Bedford Ave. Bike Lane Removal Blocked For A 2nd Time, Judge Rules

BROOKLYN, NY — A state appellate judge on Tuesday blocked the Adams administration from removing a protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue for a second time.

The decision came hours before crews were set to begin tearing down the bike lane. This is the second time a judge has halted the city's plan to remove the bike lane.

Previously, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Carolyn Walker-Diallo ordered the city to pause any work on the Bedford Avenue bike lane until a court hearing in August but on a July 9 the same judge allowed the city to proceed with the removal.

Walker-Diallo ruled the Bedford bike lane removal didn’t qualify as a major transportation project.

The city has argued that the removal plans was influenced by feedback from local residents, who claimed the protected lane had made the street more dangerous. An online petition opposing the redesign—titled “DOT: Please Stop the Murder of Our Children”—got thousands of signatures from members of the community.

The controversy centers on a stretch of Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg, where the bike lane has been a flashpoint since its installation. In 2024, the area was redesigned to include protective barriers following a troubling spike in pedestrian deaths. Five fatalities were reported along the northbound section between Dean Street and Flushing Avenue since 2020, according to the Department of Transportation.

A lawsuit, filed by street safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, argues that the Adams administration’s decision to remove parts of the protected lane was “improper, irrational, made without proper legal notice, and an abuse of discretion.”

“The bulldozers might be ready to destroy the Bedford Avenue safety improvements, but the Adams administration is going to have to spend their night preparing their legal case, not ripping out a critical safety project and central Brooklyn’s only protected bike lane," Ben Furnas, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives said in a statement. “The fight to save the Bedford Avenue safety improvements continues, and we won’t back down until everyone can get home safely.”

The city has until July 23 to appeal the temporary restraining order.