Eyes on the Street: Bigger Sidewalks, Better Bike Lanes, Safer Streets

hicks_joralemon.jpg

Clarence Eckerson sends these shots of DOT street safety improvements taken on a recent ride near the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. Above is the newly traffic-calmed intersection of Joralemon and Hicks — part of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project — which now sports two sidewalk extensions. (According to the Post, a third corner was slated for a curb extension, but DOT changed plans after residents said they were worried about how fire trucks would negotiate the turn.) Says Clarence: "I am sure the speed reductions will be dramatic, the equivalent of a chicane."

Heading towards Queens, the city’s stock of bi-directional, protected bike paths is on the rise. Williamsburg Street West now connects Kent Avenue to Flushing Avenue, allowing cyclists to ride contraflow to Kent safely and legally. This is also a segment along the future Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

williamsburg_street.jpg

More pics after the jump.

kent_ave_bike_box.jpg

On Kent Avenue, cyclists entering the bike path from South 4th Street now have a high-visibility entry point, which should help remind drivers not to park here and block the way.

jackson_median.jpg

A new planted median calms traffic on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City. At some intersections these long median strips are equipped with pedestrian refuges, Clarence informs us, concluding his tour of stuff that, apparently, has some unnamed council members calling for the DOT commissioner’s head.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

DOT Opens Greenpoint Ave Bridge Bike Lanes — Now With Flex-Posts

|
DOT staff led a celebratory ride on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek this morning to mark the completion of new bike lanes between Brooklyn and Queens. The lanes provide safer passage on what had been a nerve-wracking crossing next to fast-moving traffic and lots of trucks. The project was first proposed in 2010 and revived earlier […]

Queens CB 1 Votes for Protected Bike Lanes By Astoria Park

|
By a vote of 33 to 1 last night, Queens Community Board 1 endorsed DOT’s plan for traffic-calming on the streets around Astoria Park. Local electeds requested traffic-calming in the area after a hit-and-run driver killed 21-year-old Betty DiBiaso at the intersection of 19th Street and Ditmars Boulevard, at the park’s northeast corner. The DOT redesign will add two-way protected […]
DOT has reportedly modified plans for an Amsterdam Avenue road diet north of 110th Street. On Thursday the project will be presented to CB 9 for the second time. Images: DOT

This Week: Amsterdam Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Queens Boulevard

|
Three big street redesign projects are on the calendar. Queens Community Board 6 will take up the Rego Park phase of DOT's Queens Boulevard redesign; Manhattan CB 9 will get a look at a revised plan for bike lanes and road diet on Amsterdam Avenue north of 110th Street; and DOT goes to Sunset Park for the second workshop about the redesign of Fourth Avenue.