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Cyclists and pedestrians fear for their lives amid
ongoing construction projects on Fourth Avenue
Cyclists: Bike
lanes dump us
too close to cars
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The city endangered cyclists by
painting bike lanes on Fourth
Avenue that abruptly end at
construction sites where traffi
c is reduced to one lane, forcing
bike riders to choose between
their wheels and their
lives, according to one outraged
bicyclist.
“The construction makes it
bad because you can’t see and
there’s a ton of debris, so you
can risk getting a fl at and biking
over the debris in the bike
lane, or you can swerve into
traffi c,” said Sarah Ziglifa,
who commutes on bike from
her Fort Hamilton home to her
job in Manhattan most days.
“I signal and merge and hope
for the best.”
Last fall, workers with the
city’s Department of Transportation
fi nished painting
the fi rst part of the forthcoming
protected bike paths
on Fourth Avenue — which
when complete will allow cyclists
to pedal from Bay Ridge
to Atlantic Avenue in both directions
via separate lanes
along the Bay Ridge– and
Downtown–bound sides of the
road.
LANE DRAIN: State transit workers took over a driving lane on Fourth Avenue outside IS 136 and MS 821 to But work on the lanes,
make repairs to subway tunnels beneath the road. Photo by Colin Mixson Continued on page 18
Locals demand
crossing guards
at intersections
BY COLIN MIXSON
The city refuses to station
traffi c-safety agents near ongoing
construction projects
on Fourth Avenue in Sunset
Park, putting hundreds
of area students’ lives at risk
as they walk to school each
day, according to a local civic
leader.
“There are two middle
schools located between
40th and 41st streets, and the
thought that there wouldn’t
be traffi c agents at this pinch
point when there’s well over
a thousand kids crossing every
day is horrible,” Zak
Jasie, chairman of Community
Board 7’s Transportation
Committee, said in reference
to Fourth Avenue learning
houses IS 136 and MS 821, Sunset
Park Prep.
Last summer, leaders of
the state-run Metropolitan
Transportation Authority requested
Police Department
agents monitor traffi c along
the avenue between 40th and
60th streets, ahead of planned
repair work to subway tunnels
on the N and R lines and at the
59th Street station.
Reps for the Transportation
Authority told CB7 mem-
Continued on page 18
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