In New York City’s heavy traffic, bicyclists who are commuting to work are facing the risk of being injured or dying in a bicycle accident. As part of the Vision Zero initiative, Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to make New York City a friendly city for bike commuters. Protected bike lanes have proven to be one of the best ways to protect bicyclist from injury or death by negligent car drivers. Unlike regular bike lanes, that are often blocked by cars, protected bike lanes physically separate car traffic and bicycles with concrete, trees or parking lanes.
In 2016 the DOT will implement 15 miles of these types of bike lanes in the City. Last year 12 miles were added. Among this year’s projects, the DOT has work planned and in progress in the following areas of the city’s five boroughs:
- In the Bronx: using excess roadway space on the accident prone area of Bruckner Boulevard between Hunts Point and Longwood Ave to create a protected bike lane (read more on Streetblog and download DOT PDF here )
- In Manhattan: creating protected bike lanes on Amsterdam Ave between 72nd Street and West 110th Street (see DOT PDF ), creating a two-way protected bike lane on Chrystie Street between Canal Street and 2nd Street (see DOT PDF), installing a protected lane on 6th Ave between West 8th Street and West 33rd Street (see DOT PDF), designing a protected bike lane on Second Ave from East 106th Street to East 68th Street (see DOT PDF)
- In Queens: three protected bike lanes will be created in Astoria (see DOT PDF)
- In Brooklyn, new protected bike lanes will be built around Floyd Bennett Field and Marine Park Golf Course (see DOT PDF)
- In Brooklyn and Queens, a protected bike lane is supposed to open on the Pulaski bridge linking Greenpoint and Long Island City at the end of this month (see Streetblog)
Read more about these new protected bike lanes on the DOT website