15

When we made a quick re-ignite of BRBR just over a week ago, this is not the kind of news that was expected.

Once again, we offer our condolences, this time to the family and friends of Devra Freelander.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/07/01/fifteen-now-cyclist-killed-in-bushwick/?

 https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-cyclist-killed-cement-truck-brooklyn-20190701-77nwf7q2lzbj5g2vinv5yjlrha-story.html

Robyn Hightman & Ernest Askew

Robyn Hightman & Ernest Askew were two additional cyclist killed in NYC this week.

We knew Robyn.

Condolences to Robyn's and Ernest's friends and family.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/06/28/end-legal-murder-in-nyc-hundreds-mourn-cyclist-robyn-hightman-in-memorial-ride/

https://www.facebook.com/supermintusa/posts/this-is-not-the-story-we-wanted-to-sharewhen-we-created-our-teams-ambassador-pro/1809263149177100/

https://bklyner.com/cyclist-death-brownsville-ernest-askew/

https://nypost.com/2019/06/28/brownsville-cyclist-fatally-hit-as-cyclist-deaths-soar/

https://pix11.com/2019/06/28/man-fatally-struck-by-car-in-brooklyn-second-cyclist-killed-in-nyc-streets-this-week-police/

 https://gothamist.com/2019/06/28/cyclist_brooklyn_death_nyc.php

Robyn Hightman.  Photo from the Hagens Berman Supermint Pro Cycling Team.

Location of Earnest Askew's fatality, Sutter Ave & Chester Street, Brooklyn.  Photo from Google and Gothamist.

Welcome to 2019!

Hello and welcome to the concluding months of the second decade of the 21st Century!

It's been about 9 years since Community Board 10 last heard a consolidated push from DOT and the cycling community about improving bicycling connections in the neighborhood.  Similar improvements were voted down in 2010 and 2011 by CB10, and it was largely voted down again by CB10 in 2019. Though this time, DOT and our elected representatives are saying they will ignore the CB10 vote and paint the routes anyways.

Perhaps because in the first 4 months of 2019, 4 of the 8 cycling deaths in all of NYC occurred in South Brooklyn?

Maybe because a decade of street improvements and traffic calming methods being used throughout the city still have not been widely implemented in Bay Ridge, resulting in repeated reckless driving?  The driving ignorance is higher than BRBR has ever seen.  As one example of its worst, we've first-hand witnessed a car blow through 3 red lights in a row along 3rd Ave: Marine Ave, 99th Street, and Shore Road.

We're looking forward to taking a step towards joining the rest of NYC's present-day street design methods and policies.

Map of the expanded bicycle route network.  Image from Streetsblog.

Bay Ridge Parkway Markings

Bay Ridge Parkway has a new coat of paint.  It is placed at a point wide enough to accommodate a parallel parked car and a bicycle turned sideways (shown bike is 5.5' long).  If there was one more stripe at the edge of the parked car, the street would have a true 5' wide bicycle lane!

For reference, see page 59 of the DOT Street Design Manual - an on-street, standard bicycle lane is 5' wide.

The community has been aching for a bicycle lane here for over 5 years but it's still not being marked.  The only limit is perception, not physical dimension or street geometry.

Bay Ridge Parkway's new stripe with parked car and bicycle

"It's opener, out there, in the wide, open air." says Bay Ridge Parkway, channeling Dr Seuss

Fall 2015 South Brooklyn Bicycling Status

The continual improvements and expansion of New York's bicycling infrastructure in recent years has made little impact in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge.  However, 2015 brought some significant new bicycle support: bicycles can be loaded onto buses crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and new sharrows have been placed on Marine Avenue and Ft Hamilton Parkway.  Last month, a presentation was made to Community Board 10 for a plan to link Second Avenue and Owl's Head Park with a connecting segment of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. 

Wakeman Place is a narrower street and its real world function has it serving as an extension of the off-ramp from the Belt Parkway.  Providing an effective connector is crucial here.

Second Avenue is a very wide street and can easily accommodate the greenway's bicycle and pedestrian path. The currently proposed plans indicate a loss of on-street parking along Second Avenue.  This stems from both the addition of the greenway and providing additional lane markings for through traffic and turning lanes.  Currently, there are no distinct lane markings on Second Avenue and the street acts as if it had one very wide lane each way.  Parking along this stretch of Second Avenue and the nearby side streets have very limited use; the loss of some on-street parking as the plan proposes would be a very small burden to absorb.  DOT can certainly manage to develop a reasonable plan to implement.

View the full DOT presentation here.

As an additional improvement to the greenway, it would be a good idea to provide an on-street bicycle markings extending along Second Avenue to 67th Street, and west on 67th to Owl's Head Park.  For practical daily riding, this is the best and safest route to navigate.  67th Street is a quiet, low traffic road and the intersection with Colonial Road contains an all-way stop.


These improvements are long overdue in the area.  The bicycling network in South Brooklyn is very small, with limited connectivity to other portions of the Borough.  There is one zig-zagged on-street marked pathway leading from the vicinity of Ft Hamilton and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge into central Brooklyn, and none lead east from the harbor.  Sharrows were placed along 5th Avenue in 2013, leading northward to a dedicated, marked lane in the 20's.

It's good to recall that Brooklyn was once envisioned to have a green network of park and pedestrian spaces criscrossing it's neighborhoods.  This plan at Wakeman and Second Avenue is directly adjacent to one of those linear parks, which now only serves as a vehicular connector from the Belt Parkway to Second Avenue and Fourth Avenue.  This article posted at Hey Ridge documents some of that vision.  The Brooklyn Greenway is an opportunity to gain back some of those ideas lost decades ago.

South Brooklyn Bicycle Network, November 2015, Google Maps

Cross the Verrazano with a Bicycle!

It's finally here - Bicycle racks on MTA buses crossing the Verrazano bridge.  The press release states service will not begin until Sunday, September 6.  We've seen many of the S53 and S93 buses in Bay Ridge already setup with racks on  their front bumpers, though yet to see a bike taking a ride.  We're definitely going to put the racks to good use.  NYC has finally begum to catch up with most every other city in North America.  This is a game changer for cycling in South Brooklyn and Staten Island.

MTA Press Release

Daily New Article

Hey Ridge Article and how-to-use video

Bicycle Rider Icons on Marine Avenue

Painting the bicycle rider icons on a rainy Saturday morning, marking the new shared bicycle route.

Finishing touches on the bicycle route along Marine Avenue, Brooklyn.