Eyes on the Street

They may be just paint, but bike lanes and sharrows on New Lots Avenue, Pitkin Avenue, Mother Gaston Boulevard, Hendrix Street, and Schenck Avenue are the first step toward implementing a community-based plan for better bicycling in Brownsville. This morning, about 35 people took part in a celebratory ride of the neighborhood's first bike lanes organized by the Brownsville Partnership.

The Columbus Avenue protected bike lane won't be a disconnected stub much longer. DOT is striping extensions of the bike lane south from 77th Street and north from 96th Street this summer, following a supportive vote from Manhattan Community Board 7 in February. Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton sent in this shot looking south from 76th Street this morning.

Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, connecting Macombs Dam Bridge to Central Park, has long been a dangerous speedway. DOT clocked drivers traveling as fast as 52 mph on the six-lane divided road, with up to two-thirds of evening drivers going above the 30 mph speed limit. Between 2006 and 2012, twelve pedestrians were killed on the boulevard, which sees more serious injuries and fatalities than 88 percent of Manhattan streets.

The Bronx is set to receive its second Select Bus Service route along Webster Avenue and Melrose Avenue. Within a quarter-mile of the route, 61 percent of residents commute by transit, according to DOT, and nearly three-quarters of households are car-free. While buses won't run in the center lanes -- an alignment that Chicago is pursuing on Ashland Avenue because it leads to fewer conflicts with car traffic -- the dedicated transit lanes will extend for more than four miles, from East 167th Street to East Gun Hill Road.

Clarence snapped these photos of painted sidewalk expansions on Water Street, where DOT and the Downtown Alliance are working to revitalize street life in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The top photo shows one end of the newly car-free Coentis Slip, between Water and Pearl Street.

Looking to park at 3059 Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx? There are plenty of options. The property has a garage, not to mention the free on-street parking. But that wasn't enough for the owner of this property, who decided to commandeer some of the public sidewalk, pave it over with asphalt, fence it in, and use the handicapped-accessible pedestrian ramp as the curb cut to a personal driveway.

Streetsblog reader Susan Donovan, a.k.a. Futurebird, posted this pic on Instagram yesterday. It's a DIY basketball court on Walton Avenue near Joyce Kilmer Park, a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. Writes Donovan:

On Saturday, ten blocks of the Bedford Avenue retail strip were closed to cars and open to people for Williamsburg Walks, one of the first neighborhood car-free events to partner with DOT's Weekend Walks program. The street was full of people enjoying the sunny weather -- at chairs and tables, listening to live music, playing games, lounging on grass, and stopping in at shops and restaurants along the way.

A tipster sent us photos of what looks like a sinkhole in the Hudson River Greenway just north of 181st Street, in Washington Heights. These shots were taken Sunday morning.