Queens Chronicle: Bike lanes coming to Sunnyside/Woodside
The Department of Transportation will be rolling out miles of bikes lanes in Sunnyside and Woodside during the next four years, citing a boom in bicycle traffic, said DOT bicycle program Director Hayes Lord.
Bicycle lanes have started to pop up around the neighborhood. In 2007 there were only 1.45 miles of bikes lanes in Community Board 2’s district and now there are 13 miles.
In the next 12 months residents will see nine miles more of bike lanes on 11th Street, Skillman Avenue, 47th Avenue and 39th Street. Community members had requested lanes on Queens Boulevard, but because of the high volume, the DOT “didn’t feel comfortable” with that location, Lord explained.
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Don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but a bit of paint on the road would not have prevented the homicidal driver in the previous story from killing that unfortunate bicyclist. Bike lanes are an illusion of safety when you have both bikes and motor vehicles on the same streets.
Yes, this story is poignant in light of last night’s fatal accident.
Great, more bikes.. Unless they are protected lanes like in Europe, they mean nothing! They make the roads narrow and more dangerous for vehicles. Look at what they did in skillman avenue, it was already narrow, now you are risking getting clipped by a truck that is trying to get pass by a double parked vehicle, or even worse two trucks trying to pass each other. This is NYC, we don’t need no fricking bikes. You want a ride a bike, go live in amish country, until they have dedicated roads, not just stupid lanes.
This is NYC, we don’t need no fricking private automobiles. You want to drive a car, move to New Jersey.
Webley – I think I’d argue the other side, actually. This is NYC and an area where we have decent mass transit and sidewalks. We don’t need no fricking cars. If you want to drive a car, go live in the suburbs.
Bike lanes in paint are better than no bike lanes at all. Yes, it would be magnificent for us to have traffic-separated lanes like the ones now in place on 8th Ave. or on Kent Ave in Greenpoint & Williamsburg, but the car people in the district would never allow them. We need to realize that as gasoline becomes increasingly expensive, more people are going to ride bikes and find alternatives. It’s not bikes vs. cars – it’s all of us working together to safely use the space we’d be using anyway.
Webley:
Actually there have been numerous studies that show that narrowing lanes are one of the “traffic calming” techniques that make roads safer for everyone because drivers have less tendency to speed. Look up the analysis of the Prospect Park Bike Lane. Same amount of traffic, fewer cars speeding, fewer accidents, fewer accidents with injuries (cars, bikes AND pedestrians).
Also, for the record the roads in NYC were originally paved for bicycles, not cars. And right now biking is the fastest way to get around the city (For example, from Sunnyside I can get to Tribeca in 35 minutes on a bike, 40 minutes on a train). You want to drive, move to L.A.
LIC was the first major car manufacturing center in the United States. So stop your carping. You all bicker like a pack of hungry kids, creating heat but no light. We need to make room for all of us of all levels of ability.
I love bikes, I think they’re great. The people who ride them are the biggest bunch of sanctimonious twits on the planet though.
I don’t think a bike lane would have prevented this accident, but I think that bikes are going to be more important as a means of transportation. I am for the bike lanes, I just worry about the bikers and pedestrians. People need to be educated on bike lanes and how they work and that they are not a lane to speed around to get in front of other people. Society has become crazed about rushing and being first and pedestrians and bicyclists need to be really careful.
Bike lanes on the INSIDE damn it!
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Well, studies be damned. I know that since all the lanes and stripes and arrows and signs went up on 39th Avenue it has gotten scary out there. Somebody double parks, the light is about to turn, cars are coming round the corner, someone’s getting out of their car or pushing a cart across the street AND bikes are coming in both directions. At the evening rush hour it is nuts. The intersection of 51st Street and 39th Avenue, right outside my window, is a tragedy in the making. And Donato’s–with delivery cars parked in the crosswalks–adds another layer of complication.
Hey Snake, I think you meant that a few of the bike riders are sanctimonious; certainly not all of them! Anyway, I use them all the time and I think they’re great. Getting around this way is a pleasant and efficient experience.
Last week I had to go to the library on 58th Street in Manhattan. I rode over to bike lane (what, is that 39th? and took it all the way to & over the bridge- I was there in less than 15 minutes and it was lovely. If anything, I find myself turning to my bike more and more- cheaper and less crowded than mass transportation, and possibly less dangerous.
According the above posts, it’s the double-parked cars, delivery vehicles that are in the wrong place, and trucks trying to pass other trucks that are the problem. It DOES bother me when bicyclists go the wrong way on a street- very dangerous, and I always yell at them that they are going the wrong way. It’s usually a person delivering food, though. These folks, though hard-working and vital to our local food-service economy, are hardly equivalent to the average resident biking for pleasure or to run errands. It’s unfair to put everyone on a bike into one group and categorize them with such a blanket statement.
Biking is a good option, but it concerns me very much that there are NO SAFETY requirements for bikers.
Bikers should be required to wear helmets. It’s a basic safety measure that protects your brain in the event of an accident or fall. Brain injuries are very debilitating and expensive to treat, even when not fatal.
At night, it should be required that bikers have working light sand some reflective strip or clothing.
And how about obeying traffic rules? As a pedestrian, it is very alarming to be on a so-called one way street (Skillman Avenue) and see someone speeding at you the wrong way, not even in a bike lane. It’s the Wild West for bikes. Bikers say, “well, drivers violate the rules too”, but I don’t see 95% of cars going through red lights, as bikers do.
Right now, bikers are not subject to any regulation. If they want to be regarded as a transportation option, they need to follow the rules and act like they are part of the community.
Bike requirements in the city – Helmet, working bell, working front and back light, going the right way and always giving way to the pedestrians.
I bet they are others but this are the big ones you can get a ticket for.
Oh and bikers are not allowed to ride on the sidewalks. I think its like a $150 ticket.
@ SARTKE some of us own cars for OUR pleasure and ride public transportation to & from work….. YOU & your fellow bike riders should rejoice since WE THE DRIVERS pay for YOU to ride your bikes in whatever lanes you choice and that includes the actual bike lane designated for bike riders. You and your fellow bike riders should have to pay for a license, registration and inspection for your 2 wheel vehicles! I don’t have to move to Jersey to drive my car since if we all did as you so stupidly suggested – you MIGHT have to pay for what you are getting for FREE!
Where is 11th Street?
It’s my impression that the majority of bikers riders DO follow the laws and are trying to ride safely. Of course, it’s easier to focus on the minority who ride recklessly to support your anti-bike views.
Since most auto-accidents that result in death involve head-injuries, logic would suggest that car drivers should wear helmets, too. But let’s not go there. Cars, like the dinosaur, will become extinct as the years go by.
Auto & truck traffic will never be completely eliminated, so why put bicycle lanes along an extremely busy and congested road like Greenpoint Avenue going to or from Brooklyn?
In addition to the usual heavy commercial traffic, there is an extremely busy access to the Midtown Tunnel, the BQE, a busy fire station, and one of the few easy access routes to the Greenpoint & Bushwick areas.
One would have to be suicidal to attempt to bike on this route!
Not too many ways to get to Brooklyn without using Greenpoint Avenue. I uses it often and have never encountered a dangerous situation. Then again, I’m not wearing dark clothing and there are no headphones blocking out the noise of traffic. Once you get past the overpass to the LIE, GP is smooth sailing!