November 29–December 5, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 3
Stalled on Fourth Ave.
Cyclists to DOT: Finish that bike lane you started!
MEAN
Streets
Lane Bryant closing Downtown
On Fulton St. corner for nearly 70 years of Ann Taylor, Catherines
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By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Cycling advocates are demanding
the Department of
Transportation speed up construction
of the Fourth Avenue
bike lane in Park Slope,
where cyclists are forced to
merge with traffic after the
bike path suddenly ends 15
blocks short of its final destination.
“Limited lanes in isolation
do not keep us safe,” said
Blythe Austin, who joined a
rally outside Atlantic Terminal
on Saturday as a member
of Families for Safe Streets.
“Every time a lane dead ends
or there is a gap, then we have
to merge back into traffic –
and that is dangerous.”
The city is currently in the
process of adding pedestrian
safety islands, greenery, and
protected bike lanes from 65th
Street in Bay Ridge to Atlantic
Avenue in Park Slope to
the north-south thoroughfare
as part of the city’s so-called
“Green Streets” program.
Builders started work on
the protected bike lanes —
which separate cyclists from
traffic via a row of parked cars
— in spring last year, but work
stalled south of First Street,
where northbound cyclists are
forced to either turn east towards
Prospect Park, or mingle
with traffic along the uptown
speedway.
“You’re asking people on
bikes to basically merge back
into traffic that’s going 30, 35,
Photo by Ben Verde
Cyclists rallied for the completion of the Fourth Avenue bike lane on Saturday,
after riding from Bay Ridge to Atlantic Avenue.
40 miles an hour,” said Brian
Hedden, a bike activist from
southern Brooklyn.
Department of Transportation
spokesman Brian
Zumhagen declined to explain
why construction was
halted, saying only that cyclists
shouldn’t expect any
progress on the bike lane until
spring next year.
When the Fourth Avenue
project was first presented to
the community in 2017, reps
for the Department of Transportation
did warn residents
that construction along the final
stretch of the bike lane between
Carroll Street and Atlantic
Avenue may be delayed
by the heavy traffic that passes
through that area, according
to one local transit buff.
“When they originally
presented to the community
board, they told us that because
of the traffic volume… it
is more of a challenge between
Carroll Street and Atlantic Avenue,
so they need to do extra
work to figure out how best to
deal with that,” said Eric Mc-
Clure, the Chairman of Community
Board 6’s Transportation
Committee.
However, the DOT’s foresight
doesn’t excuse the agency
from making an extra effort
to protect cyclists, according
to McClure, who said the city
should rush to complete the
project before the first major
snowstorm of the year makes
the work impossible.
“They should move as
quickly as possible to rectify
the situation,” said Mc-
Clure. “It doesn’t seem unreasonable
to ask them to extend
work into the winter.”
And if work can’t be completed
before the weather turns
sour, the city could at the very
least install signs warning cyclists
of the bike lane’s sudden
end.
“Some kind of signage
that would show what kind
of routes to take instead of
being dumped into traffic
would be a positive thing,”
McClure said.
Brooklyn’s
boulevard
battle lines
By Craig Hubert
for Brooklyn Paper
After 69 years, Lane Bryant
is shutting up shop in
Downtown Brooklyn.
The store, located at 380
Fulton Street, announced it
is closing December 17. A
sign outside the store Friday
confirmed their departure.
A tipster told Brownstoner
regular customers
and staff are trying to
persuade company bosses
to relocate the store somewhere
else in the neighborhood.
It is one of two locations
in Brooklyn, the other being
at the Gateway Center
shopping plaza in East
New York, which remains
open.
The store is owned by
Ascena Retail Group Inc.,
also the parent company
and the recently shuttered
Dressbarn. According to a
report in Bloomberg in September,
the company is considering
selling off Catherines
and Lane Bryant,
which has about 720 stores,
“amid mounting losses and
signs that creditors are losing
confidence in the company’s
prospects.”
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