Eyes on the Street: Course Correction on the Dean Street Bike Lane

By the Barclays Center, the bike lane doesn't direct cyclists to cross the path of car traffic twice in one block anymore.

Until this morning, people biking on this block of Dean Street east of Flatbush had to cross over car traffic and back in other to stay in the bike lane. Photo: Christophe Hille
Until this morning, people biking on this block of Dean Street east of Flatbush had to cross over car traffic and back in other to stay in the bike lane. Photo: Christophe Hille

Every once in a while, snafus in the bike network do get fixed. Today’s case in point: Dean Street by the Barclays Center.

Dean Street is one of the most important routes in the Brooklyn bike network, forming a long east-west pair with the Bergen Street bike lane. But between Flatbush and Sixth Avenue, Dean is perpetually under construction as part of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park mega-development.

Over the years, crews have changed the markings on this block to accommodate construction work that encroaches on the street. In 2013, they shifted the bike lane markings away from the north curb to make room for a work zone.

When construction on the north side of Dean wrapped up recently, the bike lane markings remained in the same place. This created a dangerous condition where cyclists on Dean crossing Flatbush were expected to merge across through traffic, then merge back to the north side once they passed the construction zone.

This block of Dean Street is still a work zone, with a new building now going up on the south side of the street. But it appears someone at DOT was paying attention when people flagged the dangerous bike markings on Twitter. Christophe Hille got the first photos of the course correction this morning:

The Dean Street bike lane no longer crosses traffic in the middle of Flatbush Avenue. Photo: Christophe Hille
The Dean Street bike lane no longer puts cyclists in the path of traffic crossing Flatbush Avenue. Photo: Christophe Hille

Update: We asked DOT whether the developer or the city fixed the dangerous condition, and the agency sent this statement…

DOT is responding to a design issue that was brought to our attention by the public. The developer installed the correct markings but did not account for the construction project on the south side of Dean Street, which altered the design and created the issue. This morning, DOT installed a temporary design until construction is complete, at which time a similar design will be installed.

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