By Shannon Ayala
After debating for more than three hours on Tuesday night, Community Board 7 passed a resolution to extend the Columbus Avenue bike lane from 59th to 110th streets. For now, the lane runs from 96th to 77th streets, leaving bicyclists right back in traffic once they get to the northern and southern boundaries. The Department of Transportation is likely to extend the lane later this year.
The Columbus lane is the only “protected” one on the Upper West Side, meaning bicyclists are shielded from traffic by parked cars and concrete barriers. There are other lanes on cross-streets and on Central Park West that just consist of lines painted on the street.
The community board’s resolution approved the Department of Transportation’s proposal to extend the lane, with a few changes. The new resolution includes language saying that the DOT must work with schools and senior centers to prevent collisions with children and seniors. It also says that the DOT must work with merchants to resolve parking and unloading issues and that DOT must resolve the “bow-tie issue,” — the dangerous “bowtie of death” where Amsterdam and Broadway intersect below 72nd Street the “bowtie” traffic pattern at the intersection of Columbus and Broadway around 65th street. Extending the lane had caused all sorts of controversy last year when a community board committee failed to pass it on the first go-round.
The resolution passed 26 to 11 with one abstention. It was the first resolution to be discussed at a 6:30 meeting but passed after 10 p.m.
We’ll include the full text of the resolution once we get it. Read our piece on how local businesses feel about the idea here.
Image via DOT.
The bowtie that they are referring to in this resolution is the one at West 65th/Columbus/Broadway. Not 72nd. Just FYI.
Thanks Lisa. Changed it.
Ugh. Who paid who off?
The lanes are hardly ever used. Bicyclists ride on the sidewalk. Why are the lanes being extended when the laws, already on the books, about bicycles on the sidewalks are not being enforced. Bicyclists are hostile and indignant when asked to ride in the lanes created for them. Police have told me it is not a big deal having the cyclists on the sidewall. “Don’t get so hot about it.” Why are we spending the money?
Terrible..just terrible. They have done a terrible disservice to the UWS and to upper westsiders.
How can I help get rid of the board members who voted for this??? Please let us know.
Hurray! Bike lanes have been proven to slow down car traffic – a great thing for Columbus and a big win for the small biz owners who will benefit from the CitiBike-riders this spring.