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COURIER L 12 IFE, NOV. 13-19, 2020
Making new
connections
Flatbush, Fourth Avenue bike lanes
fi nish, but doubts about safety remain
BY MARK HALLUM
Transportation honchos
hosted a pair of ceremonial
ribbon cuttings
on Nov. 5 to celebrate the
completion of two more
protected bike lanes in
the borough — one connecting
Central Brooklyn
with Downtown and
key East River crossings
and another encompassing
a crucial stretch of
Fourth Avenue.
Department of Transportation
offi cials fi rst
DOT offi cials celebrated the fi nishing of two protected bike
lanes. Photo by Mark Hallum
lauded a new Flatbush
Avenue protected bike
lane at Grand Army
Plaza, which spans from the local monument
to Ocean Avenue, before inviting
Brooklynites to ride along Prospect
Park West to Second Street and
up Fourth Avenue to Bergen Street,
where they then marked the completion
of a new protected lane from 65th
Street to the Barclays Center.
From the ribbon cutting at Grand
Army Plaza, Borough President Eric
Adams said the new Flatbush Avenue
bike lane will help give a safe thoroughfare
to underserved communities east of
Prospect Park.
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who
chairs the Council’s Transportation
Committee, agreed, adding that the new
lanes provide a clear benefi t to low-income
residents outside the central business
district.
“This is about equity,” he said.
Bike advocate Courtney Williams
added that the lanes’ deployment
couldn’t come fast enough as more and
more cyclists fi ght to protect themselves
on city streets.
“We know who lives on this side of
the park – white, affl uent, having all
the fun, living all that Prospect Park
life – and then there are people down in
Flatbush and Flatlands who need to get
from point A to point B. Very much so
for transportation, for affordability, for
function,” Williams said. “We need to
have infrastructure quickly going down
to compliment what a cyclist wants for
themselves and can only reasonably do
for themselves.”
According to the mayor’s offi ce, DOT
has added 106 miles of bike lanes in
Brooklyn since 2016, including 15 miles
so far this year.
But with 29 bike-riders killed in 2019
and at least 20 cyclist deaths so far this
year, Adams said the slow and steady
rate of the city’s safe street initiative
Vision Zero still does not meet the demands
of the Five Boroughs.
“It is still unacceptable how dangerous
it is to ride in the city,” he said, adding
that his mayoral campaign will soon
release a plan to speed up installment of
bike lanes throughout the city.
DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg
said that progress had already
been made on this front by removing local
community boards from the process.
Additionally, the two new lanes add
more than three miles to the nation’s
largest protected bike lane network, she
said.
However, some cyclists have expressed
grievances about the seemingly
incomplete nature of some stretches between
Prospect Park and Jay Street.
At the Thursday ribbon cutting,
Trottenberg disagreed that any sections
lacked full protection for cyclists.
In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio
said his administration remains committed
to keeping cyclists safe — especially
as more New Yorkers take to the
streets amid the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic.
“Our city’s recovery depends on giving
New Yorkers safe, reliable, and green
transportation alternatives, and I’m
proud to support the growing cycling
movement in Brooklyn and beyond,”
Hizzoner said. “I know these lanes will
be used well and often, and I’m looking
forward to cutting the ribbon on even
more lanes across the city this year.”
Additional reporting by Ben Verde
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