BY JESSICA PARKS
When transportation offi -
cials announced plans to install
10 miles of protected bike
lanes throughout the borough
this year, only three streets in
southern Brooklyn were earmarked
for new cycling paths
— but even that was too much
for local civic leaders, who successfully
lobbied the city to reconsider
their plans for a bike
lane on Canarsie’s Remsen Avenue.
“Maybe eventually we will
need bike lanes when people
are going to be forced off the
streets and forced to ride bikes,
scooters, and roller skates,”
said Dorothy Turano, the district
manager of Community
Board 18 . “Until that occurs,
we don’t want bike lanes on
Remsen Avenue. It serves no
function.”
The city’s chief street designer
Polly Trottenberg
unveiled the slate of greenpainted
paths, which would
separate bikers from vehicular
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traffi c with a physical
barrier, as part of Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s Green Wave plan
to open 80 miles of protected
lanes citywide by the time he
leaves offi ce in 2021.
Hizzoner’s renewed push
for safer streets comes amid a
deluge of traffi c fatalities in the
fi ve boroughs — where motorists
fatally struck 29 cyclists in
New York throughout 2019, including
18 in Brooklyn.
But many residents of
southern Brooklyn, where locals
are disproportionately
dependent on car usage, have
long resisted efforts to alter
roadways in favor of bikers,
arguing that the added congestion
is a deal breaker.
So when the transit department
announced a 1.3-mile
protected bike lane slated for
Remsen Avenue between Foster
Avenue and Canarsie Park,
several local leaders demanded
that the agency reconsider.
“There is absolutely no reason
for a bike lane on Remsen
Avenue. It will disrupt traffi c
and it isn’t needed,” said Councilman
Alan Maisel (D—Canarsie).
Canarsie features just over
30 north-and-south oriented
streets, two of which feature
partial bike lanes, which Maisel
argues makes the proposed
Remsen Avenue path redundant.
“Canarsie has two bike
lanes already, both going in
the same direction,” said the
councilman.
In response to Maisel and
Turano’s frustrations, Transportation
Department reps
told the civic leaders that they
would evaluate the scheme.
“We asked them to look at
other traffi c calming modifi
cations, they agreed,” said
Turano. “They said they would
rethink and come up with another
plan.”
But other southern Brooklynites
were less upset by the
agency’s proposed peddler
path, arguing that Canarsieans
The city is proposing a protected bike lane similar to the one on on Jay
Street in Downtown Brooklyn, pictured, to be installed on Remsen Avenue
in Canarsie. Photo by Jessica Parks
would love to bike more
— if only the streets friendlier
to alternative transportation
methods.
“I think it is a great idea,
it provides a good connection
to various points in the neighborhood,”
said Marc Want, the
head of civic group the Canarsie
Improvement Association.
“The Paerdegat North bike
lane is getting tremendous
use.”
According to Want, the proposed
lane will succeed if it
guarantees that cyclists will
be safe when riding on it.
“I think that it depends on
how it is done,” Want said. “If
it is done…right next to the
moving cars — that is a problem.”
LANE BLAME
DOT reconsidering Canarsie bike lane after pushback
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