Today: Celebrate a Livable Streets Milestone With TA

By Brad Aaron
Aug 7, 2009

Workers add markings to the Sands Street lane. Photo: brooklynbybike/Flickr

Later today, Transportation Alternatives will mark the completion of a major Brooklyn livable streets improvement — a protected bike lane on the Sands Street approach to the Manhattan Bridge.

Sands Street is where, in 2005, TA Senior Policy Advisor Noah Budnick was seriously injured after hitting a pothole. Reads a TA media release:

In the years that followed, cycling in New York City has seen some massive improvements, including the nation’s first on-street traffic-separated bike lane and the installation of hundreds of new bike-parking spots. Concurrently, the number of city cyclists increased 80 percent with the number of daily Manhattan Bridge bike-commuters soaring from 829 to 2,232.

Noah helped make many of these improvements happen and nowhere is that more apparent than on the stretch of Sands Street that connects Navy Street with Jay Street.

DOT and DDC personnel will be on hand, as will Council Member Tish James. The event begins at 6:30 at the Manhattan Bridge and Sands Street and will culminate in a ride along the new path, followed by a gathering at nearby Recycle-a-Bicycle in DUMBO.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

This Week: Jay Street Improvements, Vision Zero Funding

By Streetsblog | Mar 14, 2016

After years of advocacy by Transportation Alternatives and others, this week DOT will unveil plans to improve safety for people who walk and bike on Jay Street between Fulton and Sands. The proposal goes to the Brooklyn Community Board 2 transportation committee on Tuesday. Also this week, TA staff and volunteers will lobby City Council members […]

Manhattan Bridge Bike Path Mired for Years in Construction Bureaucracy

By Ben Fried | Sep 30, 2008

The Sands Street bike path, a physically protected approach to the Manhattan Bridge, has languished behind schedule for years, held up in the city's construction bureaucracy. The project serves as a prime illustration that livable streets hinge not just on DOT, but on other, more obscure city agencies as well.

DOT Proposes Striping Adjustments for Manhattan Bridge Bike Approach

By Stephen Miller | Apr 22, 2013

To make biking between Brooklyn and Manhattan safer and more appealing, one thing that needs to be addressed is access to the Manhattan Bridge from downtown Brooklyn. With the high volume of traffic between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and local streets, the area can be both dangerous and confusing, especially […]

Reimagining Jay Street With Shared Space and Protected Bike Lanes

By Stephen Miller | Nov 21, 2014

Jay Street is one of the major north-south spines of Downtown Brooklyn. The street is full of pedestrians near MetroTech, cyclists going to and from the Manhattan Bridge, and buses connecting to nearby subways, but it’s not designed to serve anyone particularly well — except, perhaps, people with parking placards. Double-parked cars constantly obstruct bike lanes […]

Chrystie Street is already one of the most-biked routes in the city. It now features a much safer design that will get even more people biking. Photo: David Meyer

Feast Your Eyes on the New Chrystie Street Protected Bike Lane

By David Meyer | Dec 21, 2016

The two-way protected bike lane on Chrystie Street is one of the most anticipated bike network improvements of the year, creating a much safer connection to and from the Manhattan side of the Manhattan Bridge. Today, DOT officials and State Senator Dan Squadron joined advocated for an inaugural ride on the redesigned street.

TA Calls for Grand Street to Serve People, Not Cars, During L Shutdown

By David Meyer | Nov 2, 2016

Volunteers from Transportation Alternatives rallied on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge last night to call on the city to prioritize Grand Street for buses, bicycling, and walking when the MTA shuts down the western portion of the L train for 18 months to make Sandy-related repairs. Every day, New Yorkers make hundreds of thousands of trips on the […]