Bike activist Noah Budnick has battled for years for safer streets for city cyclists - especially the streets leading to the Manhattan Bridge bike path.But after a crash last week near the same bridge path he fought to make safer, Budnick is unconscious in intensive care with severe head injuries.“It's an unfortunate irony that Noah crashed at the very location that he has been working for two years to improve,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group where Budnick has worked since 2001. “It's just unacceptable that access to the bridge continues to be hazardous,” White added.Budnick, 27, crashed just after 7 p.m. Tuesday as he cycled home to Bedford-Stuyvesant from Transportation Alternatives' Manhattan offices. After crossing the bridge, Budnick was riding east in the westbound bike lane on Sands St. east of Jay St. when he slammed into a pothole and was thrown from his bike, cops said. Though he was wearing a helmet, Budnick suffered severe head trauma. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital.“He's a very experienced bicyclist,” said his girlfriend, Amanda Hickman, 29. “Biking has been his passion since he was little.”The accident came one day after Mayor Bloomberg announced an ambitious pothole “blitz.”White said yesterday Budnick has stabilized but remains unconscious. He said it could take days or weeks for Budnick to regain consciousness. “The doctors have told us to give it some time,” said White. “We've heard there is a chance that he will make a full recovery.”White said that according to a diagram on the police report, Budnick was forced to swerve to avoid a car in the bike lane. Budnick was riding the wrong way in the bike path - as many bikers do - because he considered the eastbound side of Sands St. too dangerous, White said.Budnick had been fighting for bike paths in both directions at that location, as well as other safety recommendations, White said.City Transportation Department officials said in a statement: “Noah is a tireless advocate for bicyclists and pedestrians and we wish him a speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”