The Revenge of the Bike Lanes

image from karmabrooklyn.blogspot.com

Nearly a year ago, that bullshit organization Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes vowed they'd sue again after their lawsuit to have the PPW Bike Lane Removed was thrown out of court. Wahhhwahh. Then the cry babies claimed the law suit was thrown out of court in error. I hate to break it to the NBBL-ers, but based on those new cement medians on Prospect Park West, I don't think the lane is going anywhere. In fact, these days even more lanes are popping up in the neighborhood.

After a joint meeting of Community Boards 6 & 7 last Thursday night, it was announced that 3 new bike lanes would become a reality for bikers: One on 14th street from 3rd Avenue to Prospect Park West, another on 15th street, and a third that will connect through Bartel-Pritchard Square.

FIPSt'ers may remember back in February of 2011 that a similar meeting proposing the 14th and 15th street bike lanes was shit canned because of all the ruckus over the PPW bike lane lawsuit. Now it seems the DOT is going balls-out in their plans to unabashedly paint park slope with bike lanes. According to Park Slope Patch, the proposed lane on 14th street will create an 8-foot parking lane with 22 feet of road space to be shared by bikers and cars. Like one on Hoyt Street, the bike lane will be a painted section on the south side of the street. 15th Street will transform into a 5-foot painted bike lane on the left side of the street, abutting a 10-foot parking lane.  

 Preston Johnson, a representative from the DOT, told Park Slope Patch that the need for bike lanes is clear: "The Prospect Park West bike lane has brought a lot more bikes to the area," he said. "And now there is a bigger demand for bike lane connectors that can deal with some of the problems.” Neighborhood advocates in favor of the proposition say the addition of a bike lane to 15th street will help to calm traffic and make it safer for pedestrians to cross.

At the moment there doesn't seem to be any stick-in-the mud naysayers coming out against the new lanes. Even NBBL reps are saying that the announcement isn't causing a stick in their craw. NBBL'er Louis Hainline told the Brooklyn Paper, “Our issue was with the specific means by which the Prospect Park West lane was created — not other bike lanes in Park Slope.” 

So bike on bitches!