Protected Bike Lanes

Step aside Steve Cuozzo, the team at Fox 5 (yeah, them again) has scapegoated the Grand Street bike lane in even more outlandish fashion. This "report" manages to blame the brand new cycle track for traffic congestion, slumping dumpling sales, and a disabled man getting hit by a car. We kid you not. Needless to say, the distortions go above and beyond the usual windshield perspective quotes.

The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 4 will host a public meeting Wednesday night regarding DOT plans for a protected bike lane on Eighth Avenue from W. 14th to W. 23rd Street.

Nine months after Inwood residents first proposed a physically separated bike lane for Dyckman/200th Street, connecting the east- and west-side Greenways, this week the Community Board 12 Traffic and Transportation Committee approved a resolution calling for DOT to "test the feasibility" of such a project. CB12 action was considered necessary to gain the involvement of Borough President Scott Stringer's office, which, it is hoped, will also carry weight with DOT. Streetsblog reader and Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets member Daniel O’Neil attended the committee meeting and files this report. 

Though modest by comparison, here's another first for this historic day. Manhattan Community Board 2's Ian Dutton sent over photos of the new Grand Street cycle track, the city's initial attempt at a parking-protected design.

There's a lot of protected bike infrastructure in various stages of completion right now, and I had the chance to take some pictures on the way to the office today. Above is a trench for part of the Sands Street bike path, the long-awaited Manhattan Bridge approach in Brooklyn that was originally slated to start construction in 2006. The middle of the road has been dug up from Gold Street to Navy Street. Someone on the crew said it will be a while before the project gets finished.

Snapped by Streetsblog regular Ian Dutton this afternoon: Crews prep Grand Street for the city's first physically-protected crosstown bike lane [PDF]. Stretching from Varick to Chrystie, the Grand Street cycle track features some new design touches on account of its placement on the right side of a narrow street. The guys on the crew say the finished markings will be in place by next Tuesday.

After Summer Streets wrapped up last Saturday, I headed over to Times Square to check out the progress on DOT's "Broadway Boulevard" project. The new street geometry and surfacing are mostly in place, while plantings and furniture have yet to arrive. The bike lane was also fully functional, making this pedicab ride across 41st Street a lot more pleasant than it would have been a few months ago.

Manhattan Community Board 4's transportation committee unanimously approved DOT's plan to install a physically-separated bike path on Eighth Avenue in Lower Manhattan. The committee enthusiastically recommended the plan to the full board on Wednesday. The board then voted to ignore their own committee and block the plan. Apparently, some members feel that complete streets and safe bike infrastructure are somehow incompatible with the neighborhood's gay-friendly environment. Chelsea Now has the play-by-play:

DOT has unveiled plans for a Grand Street cycle track [PDF] that bear the fingerprints of Danish planner Jan Gehl. It would be Manhattan's first cross-town protected bike path.