Manhattan CB 7 Asks DOT for Protected Bike Lanes on 110th Street

The board's transportation committee declined to support painted lanes for 110th. DOT is expected to bring an upgraded plan back to the board this summer.

The Manhattan CB 7 transportation committee said DOT can do more to make cycling safer on 110th Street. Image: DOT
The Manhattan CB 7 transportation committee said DOT can do more to make cycling safer on 110th Street. Image: DOT

Manhattan Community Board 7 has asked DOT to aim higher with its plan to add bike lanes to 110th Street.

The DOT plan [PDF] presented to the board’s transportation committee last night includes a bi-directional protected bikeway, but only for the Riverside Drive service road at 110th Street’s western terminus. To the east, DOT would repurpose extra-wide 13-foot parking lanes as five-foot painted bike lanes, and narrow painted medians from 14 feet to 10 feet.

On the block before the entrance to Central Park at Frederick Douglass Circle, DOT would remove a through-lane for motor vehicles in each direction and install painted bike lanes and a 12-foot concrete median.

Willow Stelzer, an Upper West Side resident and Transportation Alternatives volunteer, suggested protected lanes during the public comment session. Committee members agreed. DOT will revise the plan and bring it back to the committee.

“I got the strong impression that [DOT] was open to coming back with a safer alternative that would provide more protection and hopefully physical protection for cyclists,” said board member Ken Coughlin, who emphasized that he was speaking for himself and not the board. Without enforcement, said Coughlin, painted bike lanes on 110th would be overrun with double-parked vehicles.

Map of proposed bike network improvements above 110th Street. Image: DOT
Map of proposed bike network improvements above 110th Street. Image: DOT

The 110th Street plan is one of several bike projects DOT has in the pipeline ahead of the Citi Bike expansion to 130th Street later this summer.

On the east side of Central Park [PDF], DOT is planning a two-way protected bike lane on Fifth Avenue between Central Park North and 120th Street, and a one-way protected lane on one block of 110th Street between the park and Madison Avenue. From there, the bike lane will convert to a painted, unprotected lane connecting to the Harlem River Greenway, with 111th Street as its westbound counterpart.

Further north, DOT plans to add painted lanes to 128th Street and 126th Street.

“DOT plans to conduct additional outreach over the summer with the goal of implementing [the projects] in the fall,” a DOT spokesperson told Streetsblog.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

CB 7 asked DOT to do better than painted bike lanes on 110th Street, depicted above. Image: DOT

This Week: DOT’s Revised Plans for 110th Street Bike Lanes

By Streetsblog |
In June, DOT proposed painted bike lanes for 110th Street between Riverside Drive and Frederick Douglass Circle, at the northwest corner of Central Park. Members of Manhattan Community Board 7 said that wasn't good enough, asking DOT to come back with a design that protects cyclists from motorized traffic. On Tuesday, DOT will come back to CB 7 with its revised design. If you want 110th Street to be safe for New Yorkers of all abilities to bike on, it's important to show up.