Push to Make DeKalb Avenue More Bicycle-Friendly
Per Streetsblog, the DOT is cooking up some changes for DeKalb Avenue that are meant to calm traffic on the thoroughfare and make it more friendly to bicyclists. The department wants to install a dedicated bike lane on DeKalb that stretches from Bed-Stuy to Fort Greene. The DOT, which is currently seeking community input for…
Per Streetsblog, the DOT is cooking up some changes for DeKalb Avenue that are meant to calm traffic on the thoroughfare and make it more friendly to bicyclists. The department wants to install a dedicated bike lane on DeKalb that stretches from Bed-Stuy to Fort Greene. The DOT, which is currently seeking community input for its plan, is also looking to undertake other initiatives such as improving intersection safety via more lane markings and enforcing time-limited parking during certain hours. Work on the 2.6-mile stretch could begin as early as May of this year. City stats say that seven out of ten households in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy are car-free and many lack convenient subway access, making them ideal neighborhoods to target in terms of introducing more bicycle-friendly features. The plan will be presented to Community Board 2 tonight.
DeKalb Avenue Could Become a More Complete Street [Streetsblog]
PDF: DeKalb Avenue Project [DOT]
Atlantic Avenue has driving lanes replace parking lanes during “peak hours” and has HATED this for 20 years! It is terrible for business so … let’s implement this on DeKalb and hurts some new small neighborhood stores.
Stupidity in government strikes again!
sincerely,
– passionate 30-yr NYC cylcist, who has been hit by cars but loves small business
Why can’t city move bike lanes adjacent to the sidewalk. Then bikers would be safer, no moving traffic to deal with.
Why can’t city move bike lanes adjacent to the sidewalk. Then bikers would be safer, no moving traffic to deal with.
No, No, No. Switch the bike lane and parking lane. The biggest hurdle to an effective bike lane is having it so cars can cross, idle in it.
Carrie M, you are blind to the realities of living here. Perhaps we could take the 38 bus off of DeKalb and change Lafayette to a two way street again, the way it once was and run the 38 there. That could make this plan a little more palatable. There is no reason why ALL of these changes have to occur on DeKalb.
My suggestions: 1) get the cops to stop with the “commando style” parking at the 88th. 2) get the cops to stop with the “commando” style parking on Flatbush and Bergen St. and reverse the direction of the traffic on 6th/Carlton towards Atlantic recreating it’s original orientation. 3) Force the re-opening of traffic on blocked off areas of Metro Tech and Myrtle. (make the cops give back Park Row in Manhattan while we’re at it)
THEN 1) ticket cars for double parking in existing bike lanes, 2) ticket bicyclists for biking OUTSIDE of bike lanes on streets which have clearly marked lanes 3) ticket bicyclists for running lights or riding on the sidewalk and 4) issue neighborhood parking permits.
Doing it MY way will of course make ME happy : ) But seriously, somebody has to do something about the piggish parking ways of the … er… pigs. And as the 1:19 suggested, existing laws should be enforced before making more traffic changes.
Last summer the Brooklyn based public art project Groundswell went around painting bike lanes an eye pleasing green, making it clearer to motorists that the bike lanes were in fact there and for bikes only. The simple visual barrier seems to be highly effective in making biking a safer, cheap and eco-friendly alternative to sitting in traffic. Hopefully they will continue this summer with the project, hitting the Dekalb bike lane along the way.
As a cyclist, having been hit by a car in the bike lane on 2nd ave in manhattan – which has a “buffer” zone just last week, i agree with the last comment that the DOT needs to RE-EVALUATE the bike lanes they are putting every where.
There is no legal enforcement for drivers to respect bike lanes, therefore, the infrastructure needs to acknowledge human habits. I feel as if the DOT are in fact drowning, while swimming upstream – with the current design of bike lanes.
Can anyone of DOT air heads go and see how it is being done in Europe.
Paris for example, and I’m not French.
The bike line is first where the parked cars used to be.
Then there is safety zone followed by parked car line, moving cars line or lines and parked car line again at the other side.
It is without questions the safest way to go about it.
As a resident of Dekalb Ave, and as a cyclist, rather than spending tons of money to re-do the streets, why doesn’t the city actually start ticketing cars double parked in bike lanes (there are ALWAYS cars double parked in the bike lane on Dekalb near the hospital), develop lots of PSAs about drivers having more respect for cyclists, and require all licensed NYC drivers take a car/bike safety test so drivers are more aware of cyclists rights. You can build and build bike lanes, but if drivers don’t respect them, they are a waste of space.