Cycling News
Ravaged NYC Bike Lanes Aren't Safe

Hey DOT! Maintain the 6th Ave. bike lane in Manhattan.

Bike lanes are supposed to be safe spaces for cyclists. But throughout the city, bike lanes are pocked with potholes, street cuts and metal plates and stripped of stripes and pavement markings. These ubiquitous disfigured bike lanes are not safe.

Potholes and plates damage motorists' cars, but they break cyclists' bones and can contribute to fatal crashes. This is all the more reason that bike lanes need to be better maintained. The City should survey bike lane conditions every year, evaluating pavement, lane striping, signs and pavement markings, and make repairs as needed. Currently, City Planning reviews the conditions of new bike lanes, but no city agency examines older lanes for hazards.

According to City Planning's 1999 "Bicycle Survey Report," poor street conditions are the third largest obstacle to potential cyclists (the first is secure bike parking and the second dangerous traffic). Unless the City does a better job maintaining existing bike lanes, more New Yorkers will not choose to bicycle.

Three places where bike lanes need attention:

• In October 2002, construction work finished on 5th Avenue between 14th Street and Washington Square Park. The City finished resurfacing the street but did not re-stripe the bike lane or replace the missing symbols. Now, the 5th Avenue bike lane is nearly gone.
• Since early 2002, two unfilled street cuts have plagued 6th Avenue--the city's busiest bike lane--one between 33rd and 34th Streets and the other between 40th and 42nd Streets. In December 2002, the DOT succeeded in filling the cut between 33rd and 34th, but the street cut between 40th and 42nd is still unfilled and still endangers cyclists.
• Since Fall 2001, the street and bike lane surface on Broadway between Columbus Circle and Madison Square has deteriorated and is as bumpy as riding on cobblestones.

Write to the DOT and tell it that the City must do a better job of maintaining existing bike lanes in NYC.

DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall
40 Worth Street
NYC 10013
e-mail: www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildot.html 

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