Transportation Policy

Councilmember Gale Brewer joined Transportation Alternatives and representatives of community groups from all over the city at this morning's Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief rally on the steps of City Hall. The Coalition currently includes 129 community organizations.

As New York City begins fulfilling its commitment to build 200 miles of new bicycle lanes over the next three years, the question will increasingly arise: What kind of bike lane should go where? Currently, DOT seems not to have any set of guidelines to answer that question. So, take a look at how the City of London does it.

Last weekend, former DOT Deputy Commissioner "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz wrote an op-ed in the New York Times urging the city to start creating bike lanes that physically separate cyclists from motor vehicle traffic at some locations. This weekend, as DOT laid down a brand new "shared lane" design on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, a letter to the editor from a regional director of the New York and New England League of American Bicyclists criticized Schwartz arguing that physically-separated bike lanes are more dangerous than riding in the street (it's worth noting that the writer lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, not New York City).

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:

The green circle with the red dot in the middle marks the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Glenwood Road where, between 1995 and 2001 there were 23 pedestrian injuries and one fatality. More recent data shows the intersection to be one of the most dangerous in New York City. Source: Crashstat.org

Why not Close New York City's Streets to Traffic More Often?

November 7, 2006