Today, Transportation Alternatives (T.A.) released the results of its "Manhattan Bridge Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Survey." In July, T.A. polled 190 Manhattan Bridge users about the safety of walking and biking to and from the bridge's bicycle and pedestrian path. Each day 1,000 people walk and bike across the Manhattan Bridge.

In June 2001, the bridge path re-opened after a 40-year closure to bicyclists and pedestrians, and the traffic conditions on both sides of the path were extremely dangerous. In summer 2001, after T.A. and the public asked the DOT to make bridge access safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, the agency installed a crosswalk, stop bar, stop and pedestrian signs and a blinking red light at the Manhattan entrance to the bridge. The DOT has a sign and marking plan for the Brooklyn side of the bridge but, to this day, refuses to install it or make any other safety improvements on the Brooklyn side. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, City Councilmember David Yassky, State Senator Martin Connor, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Taskforce, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition and Transportation Alternatives, its members and the public have made multiple requests to the DOT.

"We're making a very reasonable request to the DOT: please install your own sign and marking plan for the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge," said Noah Budnick, T.A.'s Projects Director. "Like the improvements on the Manhattan side, it would make bridge access safer for bicyclists and pedestrians and encourage more people to use the bridge path."

SURVEY FINDINGS
1 in 20 Bridge Users Crash Because of Motorists

• 5% (9 of 190) of path users reported crashing as a result of motorist-bicyclist conflict on the Brooklyn side of the bridge.

Brooklyn Access is "Dangerous" and "Intolerable"

• 70% of path users said that pedestrian and bicyclist safety on the Brooklyn side of the bridge is "dangerous" or "intolerable." 42% said the Manhattan side is "dangerous" or "intolerable."
• 53% of path users reported having a "close call" with a motorist on the Brooklyn side of the bridge; 22% reported having a "close call" on the Manhattan side.

In Brooklyn, Jay Street is the Most Popular Route to the Manhattan Bridge

• 80% of path users walk or bike on Jay Street (from the south) to get to the bridge path.
• 20% of bridge path users come from Sands Street and the north to get to the bridge path.
• No bridge users walk or bike on the DOT's signed route, which takes a quarter-mile detour from Jay Street, to Tillary Street, to Adams Street, to Sands and back to Jay to the path.

CONCLUSION: DOT Must Make Pedestrian and Bicyclist Access Safer on Jay Street

The DOT has a sign plan, which if implemented, would greatly improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety on Jay Street. The plan calls for installing stop and pedestrian signs and a crosswalk where the Manhattan Bridge off-ramp merges with Jay Street, which is precisely where most pedestrians and bicyclists access the bridge path.