Cycling advocates map out expansive LIC protected bike lane network
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Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer announces a proposal for a protected bike lane network in Long Island City. Eagle photos by Phineas Rueckert.
By Phineas Rueckert
A collection of cycling advocates, bike commuters and Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer gathered at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge Wednesday morning to announce a proposal for a protected bike lane network in Long Island City.
The proposed network would cover a number of heavily trafficked streets in LIC, including Jackson Avenue and parts of Borden Avenue, where cyclist Robert Spencer was killed earlier this year. Advocates told reporters the network would span roughly five miles and facilitate interborough travel between Manhattan and Queens.
The proposal comes amid a rise in cyclist fatalities citywide. So far, 18 cyclists have been killed in 2019, more than all of last year and on pace to be the highest number in the past decade, according to Department of Transportation statistics.
“It’s a crisis,” Van Bramer told the Eagle. “Bicyclists are being killed almost every week and we have to do something to keep up the pressure.”
“All of us in city government know that this has got to be front and center,” he continued. “While more and more people are cycling we’re not keeping pace in terms of infrastructure that keeps them safe while they’re cycling.”
Last week, the DOT released an updated bike safety plan that includes increasing the number of protected bike lanes from 20 to 30 miles citywide each year, improving connections to bridges and changing enforcement standards for cars and cyclists.
The DOT’s proposal does not go far enough, advocates at the rally said. Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Juan Restrepo called on the DOT to be more “visionary.”
“We’re looking at what it is that New York City needs and we think that this plan is what is going to bring us there,” Restrepo said. “Beyond the road map of what the city has done, there is more that can be done to protect the lives of cyclists.”
Bikes parked near the Pulaski Bridge.
Momentum for improving bike infrastructure seems to be increasing around the city, said Van Bramer.
“We’re winning,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot more time and a lot more work but I do feel like more and more people are coming around to understanding that there are things that we can do to prevent deaths.”
He highlighted the fact that 11 of 14 Queens councilmembers supported a bike safety bill enabling cyclists to cross certain intersections with pedestrian signals instead of street signals.
Cycling safety advocates have criticized Van Bramer in the past for not supporting bike lanes in, after he reversed his support for a protected bike lane project at Skillman Avenue. The project “failed to gain enough support among residents, community institutions, elected officials and Community Board 2,” he said last June.
He told the Eagle he has always been in favor of protected bike lanes.
“I’ve never wavered on my support for protected bike lanes,” he said. “I should have always been unequivocal in my support for the Skillman Avenue project — absolutely — but I have never wavered in my belief that protected bike lanes are what we should have all over the city of New York.”
Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the 18 cyclists killed this year is the highest number in the past decades. The highest number of cyclists killed was 24, in 2017, according to DOT statistics.
