Bronx Bike Lane Stuck in Limbo

It looks like The Bronx will have to wait even longer for its first on-street bike lane. Although the Prospect Avenue Bike Lane was approved by the Bronx Borough Board in 1994, and the designs for the lane are completed, the lane's installation is stalled within DOT. Political support is clearly not the problem: the Borough Board consists of 12 Community Board Managers and eight Bronx City Councilmembers.

The two-mile lane would be a key north-south connection between Crotona Park and E. 149th St., where the145th St. bridge connects to Manhattan.

After waiting two years for the University Avenue lane to be installed in 1997 - only to have it canceled due to Yankee fan traffic - cyclists in The Bronx are anxious to see this lane installed. Amazingly, a county with 1.2 million people and more miles of streets than Manhattan has no on-street bike lane. Rich Gans, the Chair of the T.A. Bronx Chapter, laments the DOT's lack of progress. "What is the problem? Five years ago the DOT was committed to installing one on-street bike lane per borough, per year. But instead of having five new bike lanes, The Bronx has gotten nothing."

Write to Commissioner Chapman and urge him to get the Prospect Avenue bike lane installed ASAP and remind him that the DOT owes The Bronx its share of on-street bike lanes.

Wilbur Chapman
Commissioner
NYC DOT
40 Worth Street
NY, NY 10013

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