Proposed Bike Lanes for Greenpoint (Brooklyn)
 

http://www.observer.com/2012/01/bicy...in-greenpoint/

You will have to click the link to view the article, I am not excerpting a quote here.
I think we have an image of the proposed lane diagram, though:

http://www.observer.com/files/2012/0...5519584380.png
My Response:
Ask Yourself: Who is responsible for the Safety of the Cyclists- should the Government build Bike Lanes, or should Individual Motorists be more courteous and careful?
I turns out that the Government must shoulder (no pun intended) the responsibility.
I've driven cars and I've ridden bicycles. From the viewpoint of a driver, I can say that Bicycles are not invisible, you can see them, and slow down , check your mirrors, and move left to pass.
When I ride a bike, I notice that most motorists pass with seven to ten feet of clearance, so it can be done. It's just a matter of getting ALL the drivers to clear the Bikes with enough room to spare.
Okay, looking at the existing and proposed diagram, I have a different idea. The width overall is 56 feet. Get rid of the (flush) median, make the travel (moving) lanes 20 feet wide in each direction, with 8 foot shoulders on either side. Then the cyclists can travel safely, either on the shoulder, or by sharing the now twenty foot wide travel lane.

I was just in New York, and the concern over parking spaces is pretty funny to me. Unless there is paid parking there, which I doubt, those parking spaces are not available for customers of businesses. I ended up paying $45 for 3 hours of parking. I saw exactly zero open parking spaces during my trip, and that included walking a couple of miles. Lots of double parking going on, which I'm guessing is what will happen to those buffer zones.

The before drawing does not show any parking spaces, but the big complaint is they will lose 50 parking spaces.

The after picture looks like it is designed to increase parking, but I would be concerned that some Smart Car or Mini-Crapper JAM would try to drive down a 6 foot bike lane.

The road design in the OP is a whole lot better looking than our latest version, which is 7ft parking, 5ft BL, 10ft travel lane on a two way road with no center buffer.