BLOCKED: A cyclist dodges a parked van obstructing the Grand Street bike lane. Transit honchos revived the
L-pocalypse-era plan to construct two so-called protected bike lanes along the busy corridor.
Photo by Maya Harrison
COURIER L M BR B G IFE, MAY 3–9, 2019 3
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
AND MAYA HARRISON
It’s a Grand comeback!
The city will fi nish and extend
the so-called protected
bike lanes along Grand Street,
a transit leader announced
last week..
The Department of Transportation
will revive the Lpocalypse
era design of building
the two cycle lanes along
the commercial corridor in
Williamsburg from Rodney
Street to Morgan Avenue, and
extend the path into a more
industrial area to Vandervoort
Avenue, the agency’s
chief said April 24.
“We’re going to be keeping
that bike lane design that we
had rolled out during the Ltrain
closure — one protected
lane and one buffered lane —
and we are going to extend it
into that industrial area to
Vandervoort,” Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg said at the
April 24 press conference in
Manhattan.
The agency still plans to
replace one of two parking
lanes on the Williamsburg
Bridge-bound side of the thoroughfare
with a bike lane protected
by a painted buffer and
the remaining parking lane,
while painting a buffer and
adding plastic poles that are
supposed to shield the Bushwick
bound bike path across
the street.
The department will also
install additional metered
parking and new loading
zones around the corners
from Grand Street, according
to a release from Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s offi ce.
The city announced the
plan’s revival as part of its
joint pilot project with Hizzoner
to close off a busy street
on the Distant Isle to private
through-traffi c in order to
clear the way for buses there
during the L-train tunnel reconstruction,
which kicked
off on April 26 .
The bike-friendly project
was in limbo since Gov. Andrew
Cuomo abruptly called
off the L-train closure in January
and local cycling advocates
demanded the city
keep its promise to fi nish the
project it started in the fall of
2018.
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority’s crossborough
shuttle buses —
which were initially going to
transport straphangers from
the Grand Street L-train stop
to Manhattan via the Williamsburg
Bridge as part of
the shutdown plan — did not
make it into the new plan.
The agency got rid of that
proposed service because the
L-train will continue to run
for the repairs of the Canarsie
Tunnel, albeit at reduced frequency
on nights and weekends,
and because of the alternative
lines available to
commuters, according to an
MTA spokeswoman.
“The new plan keeps
L-train service running
throughout the day so we
won’t need shuttle buses
across the Williamsburg
Bridge,” said Amanda Kwan.
Trottenberg said she and
her fellow transit leaders are
still hashing out a blueprint
for the new extension between
Waterbury Street and
Vandervoort Avenue to make
sure the lanes will be safe for
pedal pushers while not hampering
businesses.
“We’re going to come up
with a design that’s safe for
cyclists but enables them to
do their business.” Trottenberg
said.
Trottenberg didn’t commit
to a completion date for the
new lanes but said the transit
agency would aim to fi nish
them as soon as possible
now that the warmer weather
allows for builders to once
again pour the green paint.
“That’s going to be as fast
as we can now that the weather’s
turned,” she said.
One cycling advocate
lauded the city for bringing
the bike plan back to life,
but said that the buffer with
the plastic poles doesn’t adequately
protect bikers and
that scoffl aws block the Bushwick
bound lane by parking
their cars there.
“The painted buffer,
which we’ve seen isn’t safe
— they’re routinely parked
in and driven in and really
aren’t providing the level of
safety to make sure that all
cyclists are still safe,” said
Philip Leff, a member of the
pro-cycling group Transportation
Alternatives.
The Williamsburg resident
urged the agency to instead
build concrete barriers
between traffi c and the bike
lanes.
“The worldwide gold standard
is physical protection
with concrete,” Leff said.
Motorists have killed three
cyclists and injured dozens
more on the strip since the beginning
of 2016, according to
city records.
One biker told this paper
he sometimes goes on the footpath
to avoid the risky road.
“I mean I wouldn’t call
this road safe to bike on,” said
Rio Gonzales. “I tend to bike
on the sidewalk because it’s
safer.”
Several cars and trucks
obstructed the bike lanes last
Wednesday around noon, forcing
many cyclists to swerve
out into traffi c or go along the
middle of the road past rows
of trucks.
One local bodega owner
said he needs the road space
for deliveries on an almost
daily basis.
“We get deliveries four to
fi ve times a week — we need
our delivery trucks parked
outside our store,” said Hector
Arollo, owner of D&J Spanish
Grocery Store at the corner of
Catherine Street.
But many people working
in the area are also cyclists,
so business owners — especially
those in heavy industries
— should encourage a
safer street for them too, according
to Leff.
“It’s not the most easy issue
to solve, but when you’re
running a factory you have a
commitment to ensuring the
health and safety inside and
outside of the building,” the
bike advocate said.
Grand Street
bike lane plan
to be revised
City to fi nish and extend halted
Williamsburg cycle path design
L PLAN: Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg announced the revived Grand Street
plans at a press conference last week, along with a city pilot project to close off a Manhattan street to private
through-traffi c to clear the way for buses there during the L-train repairs. Photo by Kevin Duggan