DOT Previews Big Plans at Greenway Summit

The Ninth Avenue cycle track will be extended 10 blocks north to 33rd St.

Transportation Alternatives held its 3rd Annual Greenway Summit on Tuesday, where keynote speaker Jon Orcutt, Director of Policy for NYC DOT, outlined the city’s plans for expanding cycling infrastructure over the coming year. Here are the highlights, via the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Mobilizing the Region:

• Adding bike lanes and pedestrian islands to Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City this summer.
• Installing new bike lanes on Kent Ave in Williamsburg along the East River.
• Improving the crossways over
  the FDR from the East River Greenway by keeping them cleaner and
  introducing traffic calming measures at the intersections.
• Extending the 9th Avenue protected bike lane in Manhattan to 33rd St. (The lane currently ends at 23rd St.)
• As part of a push to build 15 miles of protected bike lanes by 2010, installing a protected lane on 8th Ave. between Canal St. and 23rd St. in Manhattan.
• Begin design on the Navy Yard portion of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.
• Adding a bike lane connecting Van Cortlandt Park and the Broadway Bridge in spring 2009.
• Constructing bike access to the Shore Parkway Greenway at 157th Ave near JFK Airport.

As DOT forges ahead with substantive bike-ped improvements, Orcutt pointed out that the department doesn’t operate in a vacuum. 

“In thanking the advocacy community for its support,” MTR reports, “Orcutt added that
interagency cooperation was key to the continued advancement of cycling
infrastructure in New York.”

Editor’s note: Items concerning the Navy Yard and Broadway Bridge have been corrected. 

Photo: bicyclesonly / Flickr