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CB 7 members question bike lane plan
PATH TO SUCCESS
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Community Board
7 members didn’t seem
convinced Monday night of
a proposed Flushing bike
lane network presented by
Department of Transportation
(DOT) officials, whose goal is to
improve bicycling conditions
in the community.
Approximately 50 board
members and residents
listened to DOT officials as they
explained their Bicycle and
Greenway Project proposal, a
part of the city’s Vision Zero
initiative on March 11 at Union
Care Plaza, located at 33-23
Union St. in Flushing.
“There are a lot of
pedestrian injuries and
fatalities in the community
that should not be happening
and are preventable,” said
Michael Pedron, DOT project
manager of the Bicycle and
Greenway Program. ”We want
to create safe places for folks to
ride in the neighborhood.”
The DOT proposal aims to
improve the safety of all road
users, respond to communitydriven
planning process,
increase bicycle network
coverage, creation of new
connections to jobs, parks,
neighborhoods, and existing
bicycle facilities, in addition to
no parking or lane removal.
The existing bike network
Bayside resident Dr. Lisa Liberatore founded the Luv Michael Granola company, which helps
individuals with autism join the workforce in a delicious and healthy way. Courtesy of Luv Michael
7 has low coverage with a
number of greenways along
the edges of the community,
yet there are few connections
on the streets that allow people
to access parks and other
facilities, according to the
DOT.
“One of the reasons that this
is a condition is that Flushing
is a tight grid and there’s a lot
of different orientations of the
street network that make it
kind of difficult to establish
these group connections,” said
Pedron. “What we have now is
an opportunity to make those
connections and bring folks to
those surrounding parts.”
“The new bike route
includes Willets Point
Boulevard, north/south of
Parsons and Union as a pair,
an east/west pair on Sanford
and Cherry on 43rd Ave with
additional connections on
Kissena Boulevard and Queens
Borough Hill on 59th and 60th
Avenue,” Pedron added.
The DOT has been
conducting community
outreach events since 2015 with
the Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene’s “Building
Healthy Communities,” where
they’ve received requests
from residents for bike lanes,
according to Pedron.
Overall, Pedron said the
community has requested
direct bike routes between
major destinations such as
downtown Flushing, parks/
greenways, transit, more bike
parking, but no impact to
buses, parking or congestion.
However, CB 7 member
Kim Ohanian opposed the
proposal, arguing that a bike
lane will lead to more deaths
and fatalities.
“I’m sorry but I cannot and
will not ever support this plan.
You’re planning on putting a
bike lane on my street in front
of my house,” said Ohanian,
who lives on 59th Avenue off
of Main Street. “You can’t be
serious with all of the truck
traffic and parking that the
hospital needs because they
park all over our neighborhood.
How in god’s name do you
think this will work without
somebody getting killed?”
Other board members
brought up concerns of narrow
streets, drivers ignoring bike
lane pavement markings, and
enforcement on cyclists who
don’t obey rules of the road.
“Automobiles have to
carry insurance, what about
the bicycles that crash into
automobiles? They don’t carry
insurance. Who’s responsible
then? Is my insurance company
going to have to pay for the
bicycle?” Kim Cody asked.
The DOT plans on
continuing its community
outreach throughout the rest
of the year. They’re hoping to
implement a combination of a
shared and conventional lane
on 30-feet wide streets, that
will both alert drivers to watch
for bikes, mark space to pass in
lane, discourage speeding, and
increase predictability.
in Queens’ Community District
Vol. 85 No. 11 56 total pages
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