Harlem

On Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 10 voted not to approve a buffered bike lane along Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard but left the door open for a second vote and a different outcome. The decision followed a unanimous vote by the board's transportation committee in favor of the new lane. For the time being, at least, a major addition to Harlem's bike network is on hold.

Just a reminder that Community Board 10 will consider a new buffered bike lane for Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard tonight. The lane, from W. 118th to W. 153rd Street, would complete a direct cyclist route between Central Park and the Macombs Dam Bridge, and would serve to calm traffic as well, as bikes would replace one thru lane for cars.

Plans for new bike and traffic-calming facilities in Harlem will go before Community Board 10 tomorrow night. As we reported last month, DOT intends to replace one lane of auto traffic with a buffered bike lane on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard between W. 118th and W. 153rd Streets [PDF], completing a direct marked route between Central Park and the Macombs Dam Bridge.

Compared to downtown Manhattan, the bike network in Harlem is on the patchy side, with only a few on-street lanes. Safer streets are on the way, however. Last week, DOT presented plans for a buffered bike path on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard to a neighborhood forum put on by Community Board 10. The new lane would run from 153rd Street to 118th Street, connecting to an existing route that feeds into Central Park.

Two Manhattan community boards are meeting Tuesday evening to discuss new bike routes planned by DOT. If you'd like to support the proposals, and perhaps nudge DOT to beef up some of the provisions for cyclists, here are the details.

Streetsblog reader Richard Conroy sends along these photos and writes:

As usual, traffic was heavy on 125th Street outside the Alhambra Ballroom in central Harlem, Wednesday evening, where the Department of Transportation held its fourth of seven planned workshops to discuss parking strategies in neighborhoods bordering the City's proposed congestion pricing zone.

This is an artist's rendering of what West 125th Street would look like after Columbia University's expansion is completed more than a decade from now.  (It is included in an overview of the plans that appears in the print edition of Columbia magazine, which, um, hasn't updated its web presence in a while.)  Regardless of whether you're in favor of or against the expansion, it is clear that Columbia is trying hard to persuade skeptics and opponents that the expansion will be a good thing for this part of Harlem.