CB1 OKs Brooklyn Greenway Bike Path
Streetsblog reports that Community Board 1 voted on Tuesday night overwhelmingly in favor of adding a separate bike path to Kent Avenue as part of the Brooklyn Greenway initiative. The new bike path will result in the loss of 500 parking spaces on the thoroughfare; the Greenway Initiative worked to defuse controversy about those lost…
Streetsblog reports that Community Board 1 voted on Tuesday night overwhelmingly in favor of adding a separate bike path to Kent Avenue as part of the Brooklyn Greenway initiative. The new bike path will result in the loss of 500 parking spaces on the thoroughfare; the Greenway Initiative worked to defuse controversy about those lost spots by ID’ing side streets where on-site parking could be created. CB1 was the last community board that needed to vote on the Greenway, which is supposed to eventually run along the waterfront from Greenpoint to Red Hook. The Department of Transportation has secured $9 million in funding for the project and started working on some sections of it already, such as a stretch near the Navy Yard. Ride on!
Brooklyn CB1 Approves Bike Path in Place of Parking [Streetsblog]
Brooklyn Greenway Initiative [Official Site]
Image from Streetsblog.
8:45 –
Nobody rides a bike? I don’t know what city you live in, but I see cyclists all the time. Furthermore, I think part of the reason that we don’t see more is that cycling is way too dangerous in this city.
I used to ride everywhere, but my husband made me quit after I was hit three times, once by a driver swerving into the bike “lane” in Brooklyn Heights to avoid potholes, a second time by someone opening their car door into the bike “land”, and the third by a driver who ran a red light. I’m sure others have had similar problems, most of which would not happen if separated lanes exist.
Also, in areas where you might expect families to ride on the bike lanes, people usually park their cars. For example, in Brooklyn Heights, the First Church of Lebanon’s congregation apparently has the right to park their cars on the painted-green lane on Sundays (a peak family-riding time), and on much of the Union Street lanes leading up to Prospect Park, NYPD personal vehicles are always parked all over the lane. Having a separated lane in both circumstances would give people a safe space to ride and drivers better places to park.
As an example of a semi-success story, visit the separated lane on Tillary near the Brooklyn Bridge. Despite the fact that people drive up it sometimes, it has made riding to and from the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges on the Brooklyn side ridiculously safer and more popular. If only they could add one of these lanes to Bowery!
can’t we ever put a bike lane on a non busy street in NYC? It’s really becoming ridiculous, first the stupid bike line on Bedford Ave, the busiest and easiest way to get from most of Vrooklyn up to Williamsburg and the rest of the waterfront, now this…. why does the bike lane have to be on Bedford? Why Kent? why not a lesser/smaller/less important road? I hate transportation alternatives. How did they get so much pull in this city when no one rides a bike around here? Even when they do they have to take a bike lane up Bedford avenue.
Brownstoner traffic has dropped because this site is a more or less imperfect barometer of the local market. When our housing was at its most inflated, traffic to this site peaked. Those who thought they had chosen smartly by investing in overpriced garbage, for flip or otherwise, were assured by Brownstoner and others doing the same that their investments were genius. Let’s not forget that Brownstoner would, without qualification, puff every single piece of overpriced brick and mortar as a steal. We now know better. The market has tanked, and nobody (including Brownstoner) is claiming a 2 to 3 million dollar brownstone is a good value. Not surprisingly, interest in this site has dropped precipitously.
The conclusion is obvious: let’s call it a day. Brownstoner, shut this site down and give it a rest. We are all a little depressed, we don’t need this anymore.
Koch put in segregated bike-lanes and then pulled them out.
This area in question is an industrial area. Never mind the cars. It will be the truckers against the bikers; anarchists all.
…and Congresswoman Velazquez and the Brooklyn Navy Yard and who knows who else. Sorry; typed a period and hit [Post] a little too quickly.
Sorry, 4:46 — but this plan wasn’t developed by the administration. It’s a grass-roots effort by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, assisted by the Regional Plan Association and the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office.
I’d like to see this plan mandated and realized in the entire city. At least Bloomie’s right on this. Many will complain, but soon enough people become compliant.
amazing williamsburg waterfront news – will be pretty terrific.
i love going to the water even now before anything is built.
it’s a wonderful view!
This is the configuration they use extensively in Amsterdam. The bike lanes also have their own traffic lights. Not sure if that is planned here.