The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) will restart four previously halted street redesign projects aimed at improving bus reliability and traffic safety in The Bronx and Brooklyn. The initiatives include a new bus lane on Fordham Road in The Bronx and three protected bike lane projects across Brooklyn neighborhoods including Fort Greene, Flatbush, and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. NYC DOT will oversee implementation, with construction scheduled to begin this spring.
In The Bronx, the Fordham Road Bus Lane project will introduce offset bus lanes between Sedgwick Avenue and Boston Road, serving approximately 130,000 daily riders on the Bx12, Bx9, Bx17, and Bx22 routes. According to NYC DOT, offset bus lanes are expected to provide the greatest improvements to bus speed and reliability, similar to a recent redesign on Hillside Avenue in Queens that increased bus speeds by up to 28 percent. The agency will finalize designs following community engagement and anticipates completion later this year.
Image from bike lane proposal, via NYC.
In Brooklyn, NYC DOT will complete the final block of a protected bike lane on Ashland Place in Fort Greene, converting the southernmost block into a one-way street and installing a two-way protected lane. The redesign will also transform a portion of Hanson Place into a shared street to expand pedestrian space. Additional improvements include new parking-protected bike lanes along Cortelyou and Dorchester roads in Ditmas Park, standard bike lanes on 14 streets across Midwood, Flatbush, and East Flatbush, and intersection upgrades to enhance visibility. Along Brooklyn and Kingston Avenues in Central Brooklyn, where more than ten schools are located within one block, parking-protected bike lanes will be installed between East New York Avenue and Wingate Park at Winthrop Street, along with a protected loop around the park and additional lanes on Rutland Road and Fenimore Street.
“New Yorkers deserve fast, reliable bus service and to feel safe when they’re traveling with their families and loved ones on city streets,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn. “This is just the beginning. We are doubling down on delivering on our buses and street safety while building trust in community engagement.”
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The black and yellow low rubbery curbs were installed at several intersections in my neighborhood in the fall. About half of them were torn up by the snowplows. I recall a similar fiasco years ago when reflectors were glued to the street markings separating lanes. They did not survive the first winter.
Bus lanes are good provided they are not occupied by delivery vehicles. That is the main problem with the lanes on Main St. in downtown Flushing. It might be better to eliminate parking and have the bus lane adjacent to the curb. This would facilitate passenger loading and discharge at the stops. Trucks could stop on the next lane over.
That top photo says it all.
There should be a camera on the front of each bus that can take a photo of vehicle license plates parked in bus lanes. Send the registered owner a $200 fine. Traffic cops don’t seem to exist anymore, so it’s time the MTA becomes more proactive. This would also facilitate emergency vehicles.
Evidently David from Bushwick does not own a business or a car. There are no stores with out deliveries. The DOT has removed so many parking spots that if you need to park there is no where to do it. Arming buses with cameras is a horrible idea. The added stress it puts on all of us. I got a ticket while waiting for a person to leave a spot. Two buses passed one after the other. If you are a driver and deliver in Manhattan you know how bad it is.
There’s these things called side streets and these things called hand trucks and this thing called bipedalism.
The buses do have cameras and DO issue tickets but the ONLY way to keep the buses moving is with dedicated lanes. I am surprised Mayor M dropped the ball on this – esp on Fordham Rd. Every major city in Europe has these – here we have to play games with scofflaws that slow down thousands so someone can run in and get a donut etc…
Enforcement against double parking would be much more effective.