Bicycle Infrastructure

Department of Transportation contractors put down the long-awaited Class III "Shared Lane" bicycle stencils on Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue this weekend. As I understand them, the markings are meant to do two things:

Yesterday I showed some photos of the "Share the Road" Bike Route signs that were recently installed on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn and that sparked an interesting discussion on different possible ways to design and build on-street bike paths. This summer I was in Berkeley, California for a friend's wedding. NYCSR filmmaker Clarence Eckerson was also in Berkeley recently and we both snapped a bunch of photos of that city's extensive "Bicycle Boulevard" network. For some more ideas of what might be possible in New York City, take a look:

Ryan Russo is the New York City Department of Transportation's Director for Street Management and Safety, a newly-created job that he started in July. Previously, Russo worked as DOT's Downtown Brooklyn Transportation Coordinator where he was instrumental in designing and developing a number of improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and more livable streets (PDF file) over the last three years. Streetsblog caught up with Russo on Tuesday, a few hours after the City's big bike safety announcement:

The question was debated, albeit briefly and in slow motion, by two New York City Department of Transportation employees in the pages of the New York Times last week. Last week, in a Sunday City section op/ed piece, Andrew Vesselinovitch argued that DOT is not doing enough for New York City cyclists. Vesselinovitch is the former Director of DOT's Bicycle Program who made headlines in July when he claimed in a publicly-released resignation letter that the agency's leadership was purposefully undermining the progress of New York City's bicycle network. This week, a response to Vesselinovitch comes from Ryan Russo, the DOT's newly appointed Director of Street Management and Safety. Their back-and-forth is re-printed below, in full:

A rendering of the Sands Street bike path on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge

In today's New York Sun Bradley Hope scoops up the first follow-up interview with former DOT Bicycle Program Director Andrew Vesselenovitch after his controversial resignation letter. Vesselenovitch has a big story to tell and I have a feeling that this isn't the last we've heard of it:

Outgoing Bike Program Director Rips Agency Bosses

Montreal: Youth, extraordinary bravery and helmets are unnecessary.