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Plan For Amsterdam Avenue Bike Lane Met With Little Pushback From Residents
By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 12, 2015
Modified Nov 12, 2015
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 12, 2015
Modified Nov 12, 2015
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A plan for a redesigned Amsterdam Avenue has resulted in surprisingly little outcry from Upper West Side residents, considering it will result in losing a lane of traffic and, more controversially, the slashing of street parking by 25 percent. Progress!
Though no vote was held at the conclusion of Tuesday night's Community Board 7 Transportation Committee meeting, the plan for adding a parking-protected bike lane from northbound 72nd Street to 110th Street, along with pedestrian islands, was roundly lauded by the roughly 120 residents in attendance, Streetsblog reports.
Perhaps this sense of obeisance was born of the facts: The road saw 513 traffic injuries—36 of which were severe—between 2009 and 2013, as well as two deaths. During rush hour, 59 percent of drivers speed, and in July, the community board voted for the third time in six years to implore DOT to install a protected bike lane. A DOT study showed that bike traffic on the avenue between West 85th Street and West 86th Street increased from 217 over a 12-hour period to 609 between October 2007 and October 2015. Citi Bike also recently expanded to West 86th Street, and stations will be installed all the way up to 130th Street by 2018.
On Tuesday, six of nine board members supported the proposal. “If we’re going to achieve Vision Zero, we need a new vision for our streets, and I think this takes us a long way there,” committee member Ken Coughlin said. “If the health department came to us and there was an epidemic and they said, ‘Well we have this vaccine that’s going to stop it,’ why would they wait three or four months to implement it?”
In addition to the bike lane, parking would be converted from one-hour metered parking to commercial parking zones, in order to put a stop to double-parking. Parking lanes near intersections would also be shortened to better accommodate left-turning vehicles, helping traffic flow more smoothly.
DOT reps are scheduled to return in January with an updated plan that considers feedback heard Tuesday night, though any changes will likely consist of only minor tweaks. The initial proposal was a long time in the works thanks to the four-lane avenue's challenges—it's a bus and truck route, but also home to a high volume of traffic, Sean Quinn, co-director of Pedestrian Projects at the DOT, told DNAinfo.
The proposal is also backed by at least one major presence along the roadway—Mt. Sinai St. Luke's Hospital.
"Mt. Sinai St. Luke's Hospital recognizes that the current design of Amsterdam Avenue is a threat to public health and safety," Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement. "As the Upper West Side's only four-lane, one-way street, Amsterdam Avenue has long been a speedway with some of the highest injury levels in the area. We need curb extensions and pedestrian islands to make crosswalks safer, and a protected lane to keep bicyclists safe as they make their way uptown, like the lane that protects people biking southbound on Columbus Avenue."
Of the 28 people who spoke, only eight voices were dissenting. One of them was Gary Greengrass, owner of the bagel shop Barney Greengrass, who complained that the removal of parking spaces would harm his business. "As a small business, we have people who drive to our place," he said.
That complaint seems negligible when juxtaposed with other speakers like Sofia Russo, whose 4-year-old daughter Ariel was killed by an unlicensed driver on Amsterdam at West 97th Street two years ago.
"As a mother who lost her child on Amsterdam Avenue, I am so grateful for this plan and I know it’s going to save lives," she said.
You can view the whole DOT presentation in PDF form here.
Tagged
Amsterdam Avenue
bike lanes
community board 7
Upper West Side
uws
vision zero
Lauren Evans
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