Brooklyn

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.

A reader sent this photo to Streetsblog soon after we reported that Park Slope restaurateur Irene Lo Re had asked for the Fifth Avenue bike lane to be removed. According to Lo Re's theory, which few other merchants seem to buy, the bike lane was causing delivery costs to rise. We saw this photo and thought there might be some sort of detente on the horizon. Maybe someone had reasoned with Lo Re and convinced her that a nice environment for pedestrians and cyclists is great for business at Aunt Suzie's.

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.

A cyclist was struck this morning at around 9:30, riding on Jay Street near the Manhattan Bridge. Reader Dave Abraham emailed this report about the scene of the collision.

A bit more background on the generous neckdown at Smith and Bergen spotlighted earlier today: This pedestrian amenity never would have been built without the long-term organizing for the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project. Street protests and advocacy campaigns stretching back more than a dozen years are bearing fruit now.

Since the spring, DOT construction crews have been building out traffic calming improvements all over the neighborhoods near downtown Brooklyn. When the years-in-the-making Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project wraps up, pedestrians will have safer crossings at dozens of intersections. The sidewalk extension at the northwest corner of Smith and Bergen, shown here, is especially impressive. Several hundred square feet of street space now belong to pedestrians instead of cars.

A crowd of about 75 Brooklynites turned out for the Transportation Alternatives City Council candidate debate last night, despite the muggy mid-August heat and un-air-conditioned PS 321 auditorium. They were treated to a substantive discussion of transportation policy that went deeper than "bike lanes: good or bad."

In Democrat-dominated New York City, much of the electoral action happens on primary day. This year's primaries are fast approaching: Voters go to the polls on September 15, four weeks from tomorrow. Contests for City Council seats, the Manhattan District Attorney's job, borough presidencies, Public Advocate, and City Comptroller will by and large be decided on that day.

This afternoon the DOT press office emailed a brief reply to our query about potential safety enhancements to the recently opened Sands Street bike path. They say some details of the path, which is rideable for cyclists, are in progress: