If you’re a biker, pedestrian or a car enthusiast you probably have an opinion about driving up Prospect Park West, making a right into the traffic circle and then taking a right onto 15th Street.
The Department of Transportation has , some of them already in motion like the new light at 15th Street. But the question for today concerns the DOT’s plans for making .
Starting at Bartel-Pritchard Square to Eighth Avenue, there will be a shared bike lane, which means drivers and bikers share the same space. But once past Eighth to Third Avenue, the bike lane and the car lane become separated by painted lines.
Under the proposed plan the 35-foot road will be cut into sections: a 9-foot parking lane on the north side, an 11-foot moving car lane next to it, a 5-foot painted bike lane and then a 10-foot parking space on the south side for cars.
The bike lane on 15th Street will be installed on the left-hand side, the south side, to avoid any conflicts between bikers and buses while making a right-hand turn onto 15th Street.
So, what do you guys think? One commenter on the original article last week said: “More bike lanes please!!!! Why isn't the one on 15th going to be separated from cars? There's enough space to make it really safe.”
Make sure to vote in the poll below!
Cars are already running-a-muck all over NYC, killing and injuring thousands. We're talking about paint on a road. Why the freakout?
Because the city is already congested enough without the added nightmare of bikers/bike lanes in their way. Cars are important to the city. Bikes not so much. Take the train, walk or ride a bus.
Often that little bike is replacing the giant road cloging car.
You know the lane in the Park is one way.
You know the lane in the Park is one way. Not really communter friendly.
THE HORROR!!!! A politician doing what the majority of people want. He should be strung up. We want and need politicians that don't give a shit what the people of this city want. And change??? NEVER. Things should stay exactly the same way forever because nothing good ever happens when we do things differently.
can you please explain to me how the bike lanes make it harder for you to drive? I actually drive my car a lot more than I ride my bike and I like to know where the bike are supposed to be. It is not a big deal.
But, have you heard of the traffic engineering concept of excess-capacity. It applied to PPW when it was three lanes wide. Because it had so many lanes people tended to speed and weave in and out of he extra lanes. I drive on it all the time and usually get from Unions to 15th St at a steady 25 mph. It used to be that one would weave past a slow car and get to 35 mph just to stop at a light. This change is actually for the better as a driver. and have they "removed thousands of parking spaces" I did not know that. But I call them "free places to leave my personal property on public land". So I don't feel so bad when I have to take an extra minute to find one.. and that thing you are referring to on Ft Hamilton Pky. That was all about the fact that some entitled community members would not stop double parking.
Should we stop building roads because drivers double park? Should we stop making cell phones because people use them when driving? Should we close schools because kids don't all do well?
Prospect Park bike lanes are one way...then paint a line down the middle and make them 2 way. (See how easy that was). 15th and 14th Streets are wide streets...actually, 15th Street between Bartel-Pritchard Square and 8th Avenue is as narrow as any normal street. True, it gets wider below 8th Avenue, but 14th Street is "narrow" all the way. It's true that I park my car on "public land", but I pay a registration fee, gasoline taxes, insurance, etc. for the right to do so. So far, bicycles pay nothing. In a lot of places (Canada, Florida, to name 2) you must have license plates on bicycles. This would be a good idea. And last(ly), a lot of cyclists are not very good operators. (True, you can say the same for auto drivers). I have driven a lot of miles in my 73 years, and I have ridden a bicycle a lot of miles, too. My age and health do not allow me to ride a bicycle anymore, and I do miss it. (But I would never ride on a city street with cars...that's insanity!) However, if I could, and had to go a distance (say the airport or another city) going by bicycle would be impractical. A bicycle is mostly for recreational use. OK, so some of you go to work on it...but probably not in the pouring rain or snow, etc. Look, cars are here to stay. Maybe bikes are too, but the car and truck are now necessary. Stop all the nonsense. Keep bikes and cars away from each other. It's a disaster waiting to happen.