While the City of Portland has agreed with a recommendation from the Federal Highway Administration to “test” non-colored bike boxes, the New York City Department of Transportation is going the other direction — they’re adding more paint to their roads for cyclists.
Check out the new bike lane at an intersection near Madison Square Garden Park:
Clarence Eckerson from the Livable Streets Network sent the photo along with this note:
“Taking back multiple lanes of traffic has produced something I never thought I would see – a green bike lane that splits – and gives you two choices to travel! I rode both ways just to feel like I didn’t miss anything.”
NYC knows a thing or two about green bike lanes. They installed their first one over a year ago and I’m glad to see they’re showing no signs slowing down.
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+1 for painted…
This is great! While I\’m not convinced about our bike boxes, I love the paint. It\’s a subtle yet still obvious way to create a seperation of space.
This is positive news, especially after hearing about that Critical Mass\’er that got practically clotheslined by a NYC Police Officer.
This is great! The paint provides so much more visibility for cyclists in traffic, while giving us a somewhat safer lane to stay in. I\’d love to see more of these around Portland.
NYC has also been putting down red paint in their BRT lanes to try to convince motorists to stay out of them.
How can we get the hashed border for our bike lanes?
This is spectacular.
This looks great, like the German bike lanes I have seen in photos.
One step closer to separate cycleways. I\’m really loving those nice, wide buffer areas.
The sad truth is these lanes with be discolored after this upcoming winter and will never be repainted. NYC keeps making baby steps in the right direction, but still just doesn\’t get it in regards to planning for bike infrastructure.
That is some sweet intersection. It\’s not like the ones in Portland where the bike lanes just vanish =D
I think that photo may not actually be near Madison Square Garden but possibly Madison Square Park…
just a guess:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=40.750216,-73.99277&daddr=5th+Ave+%4040.742810,+-73.988640&hl=en&geocode=10229192872136804967,40.742810,-73.988640&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=40.745648,-73.986461&sspn=0.0119,0.019312&ie=UTF8&ll=40.747306,-73.991718&spn=0.0119,0.019312&t=h&z=16
I wish they would install a bike lane like this on N. Interstate where you have the choice to continue on Interstate, or go up the ramp to the Broadway Bridge. I go up to the Broadway bridge so I stay as far right as possible from the intersection, but someone who was not familiar with the intersection might get closer to the Y before bearing right; plus, there are cars that suddenly dodge right across the Interstate bike lane when they realize they are going to miss the turn (especially now that there is a \”steel bridge closed\” sign).
Shishi, ever seen the Debbie Downer skit on Saturday Night Live?
No, I haven\’t. I have been commuting in NYC for over 7 years now by bike. While we should have one of the greatest bike networks in the world (1/4 of our land mass is street space), we still have very little in the way of very safe and secure routes. I am not trying to be a downer, but rather stating the facts. NYC is about 20-30 years behind the curve when it comes to planning for surface transit (bus, ped, lrt, brt, and bicycles).
Yay, NYC!
while this is certainly a step in the right direction for NYC, I can\’t help but understand where shishi is coming from. Ever riden on an NYC street in the middle of the day? Might as well paint the bike lane bright pink. It doesn\’t matter. There will inevitably be a cop, taxi, garbage truck, etc using the bike lane as their personal parking/loading space.
A while ago streetfilm published a vid stating the case for physically separated bike lanes in the city. IMO, this is the only way NYC or any city for that matter, will accommodate the \”interested but scared\” pop. demog. IOW, it\’s time we get real about what a \”safe and efficient\” bicycle network really is.
Physically separated bike lanes mean little when this happened a couple of weeks ago in the same city. I fear there are deeper problems of a social nature lurking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ