LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
It’s a wheel concern
Cyclists: City must fi nish promised bike lanes through
Williamsburg despite recent about face in L closure
BY JULIANNE CUBA
The city must fi nish installing new
bike lanes it began laying along
Grand Street ahead of the longpromised
L-train closure that Gov.
Cuomo abruptly called off this
month, demanded cyclists, who worried
the change in plans will jeopardize
the completion of long-soughtafter
infrastructure.
“I’m absolutely concerned that
all sorts of stuff could fall through
the cracks,” said pedal pusher
Philip Leff, a Williamsburger and
member of the pro-cycling group
Transportation Alternatives.
Department of Transportation
workers last fall began work on the
two so-called protected bike lanes
on Grand Street between Morgan
Avenue and Rodney Street, months
after agency honchos revealed their
redesign of the commercial strip
where three cyclists died in fatal
crashes since 2016.
The redesign calls for removing
one of two parking lanes on that
stretch to make room for the green
bike paths — one of which is separated
from traffi c by the remaining
parking lane, while the other runs
behind a painted buffer and plastic
poles — which transit leaders said
would allow Grand Street to better
accommodate some of those 250,000
daily L-train riders whom offi cials
expected to pedal across the East
River once subway service to Manhattan
stopped during the shutdown.
But now the job is seemingly in
limbo, according to cyclists, who
said swaths of the green bike lanes
are still not in place, causing chaos
because motorists continue to park
on the incomplete pedalers’ paths,
forcing bicyclists to swerve into
traffi c.
“It’s problematic because cars
just park there, and I have to go
around them into traffi c on Grand
Street, which is used by a lot of
trucks going to and from industrial
areas,” said Yehuda Pollack, a
Queens resident who regularly cycles
through Williamsburg.
Another bicyclist who frequently
pedals along Grand Street echoed
Pollack’s complaints, accusing the
city of abandoning the in-the-works
project despite the Transportation
Department assuring him in a November
tweet that work on the lanes
would continue through the winter.
“There’s really no effort being
made to actually fi nish,” said Eric
Helms, who lives just beyond Bushwick
in Queens, and rides through
Williamsburg nearly everyday. “No
COURIER L 60 IFE, JAN. 18–24, 2019 M B G
one is taking it seriously, someone
likely will get hurt because of it.”
Last week, the in-the-works lanes
on Grand Street between Manhattan
and Graham avenues — where a
hit-and-run driver fatally smashed
into cyclist Matthew Von Ohlen in
2016 — were only semi-complete
when this reporter paid a visit on
Jan. 8. There was no green paint on
the pavement to identify the paths,
and plastic Con Edison barriers
sat in the middle of the Bushwickbound
lane.
Other blocks’ lanes are similarly
unfi nished, according to Leff,
who blasted the city for not cracking
down enough on those scoffl aws
who blatantly obstruct the in-progress
paths.
“There are defi nitely spots
where either they’re not completely
painted, or not completely enforced,
that’s a key part of it too,” he said.
And cyclists aren’t the only ones
concerned — a handful of local pols
recently rallied to demand that city
and state offi cials move forward
with installing the bike lanes, and
that transportation bigwigs better
communicate with anxious straphangers
as they sort out the details
following the about face in repair
plans.
“You can’t merely implement a
major change in procedure without
major planning and communication,”
Borough President Adams
said outside the Lorimer Street L
station during the Sunday demonstration
also attended by Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D–Williamsburg),
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D–Williamsburg),
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol
(D-Williamsburg), state Sen. Brian
Kavanagh (D–Williamsburg), and
other pols.
City transit leaders, however,
continue to remain mum about
the fate of the various alternative
transportation options planned
for the now-cancelled shutdown —
which in addition to the bike lanes
include a dedicated Williamsburg–
Manhattan ferry service, new bus
routes, and more — only promising
to reveal any changes to those plans
after the state-run Metropolitan
Transportation Agency provides
more information on its newly adopted
scheme to fi x the L line.
“As we get more information
from the MTA on the new L train
plan, we will look at our planned
efforts to make sure we are implementing
the right elements,” said
Transportation Department spokeswoman
Alana Morales.
DON’T STOP NOW: Chunks of the green
Grand Street bike lanes are still not in
place (above), causing chaos because
motorists continue to park on the incomplete
pedalers’ paths (right), forcing bicyclists
to swerve into traffi c, they said.
Photos by Julianne Cuba