Safe Space for Cyclists on Houston St.

ACTION: Show Support for Houston St.-corridor Bike Lanes

At the Tuesday, April 10 meeting of the CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee, the second item on the agenda is a discussion of the DOT's proposed alternative for bike lanes on W. Houston St.

It is critical that supporters of the plan make their feelings clear at this committee meeting to counter arguments that no one favors this plan for bike lanes. While there is some disappointment that DOT was unable to work out a way to safely incorporate bike lanes into the W. Houston St. Reconstruction Project, this alternative plan has many benefits for cyclists, making designated space on streets that are much more pleasant and less dangerous than Houston St.

What you can do:

1. Attend the committee meeting and make sure that you voice your support! The meeting is on Tuesday, April 10, at 6:30pm, at the LGBT Community Services Center, 208 W. 13th St. between 7th Ave. and Greenwich Ave. (ask at the front desk for the room assignment).

2. Write a letter to DOT and CB2. Download this Word file to your computer - the first page gives you some suggested points and the second page is an outline that you can fill in with a few sentences of your own. Then email it back to info@bikehoustonst.net.

DOT's Alternative Proposal to Presentation to the CB2 Traffic and Transportation Committee

On Tuesday, March 13, Ryan Russo and Josh Benson of the DOT Bike Program office, with DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione, attended the CB2 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting to present their alternative plan for bike lanes in the Houston St. corridor.

Streetsblog has covered the ongoing discussion extensively and has the slides from the DOT presentation available here.

As a result of the subcommittee meeting the preceding Friday, I presented our point of view that while their alternative plan was most appreciated, ultimately many people would not make use of the alternate route and would end up in collisions on the unsafe Houston St. Graphics (pdf) that I created of a representative block of Houston St. as planned, with a median bikeway, and with a southside bikeway are linked here.

DOT strenuously countered that there was not a way that they could design a safe Class I ("protected") bikeway along W. Houston St. and the idea had been studied and declared infeasible. They discussed the many positive benefits of a "bicycle boulevard" concept and how their plan would be better for cyclists.

The DOT presentation was persuasive enough to convience several members of the committee that there was validity to their arguments, and a resolution is forthcoming for presentation to the full Community Board expressing disappointment that Houston St. will not be considered further, but that the alternative plan could be viable pending the consideration of many other community concerns.

DOT Releases Alternative Proposal to Houston St. Bike Lane Houston St. bike lane

In response to community pressure for safe space for cyclists along the western portion of Houston St., DOT has released an alternative proposal for bike lanes on parallel corridors.The proposal suggests that westbound cyclists would proceed from E. Houston St. to E. 1st St., southbound on Bowery, to Prince St., to Hudson St. and then via W. Houston to the Hudson River Greenway. Eastbound cyclists would leave the Greenway via Clarkson St., Carmine St., Bleecker St., E. 2nd St., and then connect back to E. Houston via Second Ave.

There are many issues that will need to be carefully considered in evaluating this proposal, and there will be a meeting of the Houston St. Bike Lane subcommittee in advance of a public presentation of the proposal by DOT at the March CB2 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting.

The March CB2 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 13, at 6:30pm at the NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl., rm. 411. Please try to attend this meeting and speak up with your concerns and suggestions.

You may download the proposal (6MB pdf) here.

With the release of this proposal, it is evident that DOT has taken our cries for action seriously, even though that was not clearly communicated to us until now. Regardless of the merits or problems within the proposal itself, DOT's carefully studied response to our concerns is most appreciated.

Neighborhood groups support Houston St. bike lane

The Bleecker-Area Merchants and Residents Association (BAMRA) and the NoHo Neighborhood Association have joined the Bedford-Downing Block Association in supporting the concept of safe space for cyclists on W. Houston Street. All three neighborhood groups have passed resolutions supporting the efforts of the Traffic and Transportation Committee of Community Board 2, Manhattan, to discuss the implementation of protected bike lanes along W. Houston Street.

In early October, the office of Borough President Scott Stringer issued a letter formally requesting the Department of Transportation reply to the community board’s resolution expressing the need for safety improvements for cyclists along this important route. This letter was cosigned by Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senators Martin Connor and Tom Duane, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, and City Councilmember Alan Gerson, and joins an earlier letter of support issued by Gerson and cosigned by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and Councilmember Rosie Mendez.

Proponents are hopeful that the extensive delay in response indicates that the DOT is seriously considering design solutions to address the broad support from the community and elected officials in favor of bike lanes. This is particularly the case in light of recent statements that DOT is embarking on a major initiative to expand the bike route network of New York City.

Read the full press release.

Grand St. gets bike lane through Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown and LES

In late November, Grand St. was reconfigured with a bike lane or shared lane markings from W. Broadway all the way to the FDR Drive. While this provides a welcome alternative to the hazards of Houston St. for some routes, it does not negate the need for safe space for cyclists on Houston St. The most obvious deficiency of Grand St. is that it only provides a westbound route from the FDR to Christie St; the western half of Grand St. is one-way eastbound, and there is no other westbound alternative for the other half of Manhattan. Furthermore, there is still too much distance between Grand St. and the next crosstown routes, at 9th and 10th Sts.

View photos of the new Grand St. bike lanes.

Melbourne, Australia gets "Copenhagen"-style bike lane

A September 2006 article in The Age of Melbourne, Australia reports that the transportation department is going to add bike lanes separated from traffic by parked cars, as they often are in Copenhagen.

What spurred this development? "The area has become a bicycle black spot, with six cyclists admitted to hospital after being knocked off their bikes in the past five years."

But to NYC's DOT, the 82 injury accidents on Houston St. between 2002 and 2004 and three fatalities in 2005-2006 aren't enough to justify action.

Read the short article.

Transportation Alternatives' Houston St. Campaign

After the success of last week’s rally, Transportation Alternatives has made Houston St. the top story in their latest E-Bulletin. In addition, they have asked their members to take a moment to sign an e-postcard to Deputy Mayor Doctoroff, asking that the Mayor’s Office give direction to DOT to integrate safe cycling space into the Houston St. Reconstruction.

Can I ask that as an interested party, we all join TA’s campaign and sign an e-card?

http://transalt.org/e-bulletin/2006/Aug/0831.html

Houston St. Bike Lane Rally a big success

Photo: Will Sherman/Transportation Alternatives

Thanks again to all who pitched in to make a very successful press conference and rally on Wednesday. We even got some help from the weather gods!

What most impressed me most was the impassioned calls that our invited guests made for relief from the dangers of increasing the quantity and speed of traffic in our neighborhood. We heard several stories from leaders who remember a day when the local kids could ride their bikes on Houston St., even stopping to get air for the tires at a gas station right where we had our rally. Some even continue to use bikes in the city, both for transportation and recreation, and know first hand the dangers of increasing the levels of traffic without making accommodations for safe cycling. Their statements made it amply clear that they are not supporting our cause just because it makes sense, but also because it affects them directly.

Let me use this moment to recognize those who came out and made their strong support known:

Borough President Scott Stringer (and Shaan Khan)

Councilmember Alan Gerson, with his bike and bike helmet (and Cindy Voorspuy)

Assemblymember Deborah Glick (and Gregory Brender, who came even though he was on vacation!)

State Senator Martin Connor

Phil Mouquinho (representing CB2)

Kate Mikuliak (Houston St. bike commuter from Councilmember Rosie Mendez’s office)

Arturo Garcia-Costas (from Congressman Nadler’s office)

Adam Riff (from State Sen. Tom Duane’s office)

Also, Transportation Alternatives was instrumental in helping me get everything off the ground and running smoothly. Noah at TA has spent hours on this issue with me and Graham helped with the setup, sound permit, and sound system. I regret not acknowledging them at the rally – I need a little more practice at this!

We got the attention of several media outlets, and NY1 ran footage of the rally all night long and as part of their “New York Minute” at the top of every half-hour. Later that evening, Noah and I were invited to appear on the NY1 program “The Call,” where we fielded questions and emails from the host and viewers. The show went quite well, and they aired quite a bit of footage from the rally.

Clarence Eckerson, a videographer who works with NYC Streets Renaissance and has been examining Houston St. issues, has already posted a 3-minute video wrap-up. Watch the video here.

Other press links are available from the BikeHoustonSt press page. I am also really looking forward to the coverage in next week’s Villager.

~ Ian

Rally for Safe Cycling Space on W. Houston St.

DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 2006
TIME: 4:00pm
EXPECTED DURATION: 30-45 minutes (plus set-up time)
LOCATION: W. Houston St., south side between Greene and Mercer Sts.
CONFIRMED GUESTS: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Councilmember Alan Gerson, State Assemblymember Deborah Glick
OTHER INVITEES: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senators Tom Duane and Martin Connor, Congressman Jerry Nadler, CB2 Chair Maria Derr and members of CB2, members of cycling interest groups and neighborhood residents

GOAL: To draw attention to the hazardous conditions for cyclists along Houston St., which DOT and City Planning designate a “proposed bicycle route,” and to pressure DOT to include a safe bicycling route in the currently-underway Houston St. Reconstruction project. Sponsored by the Ad-hoc Committee for Houston St. Bike Lanes of Community Board 2, Manhattan.
OUTLINE:
• Introductory remarks
• Remarks from elected representatives, Transportation Alternatives, cycling advocacy
• For a period of 5-10 minutes, attendees stand in a line close to the dashed line between the rightmost travel lane and the curbside parking lane. The lined-up people join hands to create a safe cycling space in the curbside parking lane. Cyclists in attendance – and those who happen to be traveling along Houston St. – can then ride in safety for that one block. Standing attendees might hold signs such as “Drivers: Please try not to kill any more cyclists,” “No Boulevard of Death in our neighborhood,” or, “If the DOT won’t protect cyclists, we will.”
• Concluding remarks

CB2 Passes Houston Bike Lane Resolution

On August 17, 2006, the Executive Committee of CB2 (Manhattan) unanimously passed a resolution regarding the need for safe space for bicyclists along the stretch of Houston St. west of Bowery, which is currently under reconstruction. This is further recognition of the need for creative design to protect the growing number of cyclists that use Houston St. for commuting, short trips, and recreation. The thrust of our argument contained in the resolution is that the DOT neglected its own planning guidance, embodied in the New York City Bicycle Master Plan of 1997, when the Houston St. Reconstruction plan was allowed to proceed without any consideration of cyclist safety, and now we are seeing the consequences of this unsafe situation as evidenced by recent fatalities and broader injury report data.

Read the full text of the CB2 reso.