now safer and more enjoyable thanks to a New York City first: a center-median, two-way protected bike path. The facility is a perfect solution to counter the dangers posed by a tangle of roads and highway on-ramps that burden the area. Dramatic before-and-afters tell the delicious story.

We've got another dispatch from the ongoing bike lane drama that is Kent Avenue. At Wednesday night's information session hosted by Brooklyn CB1, the DOT team gave a short presentation [PDF] outlining their plan to address truck traffic changes caused by converting Kent to one-way flow. Then the public was invited to comment.

Cyclists riding across the Manhattan Bridge have had about a month to try out the new Sands Street bike path, and based on the reviews so far, two major kinks are marring an otherwise sterling project. First, motorists, especially delivery vehicles, can't resist using the mountable section from Navy to Gold as a double-parking zone. And second, the two-phase crossing from the Sands Street path to the Manhattan Bridge path encourages cyclists to make some risky diagonal movements.