Shared bike lane (47th Ave.)
March 5, 2015 By Christian Murray
The Department of Transportation plans to install bicycle lanes on Jackson Avenue.
The lanes would be marked on Jackson Avenue from 11th Street to Queens Plaza South—and they would be “shared lanes” on both sides of the street.
These plans are part of the DOT’s attempt to build a bicycle network throughout Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City. Last year, the department put down bike lanes as part of Phase 1, which included the creation of lanes on 11th Street, 47 Ave., 49th Ave., 50th Ave. and throughout Sunnyside.
The Jackson Avenue lanes are part of Phase 2 that might be installed as early as this summer if Community Board 2 signs off on them.
The Jackson Avenue lanes would be in the middle of the existing bicycle network, since lanes are already down on 11th Street, 44th Drive and Queens Plaza.
“We are connecting [Jackson Avenue] to what we created last year and what might come in the future,” said a DOT spokeswoman at a Community Board 2 meeting. “There are a lot of people employed in this area.
Phase II is also likely to bring changes to the existing 11th Street lanes.
The DOT is looking to remove a travel lane between 47th Road and 44 Drive (on 11th Street) and replace it with a dedicated bicycle lane. The plan is in its preliminary stages and a traffic analysis has still to be conducted.
Phase 2 would also provide bicyclists with additional connections to Sunnyside and Woodside—via a number of industrial streets.
The proposal would see the installation of shared bicycle lanes from Greenpoint Avenue (by Calvary Cemetery) through Roosevelt Avenue (ending at 58th Street).
Two-way bicycle lanes would also be added to the Honeywell Street Bridge that goes over Sunnyside Yards—from Skillman Avenue to Northern Boulevard.
The DOT also plans to lanes connecting Long Island City to Maspeth through a web of industrial streets. The lanes would be installed on 56th Road (Maspeth), Review Avenue, and other segments leading to 49th Avenue.
2015 03 Queens Cb2 Network by sunnysidepost
20 Comments
Right now cars and trucks can barely drive down Jackson Avenue between Thomson Avenue and Queens Street due to losing one lane to the center median and another to parking. Add the insane amount of construction in this strip with much more coming, where in the world are bikers going to fit? I am all for biking in New York but some of the proposed lanes are going on major thoroughfares that carry heavy truck traffic between boros and highway connectors, near the tunnel and bridges. I just don’t get the logic. It puts both drivers and bikers at risk.
Bad idea to put bike lanes there! Ver congested as is with mass traffic leading to queens plaza area! It would be suicidal for cyclists to say the least!
cyclists obey all traffic rules?
lmao
Hahahahaha for the amount of times I have almost been hit by a bike, I dont think cyclists should get any special roads or treatment until they behave. Red lights, crosswalks and the direction of traffic apply to bikes as well as cars. just sayin.
…and pedestrians never jaywalk or cross against the signal.
everyone’s guilty. it’s a crowded city full of self important people that are in a huge rush because, well you wouldn’t understand. i really have to be in that cronut line because he’s using truffle nutella today…
all we can do is make the streets as safe as we can in theory, but people will always be people.
Last I checked, bikes move faster than legs, and smart jaywalkers look around for traffic first.
Jaywalkers are the exception to pedestrians not following traffic laws. Bikers not obeying traffic laws is the norm. (drivers of cars are pretty guilty here too, but that’s not the topic at hand).
How does anyone expect that narrow road, which happens to be a major route for trucks going to the QB Bridge, to have dedicated bike lanes? Is that the only route available for cyclists? Why not just make trucks and cars illegal in NYC? Arrest all drivers and imprison them. Or, maybe just toll them into non-existence while they subsidize public transport.
I find your ideas about tolling trucks intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Yes…maybe we can have food and goods brought into the City by rickshaw.
Or they can deliver goods during off hours (pretty sure food and goods need to be available for purchase before most people are commuting for their 9-5’s), at which time congestion pricing would not apply or at the very least be reduced.
City needs revenue to fix it’s infrastructure and mass transit systems. This seems like an appropriate avenue to raise said revenue.
Agree. My response was to the original post, which was a fair amount more extreme than you are suggesting.
I know it’s difficult for persons living in the Manhattan Bubble to comprehend the fact that in many parts of Queens and south Brooklyn there are no subways. For a family of four (yes people in the outer boroughs often have things called kids) to travel to Manhattan by the LIRR and then subway, it can cost nearly $80). Driving their cars through the bridges into Manhattan is substantially cheaper. Enough tolls, enough hidden taxes. People are already leaving NYC because they cannot afford living here.
Agreed. This has all the potential to become a disaster. Expect accidents.
are they putting in the proposed Jersey Barriers? that was never mentioned here but discussed at the community board 2 meetings. . .
How apt: a car is pictured driving in the bike lane.
Shared bike lanes are a waste of paint, cars don’t respect them at all. Protected bike lanes are a must if you want to encourage people to commute by bike in a safe manner (which everyone definitely should).
It’s an affordable, clean, and healthy way to commute, and based on the MTA’s latest reports… far more reliable then anything the govt has their greedy hands in.
If you are suggesting that cyclists should start to respect traffic laws as well, then I am with you 100%. The number if times a cyclist running a red light has nearly run me down in a crosswalk…
with cyclists, as with drivers and internet commenters… there’s always a few a__holes.
Yes, but I do find it interesting that holier than thou cyclist enthusiasts and internet a__holes seem to covary.
Shared lanes are not “bicycle lanes”. They’re not making any changes to the road as it is today except painting bicycles with arrows on it.