12 OCTOBER 27, 2016 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM EDITORIAL Making bike lanes work in Queens Bike lanes in Queens are about 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 Oct. 24, 2016) COMMENTS: ESTABLISHED 1908 Co-Publishers VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA SCHNEPS Editor-in-Chief ROBERT POZARYCKI Production Manager NIRMAL SINGH Art Director CHERYL GALLAGHER Classifi ed Manager DEBORAH CUSICK Assistant Classifi ed Manager MARLENE RUIZ Reporter ANTHONY GIUDICE © 2016 SCHNEPS NY MEDIA, LLC. General Publication Offi ce: 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 TELEPHONE: 1-718-821-7500/7501/7502/7503 FAX: 1-718-224-5441 E-MAIL: info@timesnewsweekly.com WEB SITE: www.timesnewsweekly.com ON TWITTER @timesnewsweekly PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY FOR 108 YEARS COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving ads over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This newspaper is responsible for only one incorrect insertion and only for that portion of the ad in which the error appears. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure copy does not contravene the Consumer Protection Law or any other requirement.TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is Listed With The Standard Rate & Data And Is A Member Of The New York Press Association SNAPS CROSS ISLAND PATH PHOTO BY MARSHA GELLERT 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 @QNS or by emailing editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). 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.
RT10272016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above