More bike lanes, not just post-tragedy

Mayor de Blasio recently acknowledged an “emergency” in New York City, as 15 cyclists have been killed on city streets since January. Many New Yorkers, ourselves included, feel this insecurity when we bike to work or shuttle our kids to school on the back of our bikes.

Protected bike lanes, which make streets safer for both pedestrians and bikers, can improve the situation tremendously. But city officials and Community Boards have refused to follow through with a comprehensive approach to installing and enforcing bike lanes, creating dangerous conditions in neighborhoods all around the city.

The number of daily bike trips in the city has tripled in the last 15 years and nearly 800,000 New Yorkers regularly opt for pollution-free, door-to-door travel without waiting for trains or buses. And the entire city is better off, with cleaner air and reduced strain on public transit. Recognizing these benefits, the city claims it is committed to further increasing bicycle ridership and safety.

But the progress has been piecemeal, typically occurring only when people die.

Last week, Manhattan Community Board 7 voted overwhelmingly to install a protected bike lane going uptown on Central Park West. Why? Because a 23year-old tourist biking there died after a car in the unprotected bike lane forced her out into traffic.

Last year, the city installed protected bike lanes going crosstown in the 20s only after a young investment banker died while riding in that area. And a week ago, the NYPD announced a temporary plan to better enforce speeding and parking rules to protect bikers in bike lanes — this time because of four biking deaths in two weeks. This progress is important, but it should not take carnage to make it happen.

Large swaths of the city remain dangerous to bikers. Midtown Manhattan has thousands of bike commuters and bike messengers, but few protected bike lanes.

Bike lanes that do exist often end abruptly, such as the 6th Ave. protected lane that disappears at 34th St., luring riders into harrowing traffic if they want to reach midtown or Central Park. Yet the latest city plan does not mention Midtown bike lanes.

The situation in other boroughs is just as bad. Progress has stalled on finishing the bike lanes on Queens Blvd., one of the most dangerous stretches in the country. The bike lane on Grand St. in Brooklyn is routinely filled with parked cars, pushing riders into crowded traffic.

The installation of bike lanes can be a fraught and difficult topic due to concerns about parking, gentrification and engineering challenges. But policymakers must weigh these issues and make decisions that best improve life for all New Yorkers.

Evidence suggests that bike lanes are overwhelmingly beneficial, addressing multiple public health problems more effectively than other approaches and easily justifying their costs. In fact, though drivers often grouse about losing some space for cars, they too benefit from having bicycles confined to a reserved part of the road.

The benefits of a safer and more bikeable city are clear. “Crashes with injuries have gone down 15% across the board when we install protected bike lanes, but pedestrian crashes with injuries have gone down more than 20%,” a city official told the crowd assembled at last Tuesday’s Community Board 7 vote.

New projects that create safer streets would likely boost bike ridership, creating the “safety in numbers” that the city says would further increase rider security and accountability. Many New Yorkers currently avoid biking because of safety concerns.

The city seems to recognize that bike lanes, just like new pedestrian plazas and traffic calming projects, are needed to make New York City a more modern, livable, cleaner city. But if officials believe that our streets can be made safer and our quality of life can be improved with protected bike lanes, we need a consistent approach, not fits and starts in the wake of tragedies.

Davis Noll and Sylvan are bike commuters who serve as litigation director and strategy director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law.