DOT Downsizes Very Modest Brooklyn Bike Lane Plan After Pushback - Streetsblog New York City

"The Department of Transportation had planned to install parking-protected curbside lanes northbound on Kingston Avenue and southbound on parallel Brooklyn Avenue between Empire Boulevard to Winthrop Street - just nine blocks in a place desperate for more extensive safe biking networks. But the agency shelved the upgrades on the most-dangerous northernmost three blocks after some locals pushed back at a community board meeting last year, according to a presentation DOT quietly published in June [ PDF]."

"Activists were furious that such a modest initial proposal had been truncated further - an ongoing trend in the waning days of an administration riddled with corruption allegations. "We're never going to get a bike network if we're going to do this block-by-block warfare where neighborhoods get to opt out," said Jon Orcutt, director of advocacy at Bike New York. "Let's hope for a new approach in 2026.""

"Crash injuries have been rising on the corridor over the past year, and protected bike lanes could have reduced crash injuries by 15 percent, and by 21 percent among pedestrians, according to DOT. The city has studied effectiveness of protected bike lanes for more than a decade and across wide swaths of a city, and they have proven to increase safety, especially for people on foot. Protected bike lanes typically cut total injuries by 14.8 percent, and serious pedestrian injuries or deaths by 29.2"

City transportation planners proposed parking-protected curbside bike lanes northbound on Kingston Avenue and southbound on Brooklyn Avenue for a nine-block stretch from Empire Boulevard to Winthrop Street. Local opposition led the Department of Transportation to shelve upgrades on the northernmost three blocks while proceeding with unprotected east-west bike lanes on Rutland Road and Fenimore Street. Local school principals sought redesigns to curb speeding and drag racing outside more than ten schools. Crash injuries have risen along the corridor. DOT estimates protected lanes reduce total crash injuries by about 15 percent and pedestrian injuries by about 21 percent.

Read at Streetsblog