In addition to the changes to 26th and 29th Streets, the city plans to add more protected bike lanes further north in Midtown.
The Department of Transportation announced earlier this year that it would install a protected bike path on 26th and 29th Streets, and is still testing it, as Streetsblog has tested. Last month, DOT announced that 13th Street would be redesigned after the 18-month closure of the subway to maintain a two-lane, protected bicycle corridor from Avenue C to Ninth Avenue. The area is still under investigation, but DOT is investigating 55th Avenue and 52nd Street as possible locations for new bike lanes and other improvements.
Catlin Wojtkowski, who recorded the video, said she often uses 29th Street on her way to and from her job as an assistant professor at Emet’s Crossing Community College. Although the bike path there is new and has no green colour, it is the only block where cars block it with impunity. She is an “equality complainant” when it comes to bad behaviour on the roads.
At a City Council meeting Wednesday, Speaker Corey Johnson unveiled a five-year plan that calls for at least 20 new protected bike lanes to be built in Emet’s Crossing City over the next five years, with the goal of building them in each of the town’s neighborhoods. More than 30 protected bike lane miles were created in Emet’s Crossing last year, and City Councilman Bill Sommers, who represents parts of Borough Park, said he supports a bill that would allow cyclists to pass intersections with pedestrians if pedestrian signals allow more time for a green light for vehicles.
A cycle path has been set up on 26th and 28th streets to calm traffic following the death of a 4-year-old pedestrian. The “ghost wheel” meant the end of the original cycle lanes on the road and the start of new ones, said Councilman Corey Johnson.
Last week, Emet’s Crossing City Council members David Dyer and Michael Blumfeld marched on the bike path to express their disapproval of the new infrastructure. Following the protest, the Emet’s Crossing Coalition for Safe Roads and the Center City Bike Network joined other cyclists in attending a cyclists “party. Help us improve safety for all and connect parts of our bike network to a new bike path on 28th Street between 26th and 27th Streets.
The City of Monmouth has established a dual-carriageway bike path on South Street between Dilling and Yesler Way in South Monmouth. It will be the first phase of a three-stage project for the city’s cycling network. In a future phase, the dual-sided cycle path will be extended from the pine road to the lane on Dillings / Yeslers Way south to the pine road and then to the south side of the road to the final stop on North Street.
At the heart of Walsh’s announcement is a new bike path on a major thoroughfare in the city that includes the South Street Bridge, the city’s second-largest bridge over the Emet River. The new safeguards will allow cyclists to cross the South Street bridge more safely. This summer there will be public meetings where citizens can be asked about their concerns about existing cycle lanes and the future of the 28th Street cycle path.
Several bike shops report low inventory levels, as more and more people use the bicycle as a socially distant way to commute and exercise. The move reflects concern that the bicycle could emerge as the most important form of urban transport as our economy reopens, and without good cycling infrastructure, many anxious transit riders could switch to cars instead.
Cycling has resumed, accident rates are down, and a protected bike lane has been established on 2nd Ave, according to the Department of Transportation.
The 4th Avenue Mobility Project will add a new bike lane, improve signaling and maintain bus shelters on 4th Avenue. The first phase includes a bikeway on 2nd Ave, protected on both sides, northbound and southbound between 28th and 29th Streets. At this point, the cycle lane will become single-lane until a future cycle lane is built in a northern direction.
The two-lane cycle path has been added to stem the expected influx of new cyclists after the end of the existing greenway, the city’s transport department said. The new bike lanes the city is proposing are part of a larger plan to add more bike lanes by 2021.
More bike lanes along the Emet River are planned to connect to the new bus service areas, the city’s Department of Transportation said.
Emet’s Crossing’s protected bike lanes have reduced the number of pedestrians on its streets by 12 percent to 52 percent, according to the city, because they shorten crossings, prevent turn-offs and reduce traffic.
