BY ZACH WILLIAMS | Something more solid than a strip of white paint will soon protect bicyclists who make their way Uptown from W. 14th to W. 33rd Sts. via Sixth Ave.
The city Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Sept. 22 that planning and community outreach would begin for a protected bike lane on that avenue segment, which is among the busiest in Manhattan. Longtime residents might remember the brief time over three decades ago, when a protected bike lane last graced the avenue. But for anyone else, the experience of biking there would likely include memories of dodging automobile traffic, which tends to infringe on the current bike lane as drivers prepare for left-hand turns.
It’s an experience that makes some riders question the purpose of having a bike lane at all.
“I hate the Sixth Avenue bike lane. All of the cars pay no attention to it. I always feel it is so dangerous,” said Chelsea resident Janet Aisawa as she battled rush hour traffic on Oct. 5.
The announcement of the upcoming bike lane follows a campaign waged by transportation safety advocates for the past several years. While they have welcomed the city’s Vision Zero initiative, one leading group, Transportation Alternatives (TA), continues to push for additional infrastructure improvements to arterial streets. These major avenues of New York City comprise 15 percent of the road network, but account for nearly 60 percent of the approximately 1,500 traffic-related fatalities over the last decade.
Street design has been an important element in the Vision Zero push, along with better enforcement of traffic rules, public outreach, and legislative initiatives such as the 25mph citywide speed limit, and a controversial law that makes it a misdemeanor to hit a pedestrian who has the right of way in a crosswalk. The city will install 12 miles of protected bike lanes this year, an all-time high, according to a DOT statement announcing the new protected bike lane.
A TA petition in support of transforming Sixth and Fifth Aves. into “Complete Streets” — a type of street design that allocates separate space for automobiles, buses and bikes — has garnered more than 16,000 signatures so far. More than 145 local businesses also support the effort, as Chelsea Now reported on Oct. 23, 2014.
“A secure and protected bike lane is coming to part of Sixth Avenue…but Mayor de Blasio doesn’t have a plan to fix dangerous Fifth Avenue, or the rest of Sixth Avenue, yet,” reads a petition on TA’s website (transalt.org).
More than 400 traffic crashes occurred on Sixth Ave. between W. 14th & W. 33rd Sts. from 2002 to 2011, according to the group.
Protected bike lanes can come in different configurations. One on Ninth Ave. utilizes parked cars to separate automobiles from bikes. Other methods include the use of rigid objects such as concrete barriers or orange traffic cones.
A DOT representative did not respond to a request for comment by press time regarding the timetable for implementing the new protected bike lane. The redesign of Ninth Ave. into a Complete Street resulted in a 58 percent reduction in total injuries, according to a DOT report called “Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets.”
Transportation safety advocates gained additional momentum on Oct. 1, when a city task force issued recommendations on the future of pedestrian plazas in Times Square. Injuries to all street users have fallen there by about 40 percent since the plazas replaced traffic lanes. But Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton suggested over the summer that the area might be better off without some of the plaza space following concerns about the aggressive solicitation of tips by costumed characters and topless women who take photos with tourists. Transportation safety and free speech activists quickly balked at such an idea.
The mayor established a task force to recommend strategies to address the matter, and walked back from his earlier suggestion to remove the plaza areas where the women and costumed characters congregate. The recommendations included measures to improve traffic conditions as well as battle crime in the area.
In the short term, the city will focus on completing construction of plazas in the square, while also deploying a dedicated NYPD detail to the area. Public outreach will inform visitors about risks such as pickpocketing and unwanted solicitations, according to a statement announcing the recommendations. Traffic enforcement will also receive a boost, including adding more traffic cops and crossing guards.
The DOT currently lacks the authority to regulate commercial activities in pedestrian plazas citywide, a power which the City Council could grant through legislation in the next year, according to the statement. Legislation could also empower city agencies to regulate ticket sellers and the activities of the costumed characters and topless women, the statement adds.
Dedicated inspectors could also better enforce current rules on street vendors in the area, according to the recommendations.
Twenty local officials and civic leaders signed onto the recommendations, including West Side elected officials State Senator Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Dick Gottfried and Councilmember Corey Johnson.
“The action items recommended by this task force will help address the issues facing Times Square, while respecting first amendment rights,” Johnson said in the statement. “We must enact thoughtful, constitutionally robust solutions that are the right fit for this location.”
