editorial 36 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 27, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS CROSS ISLAND PATH // PHOTO BY CHERYL KAY Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). Making bike lanes work in Queens Bike lanes in Queens are about as polarizing as a presidential candidate. Those who love them really love them; those who hate them really hate them. More Queens residents are turning to bicycles as a primary mode of transportation. Because of this, the city Department of Transportation (DOT) has been scrambling to expand its bike lane network throughout the borough to more safely accommodate the increasing number of bicyclists competing with cars, trucks and buses for road space. It does not take a doctorate degree in physics to know that bicyclists are at greater risk of injury and death from being struck by vehicles. The rider doesn’t have a protective chassis around them to absorb any impact from a larger rig. The bicycles can’t be on the sidewalks, either, as their presence puts pedestrians in harm’s way. The most important thing to understand, however, is that the bike lanes need to be placed on streets that can accommodate them. The service roads of Queens Boulevard are one excellent example of this, as there remains four lanes of traffi c in each direction on the boulevard for other vehicles. The bike lanes also have the dual functionality of being a safety component designed to slow vehicles down on the roadway notoriously known as the “Boulevard of Death” for the high frequency of deadly traffi c accidents. The DOT now wants to install bike lanes along Grand Avenue in Maspeth, and that makes us cringe. While it may be the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, Grand Avenue is also a traffi c headache, with one lane available in each direction and usually backed up with all kinds of cars, trucks and buses. Try navigating through the intersection of Grand and Flushing avenues at rush hour on a weekday and you’ll see what we mean. Even with the introduction of bike lanes, we’re not sure how any bicyclist could feel safe riding along Grand Avenue, a road far more narrow than Queens Boulevard but with just as much traffi c congestion on a daily basis. The DOT ought to consider another route through Maspeth, perhaps utilizing the Long Island Expressway service roads (Borden Avenue) and 57th Avenue, streets which are wider and not as regularly congested as Grand Avenue. Whether we like them or not, bike lanes are a necessary component of Queens’ transit infrastructure in the 21st century. Bicyclists deserve to have a safe space on major roadways in order to get around with some degree of comfort that they won’t be seriously injured or killed in a traffi c accident. THE QUEENS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ, CHERYL GALLAGHER EMILY DAVENPORT KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA SUZANNE MONTEVERDI CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com Entire Contents Copyright 2016 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. THE HOT TOPIC STORY: Suspect who sexually assaulted woman near expressway in Fresh Meadows remains at large SUMMARY: A man who was suspected of raping a woman near the Long Island Expressway in Fresh Meadows still hasn’t been found. REACH: 7,404 people (as of 10/24/16)
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