The Department of Transportation is making safety improvements along Greenpoint’s waterfront, installing two-way protected bike lanes and refurbishing pedestrian crossings.
The city is adding a two-way bike lane along a five-block stretch of Franklin Street and Kent Avenue and another on one block of Quay Street. It’s also creating a pedestrian island on Franklin Street and new pedestrian crossings at West Street and Quay Street.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said the city…
Having biked this segment of Franklin for many years, I’m extremely happy to see it (finally) come to fruition! That little stretch was the sketchiest bike lane bottleneck from the Williamsburg Bridge to Long Island City, by far. Bravo!
The rest of Franklin Street however, needs some help… The traffic/large truck/construction combination is perilous for a supposed ‘bike lane’, even in NYC… There’s simply too much happening on that street for it to be considered remotely safe to bikers, IMO. (The Manhattan Avenue/Greenpoint Avenue intersection is whole other story..)
Hopefully some funding appears for improving local bike lanes as it seems a heck of a lot more people in Greenpoint (and NYC) bike these days. For the sake of resident retention (aka tax dollars), continuing to upgrade bike infrastructure may be a good idea…