Last week, the New York City Department of Transportation presented detailed plans for the upcoming implementation of Select Bus Service (SBS) on 1st and 2nd Avenues at the third meeting of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC).
The City does not plan to install a physically separated bus-lane (i.e. one with some sort of barrier to keep other vehicles out) as is found in other cities such as Bogota, Colombia. The City will instead utilize 3 design variations throughout the SBS corridor in order to: (1) improve bus service, pedestrian safety, and bicycle access; (2) maintain traffic flow; (3) allow curb access for delivers and drop-offs; and (4) provide metered parking.
From the proposed designs it is clear that the City is content to miss a vital (and extremely rare) opportunity to include desperately needed protected bicycle lane infrastructure along the whole length of the corridor section that overlaps the current on-street detour of the East River Greenway. Because of the large gap in the Greenway from East 37th Street to East 60th Street, cyclists are forced to detour onto some of the most highly trafficked dangerous parts of 1st and 2nd Avenue in East Midtown. Cyclists must contend with bridge and tunnel traffic while fighting for space on the extremely fast-moving avenues.
To its credit, the new designs will significantly improve the ride north. The on-street Greenway gap detour that starts at 37th street would be replaced with a protected bicycle lane heading north up 1st avenue, terminating somewhere north of 42nd street (perhaps East 50th Street? the map above is unclear) and becoming a Class 3 shared bike/car lane. The protected bike lane would pick back up again just north of the Queensboro Bridge (maybe East 60th Street). The difficult and frustrating ride south however, would remain. For the portions of the on-street Greenway detour from East 60th to East 37th Streets on Second Avenue, only a Class 3 shared lane is planned. This would essentially maintain the Greenway gap status quo, albeit with the addition of painted bicycle markings on the roadway.
These developments confirm that we must continuously work towards closing the Greenway gap and improving the East River Greenway to provide a truly protected bicycle route around some of the City’s worst streets.
For more coverage on the CAC meeting, check out the Upper Green Side blog.