PLAN FOR BIKE LANES ON 110TH STREET NEEDS SOME WORK TO MAKE IT SAFER, COMMUNITY BOARD SAYS

A bicyclist on 110th Street. Photo via DOT.

By Hannah Reale

The city wants to add bike lanes on 110th Street to coincide with the expansion of CitiBike above 110th Street this August. Local leaders at Community Board 7 share that goal, but want the city Department of Transportation to flesh out its plan and make sure it’s truly safe for bicyclists and pedestrians.

On Tuesday, a representative from the DOT gave a presentation at the CB7 transportation committee’s monthly meeting. The DOT is working towards making all of New York City more bike-friendly, with 80 percent growth in daily cycling trips from 2010 to 2015. The cyclists, however, seem to move much more quickly than the DOT.

The representative cited data from 2010-2014 as the reason for needing to improve this particular street: 126 total injuries of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicle occupants, including one fatality. “There is no dedicated space for cyclists, despite the fact that there is a significant amount of people who are using this street already,” he commented.

He outlined the multi-part plan, with each segment customized to a particular portion of the street. (Parts of the plan can be seen on pages 18-25 of this document.) Currently, 110th street has some narrow and some wide sections — from 50 feet across to 80 feet across. The DOT plan would call for a concrete island for pedestrians in the middle of the 80-foot section (between Manhattan Avenue and Frederick Douglass Circle) and bike lanes on either side of the road.

This slide shows the plan for the section from Riverside to Columbus on 110th.

The committee agreed with the need to improve the current traffic pattern on 110th street, but mostly disagreed with how the DOT had gone about the plan. They did approve of particular portions, like the concrete island, as it seemed that it would improve safety of pedestrians, especially those who cannot travel as quickly.

The primary concern, however, was the bicyclists’ safety. The DOT would add a protected bike lane with a physical barrier between cars and bikes at the entrance to Riverside Park.

Another slide from the presentation.

But aside from that area, the rest of the bike lane would be painted lines, as opposed to a barrier.

Members of the committee and the community brought up specific problems with the plan, such as mixed zones for both buses and cyclists that may not be clearly marked and could cause danger to both groups, areas that are frequently occupied by double-parked vehicles and may therefore be unavailable to cyclists, and the fear that a painted bike lane would not do enough to protect the cyclists. Many called for a fully protected lane, which has a raised physical barrier between cars and the bicyclists, creating a boundary for safety.

Several specific suggestions were raised by the community and committee, such as putting loading zones on the block, creating a bi-directional bike lane on one side of the street, or simply swapping the parking lane with the bike lane so that the cyclists would not be directly dealing with vehicular traffic. The DOT representative specifically cited current standards and safety concerns with bi-directional bike lanes and swapping the parking and painted bike lane, but seemed receptive to other suggestions. “We generally try to keep bicyclists moving in the same direction as the rest of traffic. It makes their movements more predictable [to drivers and pedestrians].”

Many committee members were also clearly dissatisfied with the DOT’s presentation; namely, a visual representation of the planned changes to the Frederick Douglass Circle was not included.

“Judging by a lot of the comments, we would ask that you revisit this plan and come back to us with some other options that are deemed safer for cyclists, keep the traffic moving better, and we really need to see that channelizing map for [Frederick Douglass] Circle,” concluded Andrew Albert, a co-chairperson of the committee. “If you’re ready next month, we’d be happy to look at it again.”

“It’s a baby step in the right direction,” Howard Yaruss, the other co-chairperson added. “But, on the other hand, the perfect should not be the enemy of the good, so do the best you can. You clearly got a sense from the committee.”

The DOT representative mentioned that there was “a bit of a time crunch” because Citibike was expanding further uptown in August, giving the department and the project manager little time.

A portion of a slide showing Citi Bike expansion plans.

He suggested that he or another representative would be returning the following month to go over another plan. He further commented on other resolutions that the committee had submitted in the past, saying that the DOT would have a plan to address the current safety concerns with the traffic pattern at Columbus Circle in the fall.

“My concern is that, by painting a line on the road, we are suggesting to cyclists and everyone else that that is a safe place to be, and I don’t see that this, as presently presented, is safe,” one community member noted. “So, whatever you need to do… protect that cycling lane. Either that, or don’t do it at all, and let it be the free-for-all that it already is. To create the illusion that it’s safe, I think, is irresponsible.”