Additional Bike Lanes are coming to Crown Heights. St. John's, you are next

whynot_31

Here's an article in DNA.info

Elcaminoman

This is really good news.  A friend of mine was hit by a car while biking at the corner of new york ave and st. john's (he's ok) last week.  The lanes will definitely help.

suppleknuckles

the opponents of proposed bike lanes should really hear themselves speak sometimes. i saw something on NY1 about some proposed lanes on the upper east side and they interviewed a rich old lady encrusted in jewels complaining about how bike lanes would inconvenience her getting out of her car when she has "things to bring in to her building." The anti-cycling motorists in Crown Heights are no different. just entitled drivers with a deep seated hatred of bikes. different packaging, same shit 

homeowner

I don't think more bike lanes are necessarily problematic. However, I do question their placement. St Johns is a two-way street with significant bus traffic and limited passing. While the logic of putting the lane on the street to slow car traffic down works in theory, in practice, buses, cars and trucks will still attempt to overtake slower moving bikes. Add to this the significant amount of delivery traffic on the east end of the neighborhood, and it seems to me like the lanes will simply endanger the bikers they are supposed to protect. Putting east/west lanes on Sterling and Lincoln Pl. would, in my opinion, provide the same benefit to bikers while protecting them from the added danger of active bus and commercial traffic.

whynot_31

From above article:

whynot_31

PDF of complete plan from DOT

grwd

The tight two-way conditions on St Johns Place that homeowner describes are really only on those two blocks (between Rogers & New York Av). Given that St Johns is a wide two-way street near the circle, and also east of New York Avenue, it seems to me like a sensible plan.

In fact, the city has done this same exact treatment on numerous 50' wide two-way commercial streets with buses all over the city. Here's some examples:

- Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights

- Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights

- Grand Street in Williamsburg

- 5th Avenue in Park Slope

- Greenpoint Avenue in Greenpoint

- Avenue A in the East Village

- E. 138th Street in the Bronx

pragmaticguy

Those bike lanes aren't going to be of any use between Schenectady and Rochester as the double parking there is of epidemic proportion. Personally I think bike lanes are ok but really, I've never seen a car purposely get that close to a bicyclist. Now, if we can only get them obey the same laws that drivers have to.

newguy88

Pragmatic Guy anything but Pragmatic.

pragmaticguy

Au contraire.....that's why I wrote what I did.

whynot_31

I wonder if the intersection of Utica and St John's would support a bike shop. 

Elcaminoman

Bike lanes are a great addition.  Anything to add to bike safety on the roads.  Drivers are so distracted these days.   

Elcaminoman

And I like cars as well as bikes, btw. See my user name.

grwd

I think Elcaminoman is right.

Remember when cars used to have knobs to control the radio and A/C and everything? Being able to use your sense of touch to find the controls was a really good idea that we took for granted. Operating the newer touchscreen interfaces not only deadens the physical experience of driving, but it requires you to take your eyes off the road.

whynot_31

This proposal will be reviewed at the Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00PM. The meeting will take place at CNR, 727 Classon Avenue at Park Place.

pragmaticguy

Yes, I can see all those restaurant delivery guys on their electric bikes hogging those lanes making them virtually useless for the people that they were intended for. But on another note, I never understood why bike lanes were put on streets where buses have routes as the buses just either ride through the lane to get to the stop or stop in the middle of it as they pick up and drop off forcing the bikes to head into the road anyhow.

whynot_31

At this point, I think the bike lanes are being installed with the hope the delivery guys on electric bikes will use them as well.

whynot_31

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/st-johns-sterling-pl-cb8-jan2016.pdf

whynot_31

Community Board 8 reviews proposed St. Johns and Sterling bike lanes

When: TOMORROW, Tuesday, February 23, 7:00PM
Where: CNR-Center Light Health Care Center, 727 Classon Avenue (corner of Park Place)

At this month’s meeting of the CB8 Transportation Committee, the Department of Transportation (DOT) will make a presentation regarding proposed safety improvements on St Johns Place and Sterling Place. The proposal includes the addition of new bicycle connections between Prospect Heights and Crown Heights and new markings intended to reduce speeding and create standard lane widths. The proposal also includes intersection improvements on St. Johns Place at Utica Ave, which is a Vision Zero Priority Intersection.

whynot_31

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160224/crown-heights/plan-for-bike-lanes-on-crash-prone-crown-heights-side-streets-moves-forward

pragmaticguy

On St. Johns between Utica and Howard they have already marked the "parking lanes." And made a yellow striped safety zone in the middle of the street but....people still double park like crazy forcing drivers in both directions to drive onto the safety zone so as they say...."a lot of good that did." There's absolutely no double parking enforcement between Schenectady and Rochester where this mostly occurs and until there is this area won't get any safer. Matter of fact, there's very little speeding because the street is so choked off. And don't even get me started about cars that block the intersections causing gridlock when the light changes because the drivers are too (A)stupid or (B) in a rush to get where they're going.

whynot_31

A lot of that double parking seems to relate to people going into take out places to pick up dinner.

For better or worse, a lot of that may go away with little to no enforcement from the NYPD.

...the takeout places seem to be disappearing due to ever increasing rents.

pragmaticguy

I wish but I've been driving through there for over 10 years and it's only gotten worse. And it's no better at 9:15 am than it is at 5:15 pm.

whynot_31

I'm not on them a lot, but Nostrand and Flatbush seems to have improved as they have lost takeout bakeries and restaurants that are "affordable to most".  

whynot_31

BTW, CB8 supported these bike lanes tonight.   The vote was close, but it passed.

crownheightster

16 yeses and 14 nos. Very close vote.

pragmaticguy

I still wonder where a bike lane is going to be placed on St. Johns between Nostrand and Bedford where the street is only 8 feet wide in each direction after you account for the parked cars. It just doesn't seem plausible.

crownheightster

@pragmaticguy, I think the biggest problem with the whole project is the stretch that you mention: St. John's between New York and Bedford.

The plan is NOT to have distinct bike lanes on that stretch. Instead, there will be "shared lanes" where bikes, cars, and buses have to use the same lane. 

morralkan

I've never understood how "shared lanes" differ in any way from normal traffic lanes on the streets. Except so that the city can say they've added (blank) miles more of bike lanes.

I guess St. Johns Pl is just another street I will have to avoid when I am out on my bike. I'll leave it to the delicate little flower bike riders.

whynot_31

Is there a greater legal penalty for hitting a bicyclist in the shared lanes?

I suspect a lawyer would have an easier time proving negligence for hitting a biker in a seperate lane.

ehgee

morralkan said:

I've never understood how "shared lanes" differ in any way from normal traffic lanes on the streets. Except so that the city can say they've added (blank) miles more of bike lanes.

"Shared lanes" are indeed just normal traffic lanes with paint in them, and are indeed a cop-out by the city to avoid removing parking to build proper bike infrastructure. There is no different penalty for hitting a cyclist in a bicycle lane or a traffic lane— in practice, the new Right-of-Way law is the highest charge a driver is likely to face, and the cyclist has the same right right to be in a bicycle lane as any other traffic lane. The NYPD and our DAs are still ridiculously sparing in the application of even that charge, unfortunately. 

Civil liability is the same, for the same reason.