Nighttime visibility on the Hudson River Greenway north of W. 102nd Street has not improved since Jacob-uptown took this photo a year ago.

Due to the absence of lighting, once clocks are rolled back for daylight-saving time the Greenway between W. 102 and W. 125 Streets is plunged into darkness during the evening rush. Making matters worse is the glare of headlights from the Henry Hudson Parkway. Writes Upper Manhattan commuter Brad Conover:

The combination of no lights on the path and oncoming headlights of southbound traffic makes it impossible to see the bike path. There should be three new lines painted marking north and southbound biking lanes, not just one line separating bikers from pedestrians with no indication as to N/S-bound bikers, and there should be lights on the path and/or hedges to block the lights of oncoming traffic. I am sure someone is going to get seriously hurt on that path through no fault of their own.

Jacob-uptown, who sent in photographs of the area last year, was informed in a January 2009 letter that DOT would be recommending that the Parks Department include Cherry Walk lighting in its next round of capital construction contracts (though Parks previously indicated to Streetsblog that such a project would fall under the purview of DOT). Aside from some new shrubbery that "only helps a bit," Jacob reports that no changes have been made since last fall.

Last week, DOT told Streetsblog that defective highway lights along the Cherry Walk stretch would be replaced, but said there are no plans to install lighting on the Greenway itself.

We've got a few more details about another local ped-bike project getting a lift from stimulus cash. The street improvements announced for Hunts Point and Port Morris in the Bronx will fund the first three sections of the South Bronx Greenway. This project has been years in the works. When complete, it will bring 11 miles of pedestrian and bicycle paths to neighborhoods where places to play and bike are scarce, and where childhood asthma and obesity rates run high.

"This is extremely helpful moving these projects forward in a time of fiscal crisis," said Miquela Craytor, director of Sustainable South Bronx, which has been instrumental in shaping the project and shepherding its progress. "It's a big win for South Bronx communities that have been underserved for so long."

The three segments include Lafayette Avenue, a connection to Randall's Island, and access to Hunts Point Landing. The Sustainable South Bronx web site has a handy map of the full project [PDF].

New York's Sheridan Expressway, which traverses 1.25 miles of Bronx River waterfront (right), comes in at number two. Thanks to the advocacy of the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance, the state DOT is considering a proposal to replace the lightly-traveled, Moses-era Sheridan with housing and parks. As the Tri-State Transportation Campaign reported last month, preserving it is becoming harder and harder to justify.

Here's the full "Freeways Without Futures" list, issued as part of a joint venture between CNU and the Center for Neighborhood Technology called the Highways to Boulevards Initiative:

1. Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle, WA
2. Sheridan Expressway, New York, NY
   
3. The Skyway and Route 5, Buffalo, NY
   
4. Route 34, New Haven, CT
   
5. Claiborne Expressway, New Orleans, LA
6. Interstate 81, Syracuse, NY
7. Interstate 64, Louisville, KY
8. Route 29, Trenton, NJ
9. Gardiner Expressway, Toronto, ON
10. 11th Street Bridges and the Southeast Freeway, Washington D.C.

Previous highway-to-boulevard conversions have succeeded in cities from New York to San Francisco to Seoul, often in the face of opposition from carmaggedon-predicting doomsayers. More from CNU President John Norquist on why freeway removal makes sense, after the jump.

CNU President and CEO John Norquist says that compared to the prospect of completely rebuilding aging freeways -- something that’s inevitable after 40 or 50 years -- highways-to-boulevards projects are real money savers. "There’s a whole generation of elevated highways in cities that are at the end of their design life. Instead of rebuilding them at enormous expense, cities have an opportunity to undo what proved to be major urban planning blunders," said Norquist, Mayor of Milwaukee when it replaced the Park East Freeway with McKinley Boulevard in 2002. "The Federal Highway Fund just received a short-term bailout. The money that does exist can be invested much more efficiently in surface streets and transit. The development that results is walkable and close to jobs and city life. It helps residents keep a lot of money in their wallets that they’d otherwise spend driving."

"Fifty years ago, when there was flight from cities, industrialized waterfronts seemed like a convenient place to run freeways," Norquist said. "The result for the neighborhoods has been blight. Cities like San Francisco that have removed freeways and reclaimed waterfronts have turned them into magnets for people and investment."

Before the four "New York City Waterfalls" began gushing along the East River this June, DOT marked a bike route passing by each installation and released a guide to go with it. In this Streetfilm Elizabeth Press shows us a recent bike tour of the falls, led by DOT commish Janette Sadik-Khan. Special bonus feature: commentary from "Waterfalls" artist Olafur Eliasson about his work.

Next Thursday, artist Olaf Eliasson's much-anticipated "New York City Waterfalls" installation will debut along the East River. The project, as elegantly described in this week's New Yorker, "features four tall, widely separated, openwork steel towers housing powerful pumps that will pull river water up to a high basin and send it cascading down again, continuously, from seven in the morning until ten at night, through mid-October."

There will be one waterfall each near the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, one off the Brooklyn Heights promenade, and one off Governors Island. If you want to see all four by bike, DOT has you covered with its "Bike the Falls" guide, featuring a map to viewing points along with written directions to lanes and paths along the route. Road markings will also be in place. Check it out.

Last time we checked in on the Columbia Street section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, construction was in full swing. Now, along much of the path in Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, the orange barrels are gone and new plantings are taking root. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson snapped these shots last week, noting that about 40 new trees have been planted on Columbia between Atlantic Avenue and Degraw Street. The paths and plantings have completely changed the feel of the street, he tells us.

This section of the greenway is a "temporary" path that may be widened in the future. The current right-of-way varies between 13 and 20 feet and may expand to 30 feet, pending negotiations with the Port Authority, says Milton Puryear of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. We have a request in to DOT to find out when this phase of construction is slated to wrap up officially. For now, enjoy more of Clarence's pics.

The view south from Atlantic Avenue. The white stripe demarcates a parking lane.

New street trees have been planted on the other side of Columbia, too.

Mary Beth Kelly's story is as inspirational as they come.

In June 2006, she and her husband Dr. Carl Henry Nacht were bicycling home from dinner on the Hudson River Greenway in Chelsea when an NYPD tow truck turned sharply into the bike lane at 38th Street and 12th Avenue. Despite signs telling drivers to yield to pedestrians and cyclists, the tow truck did not slow down as it headed toward a riverfront tow pound. The truck struck Carl , injuring him severely. He died four days later.

Bicycling was an integral part of Carl and Mary Beth's lives. Their first date was done on bikes and they often took their bikes on vacation. A physician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Carl regularly used his bike to commute to the work and to make in-home visits to sick patients.

Rather than forsaking cycling after Carl's death, Mary Beth and her children Zoe and Asher got right back on their bicycles. Perhaps most important, Mary Beth has emerged as an outspoken  and eloquent advocate for New York City cyclists. She now serves on the advisory council for Transportation Alternatives where she is working to create and pass comprehensive complete streets legislation in honor of her husband.

As Transportation Alternatives recently noted in an essay for Streetsblog, more than a year after the death of Eric Ng, the alphabet soup of government agencies responsible for the Hudson River Greenway, have done almost nothing to fix glaring safety  problems along New York City's most important bike route.

Photographer and bike commuter Lars Klove encountered one of the worst of these problems Tuesday evening when a Lexus sedan accelerated past him just yards away from where Carl Nacht, a 56-year-old doctor was killed by an NYPD tow truck in 2006.

Klove sends along the following note describing the incident and photos showing how little is being done to warn motorists not to hang a right on to the Greenway as they exit the Tow Pound.

Yesterday evening, around 5 pm, I was riding northbound on the Hudson River Greenway when I encountered a white Lexus driving southbound. I started waving and yelling at the guy to stop and the driver accelerated and continued southbound. The car then pulled into the lot at 34th Street and exited onto the Westside Highway.

The car had made a right turn out of the NYPD Tow Yard on a red light.

This morning I stopped by the yard to see what kind of signs there were to identify the Greenway to motorists coming out of the Tow Yard. There are none. There is only a cold little orange cone, where the pedestrian lane has a large iron mooring hitch.

This piece was written by Transportation Alternatives:

On December 1, 2006, Eric Ng was riding his bike up the Hudson River Greenway. He was on his way to meet friends. He never made it, because a drunk driver named Eugenio Cidron took his life. After leaving a party at Chelsea Piers, Cidron got behind the wheel of his car and drove it on to the Greenway. Eugenio Cidron sped down the Greenway, a car-free path, for a mile at 60 miles per hour, before crashing into Eric Ng and killing him.

A little over a year ago, the government agencies that have something to say or do with the Hudson River Greenway, along with Transportation Alternatives, convened a task force to develop improvements that will reduce conflicts between drivers and Greenway users, but today little has changed on the ground. The Hudson River Greenway was never designed to have high volumes of cars and trucks crossing it. Regardless of whether or not government knew this when the biking and walking path was built, it knows it now and is often guilty of aiding and abetting the increase on driving across the path.

There are over a dozen City, State and Federal government agencies that have some say in what goes on along the Hudson River between Battery Park and 59^th Street, but no one has taken charge. On the Greenway itself, it's a jurisdictional nightmare. The State DOT designed and built the Greenway and continues to be responsible for path redesigns. The City DOT maintains and times the traffic signals along the Greenway. The Hudson River Park Trust maintains the Greenway path. The NYC Parks Department tries to ensure design consistency between this Greenway and the ones it builds and maintains around the boroughs. There are myriad groups, including the City Economic Development Corp, the MTA, the Passenger Ship Terminal, Chelsea Piers and private ferry operators (who often drive buses across the path), that weigh in on the need for driveways across the Greenway.

Each day, thousands of people in New York City head to the Hudson River Greenway on bicycle and foot. It's one of few car-free places where people can commute, exercise and feel comfortable away from the risk of traffic and motorists on our streets. The Hudson River Greenway is supposed to be a safe and protected place, yet it is not. And despite fatal crashes like Eric's, little has been done to change this.

There are a host of improvements that will reduce motorist-Greenway user conflicts, including:

• Close unnecessary driveways where motorists cross the Greenway

• Install fixed bollards where streets and driveways cross to keep drivers from driving onto the Greenway

• Narrow driveways crossing the Greenway to slow and control motorist turning movements

• Install curb extensions on streets crossing the Greenway to make pedestrian and cyclist crossing easier and safer

• Install bike lane treatment where streets and driveways cross to make drivers more aware of the Greenway and pay attention to cyclists and pedestrians

• Coordinate signal timing between the bike traffic signals on the Greenway and the motorist traffic signals on Route 9A to avoid turning conflicts

• Lower Greenway traffic signal heads to same height as pedestrian signals

• Install shades on Greenway traffic signal heads to limit motorists' view of them and reduce confusion

• Display safety messages on overhead highway signage along Route 9A warning drivers to drive safely and be aware of cyclists and pedestrians.

In a 2007 survey of bicyclists, pedestrians and drivers along the Hudson River Greenway, more than a third of Greenway users reported cars driving on the Greenway. Transportation Alternatives has identified seven crossings where motor vehicles repeatedly violate the car-free path.

• Warren Street

• Chambers Street

• West Houston Street/Pier 40 driveway

• Christopher Street

• West 17th Street/Chelsea Piers driveway exit

• West 30th Street

• West 40th Street

• West 42rd Street

With the sentence of Eric's killer handed down, the NY State Department of Transportation and NYC Department of Transportation must rededicate themselves to the immediate implementation of safety improvements to ensure this tragedy is never repeated.

Photo: Emmanuel Fuentebella for Transportation Alternatives

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a citizen-driven project that began with a handful of insane visionaries picking up trash and planting flowers beside a BQE off-ramp, is taking shape on Columbia Street.

Notice the space for greenery between the sidewalk and the curb. Plans call for the park to connect Greenpoint to Red Hook.

Photos: Clarence Eckerson

Lars Klove is a professional photographer who lives way uptown and uses the Hudson River Greenway to bike to and from his apartment on 183rd Street just about every day. Now that it is getting dark earlier in the evening, Klove and his wife -- she bikes too -- have noticed that blinding motor vehicle headlights make a section of the Greenway between 102nd and 125th Street virtually unusable. The photo above is what Lars and his wife see at night as they try to ride their bikes home in the evening. Below is Lars' letter to John Herrold at the Parks Department:

I'm wondering if you can help me. My wife and I bicycle commute to and from our home at 183rd St to our jobs in Midtown and Downtown. We ride and love the Greenway. It was a big consideration in our choice in moving to Washington Heights. It has become our favorite part of the day.

Now that it gets dark earlier there is a section of our ride home that is very difficult. The section runs from approximately 102nd Street to 125th (sometimes called the Cherry Walk). It is unlit and, if riding northbound, into the blinding headlights of southbound traffic, it is impossible to see the bicycle path even with a bike headlamp. The Greenway itself has one semi-reflective line marking the pedestrian lane from the bicycle lane. There is not a line marking the outside edges of the lane or a couple of grassy islands along the way. Its easy to find yourself suddenly off the roadway and in the grass or trees.

A simple solution would be to add a reflective line to the outsides of the lane and in the areas of the grassy islands. Is there anything that can be done here?

Thank you for your time,
Lars Klove

The "Cherry Walk" section of the Greenway in daylight.

Sheridan Swap is a new blog covering the Mother of All Livable Streets projects -- the long-running campaign to convert one mile of little-used highway running along the Bronx River into affordable housing, parkland, greenway and economic opportunity for one of the city's most beleaguered neighborhoods. The blog is run by the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance. The state, it seems, is getting ready to weigh in on the merits of the project:

The New York State Department of Transportation announced last month that it will weigh the costs and benefits of its plan to expand the Sheridan Expressway against a Community Vision for the highway's removal and redevelopment.

The Community Vision, which includes decommissioning the Sheridan and replacing it with affordable housing, open space, and new economic development opportunities, will be included in NYSDOT's Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed expansion.

If the analysis finds that the Community Vision makes more economic and environmental sense than the expansion proposal, NYSDOT will be hard pressed to move forward with its plan to stretch the Sheridan south into Hunts Point.

Check back soon for updates on the DEIS process. In the meantime, check out what Wikipedia has to say about Environmental Impact Statements.

When I first met Brian McCormick, Milton Puryear and Meg Fellerath in the spring of 2002, they were picking up trash and planting tulips alongside a Brooklyn-Queens Expressway off-ramp in Cobble Hill. I asked them what they were up to and they told me they were working to create a waterfront greenway for Brooklyn -- a linear park running from Greenpoint to Red Hook. I didn't have the heart to tell them they looked like a gang of juvenile delinquents paying off 40 hours of community service for shop-lifting. Clearly, these people were either insane or visionary.

At the time, Brian, Milton and Meg had no serious funding, no office and no particularly powerful allies or sponsors. They just had a great idea and a ton of persistence. They kept picking up trash, planting flowers, organizing the community and pushing their idea. Today the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is a professional non-profit organization with capital funding from the federal government, an office on Columbia Street and all kinds of high-powered allies and sponsors. They may or may not be insane, but they are definitely visionary.

Personally, I find the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative to be one of the most inspired and exciting community-driven development projects in all of New York City (take that, High Line). This Thursday evening, BGI is hosting a benefit event on the beach at East River State Park. There will be cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and music. If you are not already involved in the Greenway, this is a great chance to get in on the ground floor of shaping the future of Brooklyn’s waterfront and, in the process, creating a more livable city.

Thursday, June 28th, at 6:30 pm
East River State Park, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
RVSP: Buy tickets online
View the invitation (pdf)

This is a guest post by Susan Murray, author of the Urban Naturalist.

The High Bridge, a graceful stone and steel bridge, reminiscent of the great Roman aqueducts, spans the Harlem River between parks in Washington Heights and the Highbridge neighborhood in the Bronx. Erected in 1848, decades before the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, it is Manhattan's oldest bridge, designed not just for transportation but to carry water as well. The water stopped flowing a long time ago, and the bridge was closed to people in the 1960s. Though it is no longer in use, there are plans to bring it back to life, a project that is expected to cost $60 million. The planned reopening of this crossing, built in a pre-automotive era, presents a great opportunity for Livable Streets advocates to help shape what could be a unique pedestrian and bicycle link between Manhattan and the Bronx.

In fact, the Parks Dept. is hosting a public meeting to discuss the High Bridge tomorrow evening:

Come talk about Your Vision for the High Bridge
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 6:30 pm
Highbridge Recreation Center
2301 Amsterdam Avenue at 173rd Street, Manhattan
212-927-5864

A little background:

In the late 1960s, High Bridge Park in Washington Heights fell into disrepair. It became a dumping ground for abandoned cars, a haven for drug dealers and gangs and a dangerous place for local residents.

During this period, the city, strapped for funds and lacking interest in rehabilitating a park so far uptown, decided to close the bridge to prevent vandals from dumping junk off of it into the Harlem River. Massive steel gates laced with barbed wire were erected to prevent people from accessing the bridge. Far from calming the chaos, closing the bridge only made High Bridge Park more desolate and less watched.

The park became a dangerous, anarchic cul de sac and fell further into disrepair and anarchy. But over the past 10 years or so, neighborhood organizations, caring individuals and the New York Restoration Project have worked hard to clean up High Bridge Park. These days you're more likely to see kids playing baseball than dealers selling drugs. A recent announcement from Mayor Bloomberg has the neighborhood excited: Thanks to a $5 million allocation from Congressman José E. Serrano, work on the High Bridge has begun. After decades of dreaming, it sounds like it's really going to happen.

The reopened bridge will revitalize the park, making it accessible to both the Bronx and Manhattan. It will restore a vital transportation link for bikers and pedestrians in the area and it will preserve one of the city's finest historical monuments.

As the Parks Department moves to the planning stages, Livable Streets and bicycling advocates should make their voices heard. We need to make it clear that this bridge can be more than just a scenic vista and tourist attraction. It can be a vital part of New York City's growing bicycle transportation network.

With a significant slope from the top of High Bridge down to the bridge entrance there is a risk that Parks Dept. officials will choose to install stairways without bike ramps leading to the entrance of the bridge. I am hoping some of you can join me at tomorrow's meeting to help make the case for convenient bike access to the bridge. Likewise, it would be a tragedy if the money allocated to rehabilitate the bridge was mostly spent on "security measures" such as unnecessarily high fences that would block the breathtaking view and cumbersome gates. As a vital transportation link, the High Bridge ought to remain open 24-hours a day.

The Municipal Art Society of New York, City Council member Dan Garodnick, and Manhattan's Community Board 6 ran an intensive day-long workshop last Wednesday to develop a new vision for Midtown's inaccessible East River waterfront. On Sunday, MAS unveiled some of the results. From the MAS press release:

"By realigning and lowering the 42nd Street exit ramp off FDR Drive, the architects hit upon the concept of elevating the people, not the traffic," said Frank E. Sanchis, III, MAS senior vice president. "They proposed a grand urban terrace above the FDR overlooking the river from 38th Street to 42nd Street. They also proposed a 'forested hill' surrounding a existing ventilation shaft at 42nd Street and proposed creating a glowing six-story 'pylon' which would anchor a ferry terminal, restaurant and vertical public space, and provide a means to descend to the river."

The charrette was organized because Manhattan has a rare opportunity to open up public access to Midtown's East River waterfront, create a new park and complete a greenway connecting the Battery to Harlem. The state is planning to rebuild the midtown section of FDR Drive, the former Con Ed power plant site is being redeveloped, and the city is planning to facilitate the expansion of the United Nations campus and create an adjacent waterfront esplanade. The charrette explored how the projects could be planned together and result in an open waterfront from 34th Street to 63rd Street.

On Saturday, over 100 cyclists turned out for Brooklyn Greenway Initiative's annual ride. For nearly a decade, they have been working with numerous community & government groups to bring a Hudson River-style recreation path from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. In the next few years, much of the 15-mile route will finally become reality.

The tour highlight: It was the first public bike tour to be allowed to ride on the piers the future Brooklyn Bridge Park will occupy. Riders enjoyed vantage points of lower Manhattan few have ever seen. Along with Streetsblog reporter Sarah Goodyear, StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson, Jr. was there with his camera. Afterwards, he produced this two minute video essay.

Bookending his much-vaunted Earth Day speech with congratulatory video clips from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mayor Mike Bloomberg called for New Yorkers to take the initiative in the international fight against global warming, positioning himself as a leader on the issue.

"Climate change is a national challenge, and meeting it requires strong and united national leadership," the mayor said to an appreciative invited audience at the American Museum of Natural History. "The fact is, the emerging consensus among scientists is that, to avoid serious harm, we must reduce our emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050.  That means we can't -- and we won't -- wait for Washington. The time to act is now."

Bloomberg set forth some particulars of an ambitious agenda -- dubbed PlaNYC, and first floated at a speech he gave last December -- for remaking the city's infrastructure in order to prepare for a city with 1 million more inhabitants by the year 2030. Many of the initiatives he announced were aimed at reducing New York's output of greenhouse gases 30 percent by 2030, creating "the first environmentally sustainable city of the 21st century." The mayor got a big round of applause when he said, "The science [on climate change] is there. It's time to stop debating it and to start dealing with it."

Bloomberg's wide-ranging speech covered everything from affordable housing to cleaner power plants to refurbished parks to cleanup of brownfields. And as expected, a plan for cars to pay to enter Manhattan was a key part of the mayor's wish list. "As long as we're at the Museum of Natural History, let's talk about the elephant in the room: congestion pricing," said the mayor, getting a good laugh.

Here are the basics on the mayor's congestion-pricing plan:

• It would cover Manhattan below 86th St. from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday.
• Autos would pay $8 to enter, leave, and move within the zone; trucks would pay $21.
• Trips bypassing the zone on the FDR and West Side Highway would be exempt.
• E-Z Pass users would be credited the amount of their round-trip tolls toward the charge.
• Handicapped license plates, emergency vehicles and transit buses, and taxis and livery cabs would be exempt.
• Payment would be by E-Z Pass; vehicles without E-Z Pass would get bills based on camera-recorded license-plate readings.
• All proceeds would be dedicated to transportation investments.
• The NYC DOT would control the system.
• A three-year pilot program would be paid for with federal funds.

Bloomberg, in anticipation of criticism that has already begun, rolled out a lengthy defense of the idea, mentioning equity -- in effect, congestion pricing would level the charge for entering Manhattan, regardless of which crossing is used -- along with economic and health benefits.

"As the city continues to grow," the mayor said, "the costs of congestion -- to our health, to our environment, and to our economy -- are only going to get worse. The question is not whether we want to pay but how do we want to pay. With an increased asthma rate? With more greenhouse gases? Wasted time? Lost business? And higher prices? Or, do we charge a modest fee to encourage more people to take mass transit?

"I've thought about this question a lot. And I understand the hesitation about charging a fee. I was a skeptic myself. But I looked at the facts, and that's what I'm asking New Yorkers to do. And the fact is in cities like London and Singapore, fees succeeded in reducing congestion and improving air quality. Many people are already paying to drive into Manhattan -- there are tolls on most bridges and the four tunnels. But to avoid those tolls, many people drive through neighborhood streets. That not only clogs the streets, it increases air pollution -- and asthma rates."

The mayor acknowledged that paying for all his ambitious plans wasn't going to be easy, but said the city's fiscal health made this the right time to tackle big projects. He also called for the creation of a new financing mechanism for mass transit. Dubbed the Sustainable Mobility and Regional Transportation (SMART) Authority, it would be funded through contributions from the city, the state, and congestion pricing revenues.

Although the word bicycle didn't cross his lips during the speech, a detailed, glossy report handed out afterwards (you can download it here) listed the promotion of cycling (through accelerated implementation of the city's bike-lane master plan and more bike parking) as one of 16 transit-related initiatives. Others included expanded ferry service, improved access to existing transit, better bus service, strengthened enforcement of traffic laws, and more Muni meters.

Many of the plan's components will need approval from lawmakers in Albany -- approval that is anything but certain. But the folks under the big whale at the museum liked what the mayor was saying just fine.

During the standing ovation that capped things off, one woman was heard shouting, "Bloomberg for President!"

"What, you want another Republican?" her companion asked her.

"I don't care what the label is," she said. "I'd vote for him."

Photo: Sarah Goodyear

If you are interested in contributing to the development and improvement of New York City's bicycle network, show up at this meeting tonight:

The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 6 will hear a presentation by Josh Benson, the Department of Transportation's Bicycle Program Director, regarding the river-to-river bike lane project for 20th and 21st Streets.

On 20th Street between First Avenue and the FDR Expressway (where Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village annexed 21st Street), DOT will be removing a motor vehicle travel lane in each direction in order to stripe the bike lane and make the connection to the East River Greenway. You can be sure the Forces of Convenient Motoring will be there and they will not be happy about this one.

Come out, lend your support, and if it seems appropriate, give DOT a push to experiment with physically-separated bike lanes:

7:00 pm
NYU Medical Center
550 First Avenue
Classroom D

After the opening ceremony for Hudson River Park's Chelsea North section on Dec. 11, we asked Mayor Bloomberg what's being done to improve the safety of the park's bike path, on which two cyclists have been killed this year alone: Dr. Carl Nacht, 56, who was hit in June by a police tow truck crossing the path at 36th St., and, more recently, Eric Ng, 21, who was struck on Dec. 1 at W. Houston St. by a driver who had been drinking at Chelsea Piers and was speeding down the path in his BMW.

Bloomberg expressed his sympathy, but said bikers also have to watch out for themselves in interactions with cars. "Even if they're in the right, they are the lightweights," Bloomberg said of cyclists. "Every year, too many people are hit by cars - and bikes have to pay attention." Bikers shouldn't assume car doors won't open into their path, for example, he said.

Bloomberg said he's personally concerned about safety on the street too, noting, "I'm a pedestrian." Both the mayor and Connie Fishman, the Hudson River Park Trust's president, said that a multi-agency investigation is being done to see how path safety can be increased.

On another bike-related topic, asked about the ongoing "war" against Critical Mass, the mayor's tone changed. "Critical Mass is not where people just accidentally show up and 10,000 people happen to ride down a street. That idea is ridiculous," he said. "Critical Mass has unfortunately tried to co-opt the city and the law applies to everyone. And if they don't like the law, they can try to change it. We are going to enforce the law - and any group that thinks they are above the law is sadly mistaken."

Will of On NY Turf is urging people who care about bike safety on the Hudson River Greenway to attend tonight's meeting of Manhattan Community Board 4's Transportation Committee. Less than a month after a drunk driver leaving a party at Chelsea Piers drove onto the Hudson River Greenway and killed cyclist Eric Ng, Chelsea Piers may be proposing to cut another driveway across the bike path for access to the sports center's parking lot. Chelsea Piers will be making a presentation to CB4's Transportation Committee tonight. The Community Board and the Hudson River Park Trust have not yet seen any plans from Chelsea Piers so, at this point, it is unclear what exactly will be presented this evening. In June, Dr. Carl Nacht was also killed on his bicycle at a location where NYPD tow trucks cut across the Greenway.

When:
Tonight, Weds. 12/20, 6:30 pm.

Where:
Manhattan Community Board 4
330 W. 42nd Street bet. 8/9 Aves., 26th floor.

Not that this has much of anything to do with anything but here is a photo of Chelsea Piers owner Roland Betts hanging with a good friend, former Yale classmate and fraternity brother at Betts' Jackson Hole, Wyoming residence: