Northeast - Best route to cross Manhattan

What is the best route to cross Manhattan, from the bike path along East river to the bike path along the Hudson (or vice versa)? Which street is the easiest/safest for bikes? I mean somewhere in or not far from midtown?

This might be too far downtown for you, but 20th and 21st are one-way streets that have bike lanes and stretch across most of the island. The streets are narrow and the bike lanes are often blocked, but both streets are relatively lightly trafficked. Other than that, I can't think of a way to cross Manhattan in the Midtown area that isn't going to involve much traffic, pedestrians, and frustration.

I started a similar thread not too long ago, it can be found here http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?669261-nyc-crosstown-bike-route-suggestions

According to the DOT bike map, 20th and 21st Street are basically the only crosstown street with "marked" bike lane, I've tried them, they're useless, street is narrow, bike lanes is crowded, and delivery guys going the wrong way doesn't help either. For the westside bike path you can get to it conveniently on almost all the cross town street thanks to a city that loves to cater to the more infuential upper westside.

I'm only 3 weeks into NYC urban bike commute and so far I'm very comfortable biking on the street, here are my few suggestions for crosstown routes.

1. pick non-major crosstown street (14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th...etc), with no crosstown bus. I would avoid Central park as well, too many tourist walking and too many bicycles going too fast.

2. I got a superbright blinking light for the cars behind me to notice me, I turn it on doing day time as well just to feel more comfortable.

3. I actually like a busy, congested(car traffic) street, cars don't get to go too fast so you can concentrate more on looking out for open doors/jaywalkers/double parked cars/potholes...etc.

4. just go slow and pay real good attention to the surroundings, chances are you're still going to be faster than car traffic going crosstown.

I was such a scardy cat 3 weeks ago, and now I'm totally comfortable riding on the crosstown street....now the Avenues are a total different story.....

1. pick non-major crosstown street (14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th...etc), with no crosstown bus. I would avoid Central park as well, too many tourist walking and too many bicycles going too fast.

3. I actually like a busy, congested(car traffic) street, cars don't get to go too fast so you can concentrate more on looking out for open doors/jaywalkers/double parked cars/potholes...etc.



I was such a scardy cat 3 weeks ago, and now I'm totally comfortable riding on the crosstown street....now the Avenues are a total different story.....

I agree totally, the crosstown streets with 2 lane traffic are the worst. Any old one way crosstown street will work out pretty well and have a lot less foot traffic as well. it's just a matter of looking out for car doors. also DONT BE AFRAID TO TAKE THE LANE!!!! Now don't ride in the middle of the street and go 5 mph but often times the nature of the lights going crosstown means cars are rarely getting up over 15mph, that should be easy for anyone in decent fitness to do and fit right in with the cars.

If you are north of midtown, entering the park at 72nd street is good because you can ride the bike lane directly across and exit at Tavern on the Green in the mid 60's without having to ride the wrong direction on the bike lane in the park.