We urge our community boards and elected officials to support and build more protected bike lanes. While DOT Commissioner, Polly Trottenberg announced  plans to develop 5 miles of protected bike lanes annually, construction across the city has been moving at a sluggish pace. Several organizations as well as public advocates Tish James and Brooklyn’s Borough President, Eric Adams, have called for more bikes lanes and speedy street safety reforms. 

We believe the following areas should be addressed to improve the road safety initiative, “Vision Zero”:

Existing bike lanes being poorly maintained and are deteriorating; we would like the DOT to schedule a more consistent resurfacing/repainting/restriping schedule, as the current schedule has left many designated bike lanes neglected for years. Some faded bike lanes include:

• Empire Blvd
• 15th St in Manhattan
• 5th Ave in Brooklyn
• 3rd Ave in Brooklyn
• Smith St in Brooklyn
• 35th St between Astoria Blvd and 30th Ave, etc.
• Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn
• 55th St from 7th Ave to the Hudson greenway
• Chrystie  St—needs a thorough repavement.
• Bedford Ave in Brooklyn
• Most bike lanes in Chinatown  

There has been scarce mention of cycling safety or bike lanes during key Vision Zero public addresses; several major arterials for Vision Zero redesigns do not appear to have bike lanes in their plans including Atlantic Ave,Broadway (Manhattan), Grand Concourse, and Hylan Blvd.  

NYC currently has expanded the bike network to include 1, 010 miles of  lanes—including sharrowed lanes, double-wide parking lanes, and marked bike routes-- but DOT needs to construct more protected bike lanes throughout the city, especially on dangerous thoroughfares such as:

• Jay St in Brooklyn
• Chrystie St in Manhattan
• Broadway in Manhattan
• Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn and Queens
• 6th Ave past 33rd St.
• 2nd Ave extending into Harlem
• 3RD Ave in the Bronx
• Grand Concourse in the Bronx 
• 6th Ave in Manhattan
• 3rd Ave in Brooklyn below 14th st.
• Hillside Ave in Queens
• Metropolitan Ave in Brooklyn and Queens

Richmond Terrace and Victory Blvd in Staten Island

We urge DOT Deputy Commissioner, Ryan Russo to be more innovative in the design of safe streets; installing interconnected protected bike lanes that allow cyclists to travel safely across boroughs, including north, south and cross town routes.  

We would like Russo and Trottenberg to meet with Transportation Alternatives once every quarter to aid in the development and innovation of complete streets design. 

By improving and expanding the city’s bike infrastructure and focusing on cyclist safety (as well as pedestrian safety), this will greatly reduce traffic injuries and tragedies for everyone who shares the roads.