zacster

Over the last week or so of beautiful weather I've had the chance to ride in some of the new bike lanes that have gone in. First was the Flatbush Ave lane from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Blvd that runs along Prospect Park. This will allow southbound riding from GAP to the Flatbush/Prospect-Lefferts neighborhood without having to use the park the long way around. It is two way and separated on the west side of the street. I could see using it to go southbound myself, but going northbound I would just go inside the park. It will also make it easier to do hill repeats if you are into that sort of thing.

The next up was Flushing Ave/Kent Ave by the Navy Yard. They've been working along Flushing Ave for years now, and I was never quite sure what they were doing. It looked like they were going to do a bike lane, but then they only completed one section and construction dragged on for a few years from Vanderbilt to Navy St. The area around the Wegmans was completed in no time for cars but a bike lane takes years? They also opened up the sidewalk level bike lane along Kent Ave too. The connector between Flushing Ave and Kent Ave is still too narrow though. I guess these were part of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

The third one was Crescent St (or is it Ave?) in Queens from the RFK/Triboro Bridge down to the 59th St Bridge. It is a straight shot between them now in a two way protected lane.

Fourth is the West St lane, also on the Brooklyn Waterfront. It was always marked as a bike lane but now you can go from Kent Ave to Franklin St without having to cross over, and then take this lane. It runs to Eagle St, which is the connector to the Pulaski Bridge.

I covered all of these on a single ride yesterday and it was nice.

Steve B.

They need to make Flatbush south from Ave U./ Kings Plaza a bike lane each direction, N & S to the Belt. The sidewalk on the west side doesn’t cut it. Going to 2 traffic lanes each direction might calm traffic as well.

zacster

Flatbush south of Ave W is already 2 lanes in each direction and there is already a buffer, just no bike lane. I would prefer it myself if they would just widen and pave the existing sidewalk for a bike path rather than in the street. I'm not sure if what is there now is an official bike path or not but I've used it a few times this year, usually when it is windy and I don't want to face the wind on the BP. I did one ride though from Long Beach, across the Atlantic Beach bridge, through Rockaway to the Marine Park Bridge, up Flatbush, onto the belt, and up Bedford. I had a strong wind at my back the entire way and just flew. Usually the wind is the other way.

Steve B.

It's not actually. Northbound is 3 lanes from the parkway to the mall. South is 2 lanes just south of Hendrickson, then goes to 3 lanes.

But I agree that the likely solution would be to steal 20 ft. of the golf course and put in a real 12ft wide bike path. The current sidewalk has signage at the north end indicating it's a bike path/route, but it's really just a broken up concrete sidewalk that's covered in debris.