CB6 Approves Improvements to PPW Bike Lane

In yet another show of support for the controversial Prospect Park West Bike Lane, on Wednesday nigh Community Board 6 unanimously voted to support the Department of Transportation’s proposed modifications to the two-way parking protected lane.

Among the improvements approved by CB6 were plans to raise pedestrian safety islands, install rumble strips near crosswalks, modify the loading zones at Ninth Street and narrow the buffer between the bike lane and parking near Grand Army Plaza.

The committees stipulated that the DOT should conduct a thorough survey of the accidents and injuries along the thoroughfare for a minimum of three years, presenting the results of the survey to the community annually. They also called for efforts to restore some of the parking spaces along the avenue that are now taken up by the pedestrian island, a process that is now underway.

The improvements were recommended by the DOT at a public hearing back in .

The vote did not officially endorse the lane, only the modifications to it. Still, supporters of the controversial lane saw the vote as a message of support.

“This is yet another in a long line of carefully considered votes by the Community Board supporting the Prospect Park West traffic calming and bike path project,” said Park Slope Neighbors co-founder Eric McClure in a statement. “I commend the Department of Transportation for listening to the community and working with the Community Board to make Prospect Park West a safer more inclusive street for everyone – pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.”

The Prospect Park West bike lanes have been wrought with controversy ever since they were installed last July. The Department of Transportation has as a success, and independent surveys by both and has showed overwhelming community support for the lanes.

But critics of the bike lane have argued that it is a threat to pedestrian safety and that reducing the number of lanes on the road to two has made for traffic jams. The opponents – Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety – even filed a to remove the lanes last month.

Though no members of the opposition were present at Wednesday’s CB6 meaning, Jim Walden, a pro-bono attorney for NBBL and SFS sent an to the community board, which he asked it to read at the meeting (it did not).

“We hope the Board makes the right decision tonight by deferring any vote until after a full and meaningful discussion about alternative configurations, which will include more pointed questions for DOT about the various decisions it made to "sell" a dangerous bike lane to your community,” Walden wrote.

CB6 will now issue its approval and recommendations for the lane to the DOT. A timeline for when these upgrades to the lane will be made has not yet been established.