Air

Look what's coming to town - should be opened next month!



The Department of Transportation revealed plans for New York City's first-ever "cycle track" at a Manhattan Community Board 4 transportation committee meeting last night. A cycle track is a bike lane that is physically-separated from motor vehicle traffic with a sidewalk on one side and parked cars on the other. The new bike facility will run southbound on Ninth Avenue from 23rd to 16th Street on the west side of Manhattan. DOT Bicycle Program Director Josh Benson, who made last night's presentation, said "This is the first time we’ve done a bike lane that is protected behind the parking lane. It is the first time that we've built a Class I type bike facility inside the urban core."



The design also includes traffic signals for bicyclists, greenery, refuge areas for pedestrians and left-turn lanes and traffic signals for motor vehicles. "The left turn lane will be immediately adjacent to the bike lane," Benson explained to CB4. "As a cyclist you’ll know that if there’s a car next to me, that car is turning left." Likewise, the left-turning motorist's view of cyclists will be completely unobscured. "The bike lane is 10-feet wide to accommodate street cleaning and emergency vehicles.

DOT planners "talked with Jan Gehl's people about this design," said Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Noah Budnick. "They are really drawing from international best-practice and being smart about talking to other engineers and planners who have implemented these types of designs and plans."

These types of physically-separated bike lanes, or "cycle tracks" are commonly found in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, two of the world's most bike-friendly cities. Livable Streets advocates have long pushed DOT to experiment with this type of bike lane design in New York City. The Community Board 4 transportation committee voted to approve the DOT plan which is part of a larger pedestrian-safety redesign of the intersection of 9th Avenue and 14th Street.

The new bike lane design is a break from previously stated DOT policy. In March, during discussion of a possible Houston Street bike lane, DOT officials told Manhattan's Community 2 that physically-separated bike lanes should only be installed on streets with a maximum of 8 intersections per mile to ensure fewer conflicts with turning vehicles.

DOT has posted a presentation of the plan on its web site.

zacster

I guess its a start, but only 7 blocks? I'm also not fond of the idea of a closed lane. It doesn't give you an alternative when it gets blocked. And notice I say 'when' not 'if' because this being NYC, it will get blocked.

Air

At 10 feet wide though it would be wider than a normal lane. It's an experiment and part of the meat packing district renovation.

With the planters on the other side it would be hard for something to park over it...but I suppose not impossible. I'm excited - I think it would be blocked much less often than extra lane of parking they built on second avenue. I also like the integration at intersections, I think they do something similar in Chicago and it's much safer than the blind turn.

I only wonder how many pedestrians will walk on it instead of the sidewalk.

Bklyn

My thoughts exactly. As with the lane in front of Macy's (set off by plastic bollards), I'd expect this to be used as an "express sidewalk." At least with that lane, I can zip out between the bollards. Separated bike lanes sound fantastic, but I don't think I'm going to use them. I do just fine in traffic.

sukram

There's a thread in Commuting as well: https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/346702-new-bike-lane-layout-9th-ave-nyc.html

Overall, I'm pro.

I'd just like to see more effort in places where it would make more of a difference, for example, better bridge access through redesigns like this.

Air

The biggest thing to note is the DOT said they would never do anything like this, and now are giving it a chance. If it works out you could see a lot of the main avenues adopt something similar which would be much better than weaving in and out of traffic everytime someone cuts you off to park.

GeoLes

The problem with all dedicated bike lanes is the limited width of the lanes. There's little room for faster cyclists, who simply want to "blow through". There will still be a population of cyclists who still use the tradtional road position rather than being delayed by slower cycilsts, pedestrians, what-have-you on the "dedicated bike lane" - (misnomer). I saw a similar setup in Monteal while visiting. There was also a separate lane for runners, which was fine except that pedestsrians waiting to cross the streets seem to block every intersection.

cparekh

Although it is difficult to get the DOT to do anything they don't want to do, I will say that the current Mayor is very eager to encourage cycling in NYC, especially Manhattan. Too bad he is done in a couple of years. Cycling is a major part of the PlaNYC program he announced in the summer. We'll see how far this goes, but I am pro separated bike lanes just for the fact that some people who are scared to bike on the street will see them and possibly start cycling because of them. More cyclists is better.

/cp

FrankieV

That's such a great idea. Being a New Yorker all of my 59 years I can tell you that there are not many places in the city where they can impliment this. There are just too many pedestrian and drivers in the city. Look for it more in the outer boroughs (Bklyn, Qns, etc). I'll take it wherever they can give it to me.

Bacciagalupe

Methinks this is actually going to wind up being a bad plan.

The main reason is that it's going to be VERY hard for the cars to see the cyclists, and vice versa. I suspect there will be an increase in accidents at those intersections.

The second is that I'm sure sooner or later some drunkard will drive right down the cycle lane, and hit someone.

Third is, per the earlier comments, given how poorly the existing bike lanes are enforced, they will fill up with peds. Heck I bet there will be more hot dog carts on there than bikes within a few weeks.

I guess we'll see when it's done....

Air

1) Supposedly near intersections the lanes will be closer together, so hopefully that will help.

2) That might be really hard to do - it would be like a drunkard driving on the sidewalk for a few blocks. I'm sure it's happened but it's not as likely as one swerving into an unprotected bike lane.

3) That's my biggest fear too. Let's give it a try in a month and see what it's like!

Lucky07

It seems like a good idea. But as stated above I can see it quickly filling up with pedestrians, hot dog carts, DHL couriers, etc. But the attempt to create a protected bike lane is a step in the right direction. At least the city recognizes that the current lanes are far from perfect.

Air

Actually the city has come down hard on vendors - their licenses could be at stake if they parked it in the lane vs the sidewalk.

stevesurf

Great news; great thread G...

Bklyn

You would think so, but I've been taking 9th Avenue home lately, and it seems to me that there are dedicated turning lanes that cross over the bike lane at an angle (like the descender in a capital R). The fact that cars will be herded into specific lanes I think will calm traffic.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you couldn't pick a single spot in Manhattan with a better Traffic Disaster Pedigree: wide lanes; proximity to New Jersey traffic; bar and restaurant-heavy area; relatively low pedestrian density; weird angled cross streets entering the West Village. . . . Let the games begin!

geo8rge

It's been tried before, Koch administration. They did not work and were take out. The problem is that pedestrians:
1) will walk in the bike lane.
2) In NYC it is common for people crossing at intersections to stand in the street just outside of the auto traffic. That will put them in the cycling lane.

Perhaps things are different this time.

Stacy

IT's true that Koch's concrete barrier bike lane through Herald Square turned out to be very unpopular but times have changed. Cyclists have very different ideas about bike lanes these days. Quite onestly, most of those 30 year old bike lanes, like the ones on FIfth and Sixth avenues, aren't very good, anyway.

What's really interesting is the amount of media coverage this new bike lane has received - and it's not even done yet.Whether the lanes 'work' or not the fact that this plan has highlighted cycling as a viable means of transportation on the six o'clock news, and in all the dailies, is a real plus.

TRaffic Jammer

Looks cool, the one in Montreal is so skinny as to be virtually useless, as well there isn't nearly as much room in between the parked cars and the BL. Looking forward to seeing more of this sort of thinking. At least an attempt is being made, very cool. I'm perfectly happy in traffic myself but a lane like this could give comfort to many who wish to ride but are justifiably afraid of traffic.

Bacciagalupe

Sadly, if some intoxicated driver can get onto the West Side Greenway, I can definitely see 'em getting into one of those lanes....

IIRC one of the intersections on 23rd is particularly bad for cyclists -- anyone remember where? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Stacy

A nun cyclist was killed on 23rd and Sixth Avenue about two years ago but I've always thought the part where FIfth Avenue and Broadway cross, just north of the Flatiron Building could be tough.

joejack951

I'm currently in Shanghai where they have these types of bike facilities all over the place (and in all other Chinese cities that I've been to) on the major roads, except they have the lanes on both sides of the road, not just one. Even still, there are a large number of wrong way cyclists, AND right and wrong way motorcyclists who use these lanes along with the occassional motorist in a big hurry. At every intersection, it's a battle between turning traffic and cyclist traffic trying to go straight. Contraflow cyclists using these lanes will have an especially tough time dealing with motorists as I've noticed here (note that I haven't actually cycled here at all but just observed).

slvoid

Sounds like another idea to get us the hell off the road.

TRaffic Jammer

A well thought out plan to marginalize the rider even further. The post above slvoid's chilled my blood, visualizing a car plowing into a lane of riders who've grown complacent with this separation of car/bike. A motorbike could cause much havoc as well. I've always thought and still do that getting everyone on the road is the only option, just leave the curb lane for riders and right turners.

Air

There's supposed to be a pedestrian island at the intersections to cut down on the time needed to cross, so unless there are a mass of people standing there that spill over hopefully that won't be an issue. Hopefully

Air

The spot where he drove on the west side greenway is a weird intersection and IMO very poorly designed. The path makes an S to cross the road while traffic hopefully stops. However the road goes to cobblestones and the path is paved - it is possible with a few drinks that he thought the paved part is part of the road if he was never there before and especially since it was at night and drunk. Trust me, I'm not defending him and I hope he rots in jail.

I'm really hoping that the intersections would be designed so it wouldn't be able to happen. The look of the lane is almost more important than anything else for visual cues and natural movement for both cyclists and cars without thinking. The first time I hit the intersection above I had to slow down to figure out where I was supposed to go - that's NOT well designed.

I do hope they put in some of those flexible barriers too though