Judge tosses lawsuit against Court Street bike lane, says opponents failed to prove ‘factual issues’

A judge has dismissed the lawsuit that sought to remove the new Court Street bike lane, dismissing claims that the Department of Transportation’s project was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated their Constitutional rights.

In her decision, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Inga M. O’Neale said that a “rational basis” for installing the lane and that its opponents failed to provide factual evidence to back up their arguments against it.

The Department of Transportation installed the parking-protected bike lane and removed a vehicle traffic lane on a 1.3-mile stretch of Court Street, from Schermerhorn Street to Hamilton Avenue, last fall.

In court documents, DOT Director of Safety Projects Chris Brunson said the “primary motivation” for the project was the “disproportionately high number of deaths and injuries” reported along the roadway.

Between 2020 and 2024, 155 people were injured in crashes along the section of Court Street in question and two were killed, according to agency data. Crash patterns indicated that most injuries were caused by drivers taking “fast and aggressive turns” and showed that double-parking was reducing visibility and causing drivers and cyclists to weave in and out of traffic, causing a much higher than average number of sideswipes.

The redesign was meant to cut down on double parking, improve safety at intersections, and create “dedicated space” for cyclists and pedestrians on Court Street, the documents state.

In October 2025, as DOT got to work on the project, the Court Street Merchants Association filed suit against the agency and the city, urging the court to cancel the project and force DOT to return Court Street to its old configuration.

The association, represented by lawyer Hartley Bernstein — who is also representing businesses opposed to the contentious 31st Street bike lane in Astoria — claimed DOT had failed to comply with regulations surrounding major transportation projects and to “employ rational standards and empirically demonstrable factors.”

The suit further claimed that the bike lane would negatively impact local businesses and violate their rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by prioritizing cyclists. In affidavits filed in November, several local business owners said the redesign had caused more vehicle traffic and made it more difficult to receive deliveries.

O’Neale, in a decision released Thursday, said DOT “has demonstrated that it had a rational basis” for installing the bike lane, and said the Merchants Association had “failed to demonstrate the existence of factual issues” regarding the legality and safety of the project.

The Association’s claims regarding harm to local businesses were not actionable, O’Neale wrote, in part because the project “did not constitute the type of wrongful conduct necessary to sustain such a claim.” The suit also failed to prove a real equal protection claim under the U.S. Constitution, she said.

O’Neale said she did not want to “diminish … concerns regarding the effect of DOT’s actions” on businesses or traffic, but said those concerns were not enough to determine that DOT had not acted rationally.

“Under these circumstances, petitioners’ recourse is to petition the City’s elected and appointed officials because questions relating to the best use of city streets implicate policy concerns that are beyond the authority of courts to address,” she said.

With all of the suit’s claims dismissed, O’Neale also tossed their request for injunctive relief, allowing the Court Street bike lane to stay in place.

Bernstein, the association’s lawyer, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

Newly-appointed DOT commissioner Mike Flynn celebrated the decision.

“The redesign of Court Street reflects a proven approach used across the city and around the world — one that has been shown to improve safety for everyone, whether they’re walking, biking, or driving, and to support local businesses,” he said in a statement. “We appreciate the court’s ruling, which affirms the city’s ability to deliver street improvements that protect the people who live, work, shop, and take their children to school on Court Street.”

Flynn, just days into his tenure, declared the start of a “new era for New York City and a new era for New York City DOT” as he joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani in re-starting the full redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint.