Comments on: DOT to Present Two-Way Protected Bike Path for PPW Tonight

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:40:12 +0000

@Mike –

I haven’t been to this location. If there aren’t any intersections crossing the lane (and if bikers have a graceful way to enter and leave the lane), it might work well.

By: Felix

Felix — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:45:28 +0000

I hate being stuck on the B69 on Union St. I hope this goes through.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:19:59 +0000

Mitch, have you ever been to this location? There are essentially no intersections across this proposed bike facility.

By: Geck

Geck — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:38:05 +0000

PPW along the park between the circles is unusually well suited for a two way contra-flow lane. It will be basically uninterrupted by Intersections; it will have almost no turning vehicles for 20 blocks. Once the 3rd street entrance to the park drive is closed this month, PPW will have only emergency vehicle entering the park at 3rd St, a Park Department parking lot entrance near 5th St and a Parks Department maintenance lot entrance near 7th St.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:19:20 +0000

I know there’s an eternal debate on this blog about two-way bike lanes, but I don’t think they’re a good idea, unless you don’t care about collisions with turning cars.

Restoring two-way traffic flow would be good for bikes. A contra-flow lane on the left side of the street might work, too. But a two-way sidepath is not a good idea on a street with many intersections. It’s just not a good practice to put bikes where motorists don’t expect to see them.

By: Xue

Xue — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:01:36 +0000

Hopefully the design will allow bicyclists to relatively easily enter and exit the 2-way lane from the side streets.

By: oscarfrye

oscarfrye — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:53:01 +0000

the two-way bike line should go around the entire park, not just one side

By: Streetsman

Streetsman — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:03:19 +0000

What we should see here is the two-way protect bike path AND a two-way conversion of both 8th Ave and PPW, eliminating the through traffic racing across this residential community, while providing the safe and convenient bicycle facility. But I’ll happily take one thing at a time.

By: rlb

rlb — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:01:46 +0000

I’ve often thought that a good goal would be to have two way bike lanes surrounding every park.

By: J-Uptown

J-Uptown — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:34:06 +0000

Mike,

You are correct that a two-way street would have a better traffic calming effect, but this is also a step in the right direction. Fewer lanes, means more vehicles per lane. This makes it more difficult for the lone reckless driver to speed through long stretches unimpeded. Plus, this option transforms a bike-hostile street into one of the most bike-friendly streets in Brooklyn. A two-way plan would have a harder time accommodating bikes, but it would slow traffic down more. I guess it depends on what you value more.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:58:19 +0000

This is great, but won’t do anything to calm traffic on 8th Ave, and won’t do that much to calm traffic on PPW. We still need real traffic calming to make these streets (and Union Street) safe.

Those who go should also be sure that DOT has taken into account connections at either end of the path. We don’t want a disconnected cycling facility that just dumps you into the middle of a high-speed traffic circle!