Comments on: DeKalb Avenue Could Become a More Complete Street

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:20:36 +0000

Do bike lanes like this keep people from driving in them? I could see people getting impatient at stalled traffic and start driving along it, followed by others.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:22:15 +0000

While adding a bike lane this plan doesn’t allow parking during peak times to allow an extra lane of traffic access to the bridge during rush hours.

This is the mindset that I think should change; why facilitate traffic during rush hour which only makes access to the bridge easier?

Make no accommodation for rush hours and traffic may get bad for a while but then, the theory goes, people will be sick of the traffic and find other ways to commute. Make it easy to drive and people will do so.

So I am in favor of the bike lane but do not think that parking should be banned during rush hours.

By: Jeffrey Hyman

Jeffrey Hyman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:03:38 +0000

Anybody sit in on the discussion at CB3 last night? Is Zach correct in assuming that the community boards aren’t going to like this? Not that the opinion of the community boards matter all that much…DOT has indicated that it is going to build this no matter what.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:24 +0000

Dave, you’re misinformed. This plan would remove traffic lanes (during most hours), not add them. DeKalb is currently two lanes in one direction, and this plan would make it one lane during most hours.

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:12:49 +0000

Does the part time traffic/part time parking thing really work well?

Not here in Sunnyside. It just brings speeding cars closer to the sidewalk, endangering pedestrians. It also takes away some business. One of the conditions the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce gave for supporting congestion pricing is that this parking restriction be removed.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:56:24 +0000

Another example of the city doing exactly the wrong thing to help alleviate traffic in the city.

Facilitating traffic to a free bridge will only INCREASE traffic to Manhattan; are they trying to increase CP revenues?

Toll the East River bridges; stop ANY kind of accommodation for traffic (lane reversals, etc) to make it MORE difficult to drive in the city.

It’s a sad day when the city spends money to make traffic increase while simultaneously trying to sell CP.

We need a committed, powerful traffic czar that will address the situation from a city-wide perspective. We don’t seem to have that now.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:31:50 +0000

I really don’t know, just curious:

Does the part time traffic/part time parking thing really work well?

It seems to me that it would be a huge cost and inconvenience to enforce.

By: Jason A

Jason A — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:03:53 +0000

It would be nice if the lights on Dekalb were more bike-friendly, too…

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:39:20 +0000

Man… I just do *not* see the CB going for a one-lane DeKalb. I’d love a bike lane here — usually, I take Flushing to avoid DeKalb, which sucks too. But it’s low-capacity and begging for double-parking. This’ll probably get shot down real quick-like.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:10:44 +0000

Jeffrey,

They need to stop wasting money and time and do it correct the first time.

By: rlb

rlb — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:54:15 +0000

It’d be nice if the peak lane were buses only.

By: ek

ek — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:34:02 +0000

I live in Bed Stuy. I can always get home by going east on the new Willoughby Ave. bike lane. Even before they put the lane in it was a relatively bike friendly street. For West bound there isn’t really any good way to get to Fort Greene. Dekalb is too hectic and the motorists feel they have a god given right to jockey between the 2 lanes without having to go around a cyclist who has taken one. I’ve resorted to just riding the wrong way on Willoughby though I always yield to cyclists going the right way. The cops don’t seem to care.

By: Jeffrey Hyman

Jeffrey Hyman — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:00:53 +0000

Brandon, DOT has indicated that it is not ready to take that step here.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:07:00 +0000

They need seperated bike lanes like 9th ave in the city.