preview.tinyurl.com/2b2s54 -> www.streetfilms.org/archives/physically-separated-bike-lanes/
Related Advocates from Transporation Alternatives, The Project for Public Spaces, and The Open Planning Project join "Gridlock Sam" Schwartz and Enrique Penalosa to call for New York City to consider experimenting with some form of physically separated bike lanes in the near future.
Physically Separated Bike Lanes - Paul White Featuring ample footage and photos from over a dozen cities worldwide, this video makes the case that America is woefully behind the curve in protecting its cyclists in big cities.
Another 3rd Avenue Fatality (4:34) In this clip, Aaron Naparstek of Streetsblog, standing at the intersection of Third Avenue and Baltic Street in Brooklyn where four year old James Nyprie Rice was killed in a crosswalk while walking with his aunt talks candidly about long delayed safety improvements for the area.
Room To Breathe: NYC (3:41) Transportation Alternatives (TA) gathered a gaggle of cyclists on 42nd Street in Manhattan to stage a dramatic visual that shows how much street space is gained if more people rode bicycles or took mass transit instead of driving personal cars.
Reclaiming Grand Army Plaza (5:40) The Project for Public Spaces recently led a Brooklyn Placemaking workshop in which fifty members of the community met to brainstorm ideas of how to make Grand Army Plaza safer, more accessible, greener, and people-oriented.
Park Slope: One Way Is The Wrong Way (5:11) Most advocates believe that two-way streets function better for pedestrians, cyclists, commerce, and livable streets. In Park Slope, Brooklyn the NYC DOT is headed the wrong direction.
Link 3 Pb - We would be looking at bicycle-only separated style lanes. Except for a very few physically separated lanes (there's also one in northern Manhattan) there are none planned for NYC that I know of.
Link 8 The video does not really say much about car-bike collision rates at intersections. This is one of the main issues with bike lanes as I understand it insofar as it increases such colissions and thus increases injury and death to cyclists. Seems to me that while the seperated lanes may make the bike rider feel more secure in mid-block the sight lines at intersections may become worse in many situations. Also I'd wonder how left turns by cyclists are done safely if there is a barrier, or do you want to require bike riders to become pedestrians at intersections? I don't want to seem like a naysayer, but these are all major issues in my opinion...
Link 9 I believe that physically separate bike lanes do not work in high pedestrians areas such as midtown Manhattan. Pedestrians treat the bike lane as an extension of the sidewalk and step into them without looking. New York City experimentally built a physically separate bike lane on 6th Avenue about twenty years ago. However, I found it actually seemed more dangerous than riding with traffic. I witnessed many accidents when pedestrians stepped in front of bikers. Bikers were trapped in a narrow lane with low curbs on each side. I believe painted bike lanes are much better as you have room to swerve around unexpected obstacles.
John & Joe, There are many pros and cons to separated bike lanes. As we have stated in the video (and I have on many sites) separated bike lanes are not the solution for everywhere. Places like Portland, OR and Berkeley, CA have relatively safe streets to ride on and some great Bike Boulevards to use. Even in NYC, I'd say separated lanes should not be the rule, but certainly they should be tried out on a few of the major Avenues and some side streets that connect directly to the Hudson River Greenway. On another note, someone today posted our video at the Oil Drum and already there are 57 comments! Dozens of sites have discussed this video this year, but that might be a record for comments in a day.
Parking Spot Squat In June 2006, Transportation Alternatives volunteers staged a "Parking Spot Squat" in Brooklyn's busy Park Slope neighborhood. The volunteers "liberated" two parking spaces, providing amenities that allowed residents to sit and relax. The demonstrations created a temporary, but much-needed public space.
Bike Lane I was on my way from SoHo to Park Slope when I saw a most remarkable assemblage of press vehicles in the PROTECTED (ie. Could the story have been that yet another cyclist had been mowed down on the city streets?
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