New Protected Bike Lanes Will Connect to Ridgewood Reservoir

Protected bike lanes and built-out sidewalks are coming to Cypress Avenue to provide a safe connection to Highland Park on the Brooklyn-Queens border, where traffic going to and from the Jackie Robinson Parkway currently reigns.

The Department of Transportation plans to set up a two-way cycle path protected from traffic by jersey barriers along with new sidewalks between Cooper Avenue and Cypress Hills Street, according to a design presented to the local community board in June.

The upgrades mean people on foot or bike won’t need to dodge traffic coming off and on the Jackie Robinson Parkway to get to the park and nearby cemeteries, said one local advocate.

“This is like a win-win,” said Bree Mobley, a volunteer organizer with Ridgewood Riders, a cycling group that has pushed for the upgrades for years. “Let’s make it happen, let’s get park access in the neighborhood.”

Cypress Avenue is a steep, wide and busy thoroughfare sandwiched between cemeteries and full of heavy traffic from the nearby highway. Those dangerous conditions make it hard for people to get to Highland Park from Ridgewood and Bushwick, even though it’s only a mile away, Mobley said.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” the safe streets advocate said. “People are zooming by you, 30-40 miles per hour. They don’t care, they’re just trying to get to the highway and get there as fast as they can.”

The intersection of Cypress and Cooper avenues in particular is a well-known danger zone with a history of crashes.

Ridgewood Rides and advocates with Transportation Alternatives have gathered nearly 1,000 online signatures in support of safer access to the park.

The project has even gotten support from local Council Member Bob Holden, who has been an opponent of other efforts to boost cycling in the city.

“Council Member Holden supports the project because it makes sense for the community,” Holden spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna in a statement. “This particular lane benefits those biking to and from the Ridgewood Reservoir and addresses a broader quality of life issue along Cypress Avenue. It’s a solution that works well for everyone.”

DOT plans to carve a two-way bike path with jersey barriers along the north curb, ranging in width from three-and-a-half to six feet each way for cyclists, according to the proposal the agency presented to Queens Community Board 5 in June [PDF].

The bike lanes are widest at six feet each way between Cypress Hills Street and Vermont Place, then narrow down to between three-and-a-half and four feet west to Cooper Avenue.

DOT is also building sidewalks that are currently missing on parts of the north side of Cypress Avenue and on the east side of Vermont Place by the Jackie Robinson.

The project is surrounded by areas with high rates of traffic injuries and deaths, which DOT labels Vision Zero Priority Corridors. There have been 166 reported crashes injuring 99 people on the 0.8-mile stretch of Cypress over the last three years, according to city data.

The city hopes to connect the Cypress Avenue bike lanes in the future to the network of unprotected bike lanes in Bushwick, via Cooper Avenue and Decatur Street, along with better pedestrian connections at Highland Park and intersection upgrades.

DOT did not respond to requests for comment about when it plans to install the new bike lane.