Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Nearly 3 years later, city is finishing the Avenue C bike lanes

Top 2 photos by Dave on 7th 

DOT crews were out yesterday working on bike lanes on both sides of Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.
This work comes nearly three years after the city first marked Avenue C for the new bike lanes. However, with the pandemic-era curbside dining structures still in place outside several establishments between Sixth Street and Ninth Street, cyclists were forced to enter into traffic for several blocks before the marked lanes picked up again in both directions at Ninth Street. 

However, earlier this spring, the remaining streetside structures were removed, and there is now a protected bike lane between Sixth and Ninth Street on the east side of the avenue. Here's a look at the buffer zones that will protect cyclists from cars and trucks ...
On the west side, despite the freshly painted bike lane, drivers were observed parking between Eighth Street and Ninth Street, posing a potential hazard for cyclists...
There are also a few mixing spots on Avenue C where the bike lane passes through a bus stop, like just below Eighth Street outside the Associated...
Several years in the planning stages, the DOT added the protected north/south bike lanes on Avenue C and East Houston Street to help offset the closure of the East River Park greenway. 

You can find many more details in the presentation that DOT officials made to CB3 in April 2021. (PDF here)

31 comments:

  1. now do the bus lanes on Ave A!

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    Replies
    1. And where would it go? One lane and one bike lane in each direction as it is. What is your idea, no have no cars, delivery trucks on ave A. Silly , silly comment!

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  2. We still need a bike lane on Ave B as requested by CB3 and every elected official representing the area in June and July 2019

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  3. There is absolutely no need for a bike lane on Avenue B.

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    1. I bike Ave B nearly every day and always worry I will die. Protecting safety of citizens is a prime goal of street design.

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  4. I bike on Avenue C every single day, and these bike lanes are, unfortunately, completely useless. car and trucks park on them all the time, and I am always forced to use the main road. Hopefully that will change

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    1. Today at 10th & AVE C there was a US Mail truck, a UPS truck, a FEDEX truck and Con Ed all parked in the bike lane

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    2. Agreed. It’s dangerous taking that bike lane on C, better riding in the car lane

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  5. Now we need to get rid of the black pick up truck parked in the bike lane between 3rd & 4th on C everyday.

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  6. Anonymous said...

    There is absolutely no need for a bike lane on Avenue B.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------

    Unless you like to bike on Ave B

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  7. Goodie, now I can worry about an extra lane full of people who don't obey any traffic laws and still drive in the street half the time anyway. If we're going to provide cyclists privileges, we need to start ticketing them too because as it stands it's pedestrians are most danger of cycling accidents and now there's another avenue they can't cross safely even during a red light.

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  8. I bike on Ave B almost daily. I do not think it needs an extra bike line. It would be better to close the street for cars entirely and only allow maintenance/delivery. The same way it is done in many other countries. That'd be nice.

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  9. If you can't handle biking on Avenue B within and around the flow of traffic then you don't have any business biking on public roads in NYC in the first place.

    It was made infinitely easier with those stupid open streets metal barricades. So if you still have a problem, you probably have no business being on a bike at all.

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  10. So, when do we get prioritized protections for PEDESTRIANS?

    We *give away* public space for the "exclusive use" of bike riders and to "protect" them - yet then they bike in the middle of the roadway AND even going the WRONG WAY in the main lanes of major avenues in mid-day (which I have seen over & over again).

    People on foot are ALWAYS at risk from bike riders, b/c most bike riders are lawless and careless - and DON'T even bother to @ me on that topic.

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    Replies
    1. Pedestrians do have prioritized protections - they are called sidewalks. It is illegal to bike on sidewalks. Whether NYC enforces such laws is another matter.

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  11. Thanks, DOT, for the super-toxic paint you use for bike lanes!

    That stuff HAS to be carcinogenic, yet we're all forced to breathe it. My block stank heavily of that stuff for nearly 48 hours after the bike lanes were painted. I complained to 311, but got ZERO response (even after being given a complaint reference number).

    My conclusion is that NOBODY in NYC government gives a shit.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. That green paint is the most toxic smelling substance I’ve ever smelled and I grew up around petroleum and solvents.

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    2. It really did smell to high heaven.

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  12. What, no plastic sticks?

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  13. > So, when do we get prioritized protections for PEDESTRIANS?

    You would get that by closing the street entirely. Everyone benefits.

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    Replies
    1. Sidewalks are key. Traffic is deadly. Hundreds wouldn’t die every year if bikes didn’t have to commingle with cars/trucks/buses.

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  14. Most useless bike lanes ever. Cars are ALWAYS parked in them every single day. I miss the sidewalk shed that was in front of ABC Beer and The Wayland. Would prefer those back to a bike lane that I can't even use.

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  15. @8:10pm: No, we get that by restricting bikes, banning e-bikes, and by making everyone riding a bike get a license, pay for that license, display a license plate on their bike AND carry insurance, just like motor vehicles have to do! E-bikes are motorcycles, period.

    What we have now is a no-rules bike-rider free-for-all.

    Get the bikes off the streets of NYC and send them to Copenhagen and Amsterdam, where they belong!

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  16. @11:57pm: So, if pedestrians simply NEVER had to cross a street or avenue, life would be just hunky-dory?

    Your position is that pedestrians must never go beyond the confines of the one block they live on if they want to be safe, but if they *do* go beyond that, then they're fair game for reckless bike riders?? Wow, that's quite a position you're taking.

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  17. >Get the bikes off the streets of NYC and send them to Copenhagen and Amsterdam, where they belong!

    We should rather get rid of cars. If you actually went to Amsterdam or Copenhagen you would see how nice those cities are. We could have the same here in the village. Imagine how nice Ave B could be if they pedestrianized that zone. Change starts small.

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  18. I haven’t been uptown to UES on 1st ave for years but when I biked to work I really appreciated the protected bike lane that covered a good portion of it. I’m sure it’s changed since the proliferation of e-bikes but it def felt a lot safer than the one in the photo.

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  19. Maybe we should stop calling them bike lanes!

    Perhaps Light Motor Vehicle Lane would be more appropriate.

    Riding an actual human-powered bicycle in these makes me feel like Mr. Magoo.

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  20. Yes, cars park there because they have nowhere to go when the city removes spots, people need to double park or park there. Where else can a vehicle go? It's the road.

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  21. OK Mr. I wish I could bike on Ave B, if you ar so faced to bike in a major city on a fairly calm Avenue you can take the fucking bike lane on either Avenue one block away. How annoying are these bike activists it's insane.

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  22. Finally. It's taken 5 years to get bike lanes on Ave C.
    (CM Rivera negotiated for Ave C bike lanes when she voted to destroy the East River Park Greenway in 2019.)
    Now to go for a bike ride from 14th St to Houston St. I wonder if the Ave C bike lanes will win the award for shortest bike lane and for taking the longest period of time to be completed.

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  23. Avenue D is by far my preferred bike route for going north/south through the EV. Nice and wide, fairly low traffic volume.

    Why any cyclist would prefer a narrow gutter lane that’s often obstructed is beyond me.

    The Department of Transportation Alternatives seems determined to jam these things in anywhere they can, calling each a win for safety just because it’s there. Some places they make sense (wide avenues), other places they don’t and are best avoided if you don’t want a frustrating and unsafe ride.

    ReplyDelete

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