Elements of a NYC Bicycle Lane System

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As noted above and detailed in Chapter 7, an off-road (Class I) bicycle and pedestrian network has been proposed by the NY State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historical Preservation, the NYC Dept. of City Planning and others. The network will largely occupy waterfront, abandoned rail corridors and other “fringe” rights-of-way, and construction has begun in some places. To function as efficient transportation and not merely recreational infrastructure, it will need to be complemented by an extensive network of on-street bike lanes able to link these pathways with important destinations and direct arterial routes. (Greenway plans do envision bikeways on key roadways like Queens Boulevard and Broadway in Manhattan, though these are not on the list for priority implementation.)

In parallel with construction of the greenway system, the NYC Dept. of Transportation should initiate a tandem process of improving and expanding bike lanes on city streets. While further study is needed to develop full design and traffic details, below we sketch a bike lane plan for Manhattan and indicate general areas of need in other boroughs. The proposed streets would employ combinations of the various bike lane designs noted above, depending on street widths, existence of medians, etc.

This system would probably entail over 500 miles of bike lanes — perhaps 175 miles in Manhattan and 75-100 in each of the other boroughs. With input from the bicycling community, the borough presidents and other knowledgeable groups, the network could be phased in over the next 5-10 years.

MANHATTAN

Uptown Avenues

• Centre St./Lafayette St./Park Ave. From Brooklyn Bridge to Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway at 135th St.
• Church St./6th Ave. (now in place, but substandard, on 6th Ave.) From Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. From Central Park to Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway and 155th St./Jerome Ave. Bridge
• Orchard St./1st Ave. (in place, but substandard, north of 75th St.) From Manhattan Bridge to Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway, Triborough Bridge and Willis Ave. Bridge
• 10th Ave./Amsterdam Ave. From West Side Esplanade Bikeway @ West 12th St. to Highbridge Park and Dyckman St.

Downtown Avenues

• St. Nicholas Ave. From 169th St. to Central Park
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. From Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway and 155th St./Jerome Ave. Bridge, to Central Park
• Park Ave. (switches to Broadway south of Union Sq.) From Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway at 135th St., to Brooklyn Bridge and Staten Island Ferry
• Broadway/5th Ave. (now in place, but substandard) From Central Park to Union Sq. (meet Park Ave bike lane) and Washington Square Park
• 9th Ave. From West 65th St. (and Broadway bike lane) to 14th St. (and West Side Esplanade Bikeway)

Crosstown Streets

• Dyckman St. (2-way) Connecting West Side Esplanade Bikeway in Inwood Park to Amsterdam Ave. bike lane and Harlem River Esplanade Bikeway
• East 90th St. (east-bound) Connecting Central Park to 1st Ave bike lane. Alternatively, could be made a test site for a bike-friendly traffic calming treatment (see next section below)
• Houston St. (2-way) Connecting East River Park to West Side Esplanade Bikeway
• Delancey St. (2-way) Connecting Williamsburg Bridge to Bowery
• Kenmare St. (west-bound) Connecting Delancey St. to Lafayette St.
• Canal St. (2-way) Will require City to reroute much crosstown truck traffic now using Canal as highway

Paired one-way crosstown streets in these areas in Manhattan should have bike lanes installed or receive bicycle-friendly traffic calming treatment:

• 120's or high 110's (above 116th St.) between St. Nicholas Ave. and the East or Harlem River
• Three to four pairs of cross streets on the Upper East and West Sides, corresponding to Central Park loop drive entrances and exits (including East 90th St., see above)
• Between 55th and 45th Streets, river to river
• Between 42nd and 34th Streets, river to river (unless 42nd St. transitway becomes car-free, in which case bike lanes in each direction should be installed)
• In the high 20's, river to river
• Between 14th and 20th Streets, river to river

BROOKLYN

• Widen and make fully continuous the Prospect Park/Brooklyn Bridge bike lane.
• Establish link between the Manhattan Bridge and lower Flatbush.
• Widen the Hicks St. bike lane and extend it south into Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and Borough Park — neighborhoods not served by current greenway plans.
• Extend arterial routes from the Williamsburg Bridge to Greenpoint, linking with the planned Humboldt /McGuinness Blvd. bike lane toward Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and downtown Brooklyn.

QUEENS

Arterial routes are needed to serve the Queensboro and Triborough Bridges. A two-way bike lane for Queens Boulevard — perhaps utilizing its ample service roads — deserves high priority. A quickly-implemented bike lane treatment could evolve later into a fully developed greenway design.

Service Roads along the Long Island Expressway should also be dedicated quickly, followed by feeder routes from Middle Village, Rego Park and Forest Hills (with links to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway).

BRONX

Of the five boroughs, the Bronx will be the most fully served by the proposed New York City greenway system. A two-way bike lane on the Grand Concourse would fill a major gap in the system; it should be co-ordinated with new design features to reduce the rate of pedestrian deaths, which numbered 18 on the Concourse in 1991-92. [33]

STATEN ISLAND

Staten Island will also be well-served by planned greenways, but it needs direct bicycle links as well. Key bike lane priorities include links from the central part of the Island to the Staten Island Ferry and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (once bicycle access has been provided over the Verrazano).

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