A Demand For East Side Bike Lanes

By [Dan Rivoli] Bicycle enthusiasts and transportation advocates rejoiced when protected bicycle lanes were included in the designs for Select Bus Service January 2010. Nearly a year later, Select Bus Service is zipping through First and Second avenues yet the bicycle lanes stop short at East 34th Street. Transportation Alternatives, transit advocates, bicyclists and East Side elected officials joined at the steps of City Hall to deliver 2,500 hand-written letters to Mayor Michael Bloomberg asking the city to complete the lanes up to East 125th Street. â??There is strong support, deep support, broad support on the East Side of Manhattan for extending the safety improvements northward all the way to East Harlem, said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. New protected lanes are being installed to increase bicycle infrastructure in the city. Bicyclists in the lane are separated from traffic and are safer than the painted lanes. White also touted the benefits to those on two feet. Protected lanes come with pedestrian islands and decrease the speed of traffic. â??These kinds of safety improvements made on other streets have shown that there are many, many benefits to New Yorkers, White said. Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, who represents the Lower East Side, lauded the Bloomberg Administration for implementing bicycle lanes. But Kavanagh said bicycle lanes on First and Second avenues are needed transportation options in an area without many subways. â??We don"t want lanes to nowhere, Kavanagh said. â??The job has been started by this administration but we really need to finish it. On the Upper East Side, letters were solicited at the two Greenmarkets, near the 59th Street Bridge and the East 96th Street access to the East River Esplanade, said Steve Vaccaro, chair of Transportation Alternatives" East Side committee. The only bicycling infrastructure on the Upper East Side is the Esplanade, which is pockmarked with holes in the ground and crowded. â??It makes it very dangerous to use a bicycle for transportation, Vaccaro said, â??particularly in Yorkville because of the distance of the Lexington Avenue subway."