I'm way too slow; Miss Heather beat me to this last week. But I think it's worth emphasizing because it's the perfect example of Bloomberg's cosmetic treatment of environmental and transit issues, where the city paints bike lanes and installs Cemusa "bus shelter" ad platforms at the same time it's fostered a massive increase in the number of SUV-friendly luxury condo developments.
In this case, faced with the hard choice of taking a lane away from vehicle traffic on the Pulaski Bridge, Bloomberg's city takes the sidewalk away from pedestrians.
Bikes are fine -- fun for the rider, and good for the environment if it takes the rider out of a car. But bikes do not belong on the sidewalk. The sidewalk is transit's last resort, open to anyone and everyone -- old people, young kids, people in wheelchairs, scavengers pushing carts. And it's unfair and unsafe to subject them to bikes whizzing by inches away, from behind, at maybe 10 times their speed.
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Above left, the Long Island City end of the Pulaski sidewalk. Above right, the sidewalk leading to the Vernon-Jackson 7 Train station that's the destination of most pedestrians coming from Greenpoint. Note how the sidewalk "wheelchair ramp" lets bikers smoothly swoop down from the bridge, and right up to the racks and Cemusa luxury condo "bike shelter" beyond them.
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Above: It's a 2-lane Bike Autobahn, just like biking through the Alps!
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Above left, pesky pedestrians invade bike lane; above right, I understand the "dismount bike" signs will be removed, because they don't make sense -- now that it's a bike lane!
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Above left, day-glo stripes on bridge equipment too, so bikers won't hit it when it's dark, and they're talking on their cellphone, like above right.
Bloomberg's city sells the idea that it can bring a suburban biking experience to NYC because it fits in with the rest of the suburban trappings it uses to decorate the rampant chain and luxury development it's encouraged. It is building what amounts to a freeway system for bikes -- across bridges and down selected avenues -- that would be fine if it was relatively isolated from pedestrians, like suburban bike trails.
But there's no way it can be that isolated in NYC, and -- because (a majority, most?) urban bikers fly through whatever space is available, on the road or sidewalk, against lights and traffic -- that makes the life of pedestrians more difficult and dangerous.
It's great that bikers can enjoy riding around the city, but the sidewalk belongs to pedestrians. The Pulaski bike lane is a bad joke.
[ Pulaski Bridge Bike Playground ]
[ Pulaski Bike Sidewalk Yuppie Graffiti ]
[ Nothing New: Bikes vs. Walkers on Pulaski, NYDN ]
* Superior Post Gallery
5 comments:
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It'll be unfortunate if this becomes another bikes vs. peds battle zone.
The real issue here is that we've allowed motor vehicles to squeeze non-motorized modes of transportation into the margins and you've got the most environmentally friendly modes battling it out for space, running in to each other and making each other's lives miserable. Meanwhile, you've got these fat-ass outer borough people in single-passenger SUV's happily zipping across the bridge with cellphones and coffee cups stuck to their faces, their asses cupped in plush bucket seats. Those people are the enemy of the city. Not bikers. Not peds.
I suspect the main reason why DOT felt it couldn't put the bike lane out there with the cars is due to the psycopathic way that people drive across the Pulaski. They are fast and dangerous.
"...main reason why DOT felt it couldn't put the bike lane out there..."
Again, the city's commitment to healthy transit is cosmetic. It's willing to paint bike lanes all over, but it's not willing to create a lane with a concrete barrier on the Pulaski, or challenge what's basically freeway traffic going over it and onto McGuinness Blvd.
It would be helpful to have a yellow line down the center the entire way. The pavements marking should indicate bikes on the right and peds on the left, not both in the same direction. Then peds single up when they see bikes coming and bikes slow and move toward the center to pass. No conflicts.
That makes sense -- it means pedestrians face the bikes coming at them, not from behind -- and that's the way it works on the Williamsburg Bridge walkway (except when bikes and pedestrians choose to ignore the idea, which is real common).
The trouble with the Pulaski "bike lane" is that it's on the only sidewalk across the bridge, which is about 6 feet wide along most of its length. I think the only reason it's an official bike lane is to prettify maps for the suburban-style biking initiative along the north Brooklyn / Queens waterfront.
As far as I'm concerned, bikes have no place on the sidewalk, ever. If bikers want lanes, they have to take them from traffic.
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