Changing Lanes

The Future of Bicycling on the Upper East Side

By Dan Rivoli

The pedestrian-cyclist-driver saga is familiar to anyone living in Manhattan today. Pedestrians loathe bicyclists who break traffic laws. At public transportation meetings, some residents have called for bicyclists to get licenses, like drivers. Bicyclists, meanwhile, say they just want a safe place to ride, away from motorists, who in turn often see bikers as a nuisance.

But this decades-old story may be about to change, as the city may install protected bicycle lanes on First and Second avenues. Unlike the painted lanes drawn on asphalt, protected lanes are strictly for bicyclists. The city does not yet have a definite design for the Upper East Side, but a buffer of some sort—such as a concrete divider or a row of parked cars—would be included to block traffic from driving or double parking where bicyclists ride. The dedicated bike path would also remove one lane

of motor vehicle traffic from both avenues. But instead of complaints of congestion, the protected lane is lauded for slowing down traffic, much to the delight of pedestrians.

The design is modeled after a pilot program in Chelsea, where bicyclists ride safely to the left of parked cars on Eighth and Ninth avenues, and it was originally inspired by the streets of European cities like Copenhagen, Denmark, considered one of the best cities for bicycling in the world.

With the Chelsea lanes up and running for two years now, advocates hope that expanding to the Upper East Side will be a major improvement in the city’s bicycling infrastructure. But the Chelsea lanes weren’t always so warmly embraced, and how protected lanes are created and installed will likely determine how successful they are with the East Side community.

Bicycle infrastructure has been an integral part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s environmental and transportation agendas. In Bloomberg’s 2007 manifesto for the future of New York City, PlaNYC 2030, he proposed an additional 1,380 miles of bike lanes, for a total of 1,800 miles.

In the two-year progress report since PlaNYC 2030 was released, the city has installed 141 miles of new lanes, and the Department of Transportation estimates that the number of bicyclists in the city has grown 26 percent since last year.

Though the new lanes have certainly encouraged this growth, many cyclists complain that painted lanes are more like obstacle courses than bike routes. Bicyclists are constantly swerving into traffic to avoid swinging car doors, motorists driving in the lane or double parked cars.

“People are realizing now that painted lanes are just not enough,” said Michael Auerbach, president of Upper Green Side, an environmental sustainability group. “It’s a safety issue. [The painted lanes] don’t keep cars from parking in it, driving in it.”

The Upper East Side only has one major painted bike lane—on First Avenue—that runs from East 73rd Street up to East Harlem, and just three painted lanes on area side streets (East 90th, 91st and a slice of 89th streets). Within the boundaries of Community Board 8—East 59th to 96th streets between Central Park and the East River—there were 413 pedestrian and bicycle accidents in 2005, with five fatalities. This is the most recent information available from the New York State Department of Transportation.

Board 8, which has traditionally been friendly to pedestrian concerns, passed a resolution last month, 38 to 1, asking the Department of Transportation to study protected bike lanes.

The resolution, however, was vague, leaving all the details—including where the protected bike lanes should go—to the city.

Upper Green Side, however, is pushing to get the protected lane installed along with “Select Bus Service,” which speeds bus progress through dedicated lanes, pre-paid fares, traffic signal coordination and other adjustments. The city is slated to add a dedicated bus lane for this purpose on First and Second avenues in 2010.

“Take a look at the street. It’s so wide,” Auerbach said of First Avenue. “This is a great opportunity to put in a bike lane as well as a bus lane.”

Protected bike lanes, first piloted in 2007 on Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, are now widely considered a success by bicycling advocates and pedestrians alike. The lanes, however, were initially fairly controversial, especially among area businesses. The Department of Transportation installed one bike lane on Ninth Avenue between West 14th and 23rd streets seemingly overnight. Some business owners and community members felt blindsided. Parking was the main complaint.

“We were a little annoyed at the process,” said Christine Berthet, chair of Community Board 4’s transportation committee. “We didn’t have the time really to sort out the small things that need to be adjusted when you put in a bike lane.”

Changes to delivery zones and parking spots were made after the lane was installed. A deli’s business took a hit when the bike lane prevented his taxi driver customers from parking and getting a quick bite to eat. Board 4 had to find an alternate location for the taxicabs to make a pit stop.

However, the second and third set of protected bike lanes, on Eighth and Ninth avenues between West 23rd and 31st streets, were installed after hearing from business owners. This made for a smooth installation with minimal problems.

“It’s very important to go to those stores and understand their pick-up and delivery needs so they have the sense that their need is taken into consideration and they don’t feel that they’re being run over,” Berthet said.

The change has been paying dividends, according to Transportation Alternatives, one of the most well-known transit advocacy groups in the city. The group said that not only has cycling increased because of the safe lanes, but a study found that Chelsea saw an 80 percent reduction in sidewalk cycling. With traffic moving at a slower speed in only four lanes, pedestrian injuries from motorists and bicyclists declined by more than a third, according to the report.

Perhaps learning from Chelsea’s experience, transportation advocates pushing for protected bike lanes are being joined by some in the business community. They support bike lanes, but say they want a seat at the table to ensure their concerns are taken into consideration.

“One of the rhetorical questions was, will businesses hate it,” said Peter Goldwasser, general counsel to Transportation Alternatives. “It’s clearly not the case.”

Bill Adams, a manager at Michael’s Catering, at 1731 Second Ave. and East 90th Street, said the bike lanes would be a boon to his delivery staff, many of which can be seen weaving in and out of traffic.

“They’re going to enjoy that,” Adams said.

But Mike Guthire, an employee at East 87th Street Wine Traders, at 1693 Second Ave., said he couldn’t get behind a bike lane that would block deliveries.

“Anything that stops delivery, we’ll have a problem,” Guthire said.

He said that remedies for delivery disruptions—such as moving the truck loading and unloading zone—are up to the experts in the Department of Transportation.

“They’d have to come up with something,” Guthire said. “I can’t do their job for them.”

A concrete proposal from the Department of Transportation is still a long time off, and developing a timeline for this project is difficult, even with the city’s experience in Chelsea. Both biking advocates and the city are putting a premium on neighborhood input to create clear signage to prevent pedestrians from walking into these lanes, and to maintain delivery space.

Keeping businesses abreast of new bike lanes would help stakeholders avoid some of the headaches Chelsea experienced with its protected lanes, said State Sen. Tom Duane, who represents Chelsea and parts of the East Side. He suggested getting ample community consultation.

“My experience,” he said, “is that including all of the stakeholders in the discussion before bike lanes are actually put in place makes a very big difference in acceptance of and, frankly, the use of bike lanes.”

Correction added.

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