Comments on: More Bike Lanes for Brooklyn CB 1

By: Anne (www.sustainableflatbush.org)

Anne (www.sustainableflatbush.org) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:22:12 +0000

and i’m not talking about the new part — i’m talking about the section that goes from eastern parkway to sheepshead bay. good chance most people have no idea that’s even a bike lane.

By: Anne (www.sustainableflatbush.org)

Anne (www.sustainableflatbush.org) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:09:55 +0000

how about showing south brooklyn some love and painting that bedford avenue bike lane GREEN like the one in brooklyn heights??

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:32:46 +0000

This is awesome. I just discovered many of these today. My route from Williamsburg to the Queensborough. I love it! Now if only motorists would stay out of them.

By: Claudia Bienenfeld

Claudia Bienenfeld — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:08:43 +0000

Actually, the Bedford Avenue bike lane (northbound) currently ends an avenue block SOUTH of where Bedford dovetails with the end of Rogers Ave. I hope this missing block will have bike lanes added when the promised lanes are installed north of the Bedford-Rogers connection. I also hope improved bike access will be provided from Bedford Ave. to Dean St., a one-way eastbound street with a bike lane, which crosses Bergen where Rogers ends.

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:48:38 +0000

Sanctioning a counter-flow bike lane? Never happenin’. You must think the city loves lawsuits.

By: mfs

mfs — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:43:01 +0000

This is great news. If anyone from DOT is reading this, I strongly encourage you to take a second look at the Franklin St/Kent ave routing for the southbound lane between Cayler and N 14th. there is very heavy truck traffic and deteriorated pavement and shoulders on N 14th, compounded with lots of trucks parking on that block. It is a dangerous route to send bikers down. Please consider establishing a southbound, counter-flow bike lane on Banker for one block instead, as it is the route most bikers take anyways. Putting this on the west side of Banker street will be the least disruptful for business operations on that block.

By: bikelanesdontwork

bikelanesdontwork — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:37:31 +0000

“As someone who’s first bike(in twenty five years of living in NYC) arrives in about a month I can’t stress enough how much a pain in the *ss it is to realize that I have to learn new ways to go anywhere if I plan on taking marked bike lanes.”

As someone who has been biking the streets of New York for over 30 years, I can tell you not to bother. Go where you face the least traffic. If there’s a bike lane there, mazel tov. If not, don’t sweat it. Striped bike lanes make very little difference.

By: Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:02:26 +0000

Bike Lane, Shimke Lane. They’re absolutely no use if there are cars parked in ‘em.

-B

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:52:26 +0000

Rollie (#2): South of Dean Street, Bedford Ave is two-way and has bike lanes in both directions. So cyclists headed for Eastern Parkway can go one block on Dean and then take Bedford to Eastern Parkway.

Zach (#5): It sounds from the press release like Franklin St will have a striped lane in one direction and sharrows in the other direction. That’s pretty good, given how narrow that street is.

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:52:50 +0000

Neat, although I wish they’d given us full striped lanes on Franklin Street. That’s a key connection.

Here they are on a map:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113623707395910889378.00043a5b93a57e0640dcd&z=12&om=1

By: steve

steve — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:51:29 +0000

With some trial and error (and perhaps, consultation of bikely.com?), I bet you will develop an alternative route for this trip that is quicker than other methods, probably even driving, using side streets. I say let the cars have Flatbush–it is a traffic nightmare!

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:44:01 +0000

A lack of connected routes is really a big part of the problem with the existing bicycle infrastructure. I’ll add that using smaller side streets makes sense to a degree, but when you’re thinking of going somewhere by bike you want to be able to go the same way you usually do on foot.

As someone who’s first bike(in twenty five years of living in NYC) arrives in about a month I can’t stress enough how much a pain in the *ss it is to realize that I have to learn new ways to go anywhere if I plan on taking marked bike lanes. For example, I usually walk on Flatbush avenue from GAP to go to Target or the Atlantic Terminal, but since that street has really intense traffic and no bike lane, I’d have to take a route I’m not familiar with to get there. Which I know isn’t the biggest problem but from the standpoint of a new cyclist it’s something that keeps me from hopping on my bike and getting out there.

By: Rollie

Rollie — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:16:56 +0000

I understand ending the Franklin Avenue bike lane at Dean Street (to connect to the existing lane on that street) but why not push the extra 8 blocks to the segregated bike path on Eastern Parkway?

By: steve

steve — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:28:31 +0000

Great news. The route and the accompanying explanation demonstrate that this really is a step toward a “connected” network. DoT should issue a public statement of rationale like this for every extension bike route the establish. It migh help the residents on whose streets the routes appear understand what is going on.

Thanks DoT. If you are listening, other top priorities:

-5th Ave from Madison Ave Bridge south to Broadway;

-Southwestern Queens corridor, connecting 34th Ave. with the Q’boro Bridge (to the south of the railyards);

-Myrtle Ave, from Willoughby to Cypress Hills.