Traffic & Transit
Astoria Bike Lane Gets Concrete Safety Barriers: DOT
Several blocks along Crescent Street started getting concrete upgrades Monday night, marking the first step in a citywide bike safety push.
ASTORIA, QUEENS — Work started this week on installing cement barriers along the Crescent Street bike lane, marking the first steps in a citywide bike safety push, the Department of Transportation announced.
The transportation agency installed the concrete barriers along Crescent Street between Hoyt Avenue South and Newton Avenue and from 38th Avenue to 39th Avenue Monday night, according to a photo posted on Twitter.
Additional cement upgrades are coming to a two-mile stretch of the Astoria thoroughfare, as well as other streets in Long Island City and citywide, as part of the DOT's recently-announced plan to add 20 miles of concrete barriers by the end of 2023.
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The Crescent Street bike lane is already considered "protected," since it's lined with plastic bollards, but cyclists have long decried these posts as ineffective.
"New York City's cyclists deserve to be safe everywhere, but especially in protected lanes – where drivers will too often disrespect and block that critical space," Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement when the new bike lanes were first announced.
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"We have an actionable, concrete plan to protect cyclists and we are going to deliver on this work to keep our lanes clear," he said, noting that the bike lanes chosen for concrete upgrades have either histories of vehicle non-compliance, high ridership, or both.
The upgrades were met with mostly open arms by Queens politicians and a slew of cycling advocates, Patch reported.
While some questioned the omission of Northern Boulevard, whose recently-completed bike lane has been criticized as lacking, many cyclists in western Queens welcomed the neighborhood upgrades.
"Awesome, and this is coming from a car owner and cyclist," one Reddit user wrote after the barriers were first announced. "The bike infrastructure in this neighborhood is not great."
Patch editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.
Related Article: Astoria Cyclists Celebrate New Bike Lane Protections
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