« Artists Could Maybe (not) Return to Matzo Factory by May Tony Soprano Doing Dumbo? »
April 11, 2008
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 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.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/4500
Comments
No parking on side streets, turn them into green bike lanes. The city hasn't figured out this simple way of curbing congestion, but this is exactly it. No parking will discourage people from driving into this areas.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 10:17 AM
Oh, this will be awesome. I ride that stretch of Kent a lot and it's polite to call it inhospitable. This will pretty much be my new bike route to central and south Brooklyn.
Posted by: Zach at April 11, 2008 10:22 AM
Gotta say, that would be great. It might even make it worth going to Williamsburg....
Posted by: slopenick at April 11, 2008 10:31 AM
i'll hazard a guess that the "slow day" moron is the same person as the "faded type" moron.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 11:26 AM
Finally! This is great news.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 12:09 PM
Bikers have to obey the rules of the road. The cars have no choice but to stop, bikers forget that they must also stop at red lights to allow pedestrians to cross.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 12:13 PM
love it! this waterfront with the new parks is going to be wonderful.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 12:43 PM
Bikers obey the rules in NYC as much as pedestrains do. Have you not noticed?
Vehicle rules do not apply, the only rule is do not get hit by a car, and do not hit any pedestrains.
I'm looking forward to a bike path, because as per the rules above, it is sketchy riding around. I much prefer going over the bridges and up the West Side Highway bike path because you are out of the way of cars.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 1:04 PM
This is the best news to come down the pike in recent memory!
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 1:40 PM
Side streets do not want to become parking lots, either. I applaud the green bikeway, but shunting parking to quiet residential streets is just making a problem for other people.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 2:36 PM
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.
Posted by: trudylou at April 11, 2008 3:22 PM
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!
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 3:54 PM
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.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 4:46 PM
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.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 5:05 PM
...and Congresswoman Velazquez and the Brooklyn Navy Yard and who knows who else. Sorry; typed a period and hit [Post] a little too quickly.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 5:08 PM
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.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 5:18 PM
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.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 5:49 PM
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.
Posted by: guest at April 12, 2008 8:45 PM
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!
Posted by: guest at April 14, 2008 12:02 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.