3
MAY 5, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
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 L-pocalypse-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 L-train 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 Ltrain
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
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
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