Another Bike Lane Show-down
A proposed bike land installation is ruffling feathers again in North Brooklyn. As part of a $5.8 million renovation of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, the city is planning to install two bike lines, each with a nine-foot buffer. The result: Two fewer lanes to accommodate the many trucks that use the Brooklyn-Queens connector on a…
A proposed bike land installation is ruffling feathers again in North Brooklyn. As part of a $5.8 million renovation of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, the city is planning to install two bike lines, each with a nine-foot buffer. The result: Two fewer lanes to accommodate the many trucks that use the Brooklyn-Queens connector on a daily basis. The proposed change comes on the heels of a new bike lane installation on Greenpoint Avenue that local industrialists blame for big back-ups. “They’ve really made Greenpoint Avenue a mess,” said Paul Pullo of Metroenergy. The bike lobby insists more buffered lanes are necessary in the area: “Those narrow sidewalks [on Greenpoint Avenue] currently make it pretty hazardous for two cyclists, let alone two pedestrians, to comfortably pass one another,” said Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives. “Separating bike and pedestrian traffic would do a lot to improve safety.” And so it goes.
It’s Trucks vs. Bikes on Greenpoint Avenue [Brooklyn Paper]
quote:
(The same 10-year-olds could play ball safely in the streets, too. Something that can’t be done anymore.)
really? why cant they? quiet a warped view of things.
*rob*
The city shouldn’t limit their efforts to the bridge, (which is a fairly small bridge). They should put a dedicated bike lane running the length of Greenpoint Ave from Queens Blvd to McGuinness Blvd, (and why not put one on McGuinness, while you’re at it?).
Hate traffic jams? Tax gasoline, raise the cost of parking, pass laws that discourage people from driving. Take a bus or subway instead of driving your dopey little smogmobiles all over the place. Better still, ride a bike or walk, it’s good for you, (until a speeding truck hits you).
Benson, you have your genders mixed up. You’re probably not as streetwise as you pretend to be.
Vinca, as always, sums it up prefectly.
Pete;
You are correct. Vinca has her bridges mixed up.
You’re right Pete, obviously I’m as confused as others. It’s the Pulaski that runs from McGuinness to LIC, and Kosciusko that runs on LIE. (But if you switch the names around, the rest of what I said about bike lanes and traffic remains.) BTW, I’ll just say that biking in NY today is an entirely different experience than biking in NY years ago, when even 10-year-olds could be fairly safe riding their bikes to the far reaches of Brooklyn, and over the bridges into Manhattan. (The same 10-year-olds could play ball safely in the streets, too. Something that can’t be done anymore.) I don’t love bike lanes, but I’m in favor of them. However, it’s far more important to develop a culture where drivers become willing to share the road, as well as yield—to pedestrians, to bicyclists, to other drivers. Driving culture in NY has actually gone in the opposite direction, becoming far more aggressive, never yielding, never slowing down, rarely using directionals, etc.
are you sure? Kosciuszko bridge to me is the BQE –
The Pulaski is the one from McGuinness to LIC – and definitely do see peds and bikes on it.
la la la la la i dont even need to keep my eyes open la la la la la
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4DOc6VJXwM/SCJvQj3rTkI/AAAAAAAAA78/0rMf6es0tWI/s400/bike+pic+of+the+day.jpg
seriously, it’s people like that girl in that picture that makes drivers wanna run them over and pedestrians knock them off their bikes.
*roB8
” Pedestrians from Greenpoint use the Kosciuszko Bridge to access the #7. I’ve never seen a pedestrian or a bicyclist on the Pulaski”
you definitely have the Kosciuszko and Pulaski confused vinca – Pulaski is the bridge that McGuinness runs into – Kosc connects to Meeker Ave/BQE.